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ASP.NET C#: Entity updating is being blocked

Experiencing an issue about updating mysql DB through EF. It's not the first time I'm dealing with it, so I had some ideas about why isn't my data getting changed. I tried changing an element in goods array; tried editing an object, recieved through LINQ-request (seen some examples of this method); made some attempts on marking element found in the database before editing (like EntityState and Attach()). Nothing of these made any difference, so I tried removing <asp:UpdatePanel> from Site.Master to see what happens (responsive for postback blocking to prevent page shaking on update), but nothing changed (while btnRedeemEdit.IsPostBack having its default value).
Code below is the function I use for updates.
protected void btnRedeemEdit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.QueryString["id"]))
{
var db = new GoodContext();
var goods = db.Goods.ToList();
Good theGood = goods.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Id == int.Parse(Request.QueryString["id"]));
//db.Goods.Attach(theGood);//No effect
//db.Entry(theGood).State = System.Data.Entity.EntityState.Modified; //No effect
if (theGood != default)
{
theGood.AmountSold = GetInput().AmountSold;
theGood.APF = GetInput().APF;
theGood.Barcode = GetInput().Barcode;
theGood.Description = GetInput().Description;
theGood.ImagesUrl = GetInput().ImagesUrl;//"https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2d/b7/d8/2db7d8c53b818ce838ad8bf6a4768c71.jpg";
theGood.Name = GetInput().Name;
theGood.OrderPrice = GetInput().OrderPrice;
theGood.Profit = GetInput().Profit;
theGood.RecievedOn = GetInput().RecievedOn;//DateTime.Parse(GetInput().RecievedOn).Date.ToString();
theGood.TotalAmount = GetInput().TotalAmount;
theGood.WeightKg = GetInput().WeightKg;
//SetGoodValues(goods[editIndex],GetInput());//Non-working
db.SaveChanges();
Response.Redirect("/AdminGoods");
}
else Response.Write($"<script>alert('Good on ID does not exist');</script>");
}
else Response.Write($"<script>alert('Unable to change: element selected does not exist');</script>");
}
Notice, that no alerts appear during execution, so object in database can be found.
Are there any more things, that can be responsible for blocking database updates?

A few things to update & check:
Firstly, DbContexts should always be disposed, so in your case wrap the DbContext inside a using statement:
using (var db = new GoodContext())
{
// ...
}
Next, there is no need to load all goods from the DbContext, just use Linq to retrieve the one you want to update:
using (var db = new GoodContext())
{
Good theGood = db.Goods.SingleOrDefault(x => x.Id == int.Parse(Request.QueryString["id"]));
if (theGood is null)
{
Response.Write($"<script>alert('Good on ID does not exist');</script>");
return;
}
}
The plausible suspect is what does "GetInput()" actually do, and have you confirmed that it actually has the changes you want? If GetInput is a method that returns an object containing your changes then it only needs to be called once rather than each time you set a property:
(Inside the using() {} scope...)
var input = GetInput();
theGood.AmountSold = input.AmountSold;
theGood.APF = input.APF;
theGood.Barcode = input.Barcode;
theGood.Description = input.Description;
// ...
db.SaveChanges();
If input has updated values but after calling SaveChanges you aren't seeing updated values in the database then there are two things to check.
1) Check that the database connection string at runtime matches the database that you are checking against. The easiest way to do that is to get the connection string from the DbContext instance's Database.
EF 6:
using (var db = new GoodContext())
{
var connectionString = db.Database.Connection.ConnectionString; // Breakpoint here and inspect.
EF Core: (5/6)
using (var db = new GoodContext())
{
var connectionString = db.Database.GetConnectionString();
Often at runtime the DbContext will be initialized with a connection string from a web.config / .exe.config file that you don't expect so you're checking one database expecting changes while the application is using a different database / server. (More common than you'd expect:)
2) Check that you aren't disabling tracking proxies. By default EF will enable change tracking which is how it knows if/when data has changed for SaveChanges to generate SQL statements. Sometimes developers will encounter performance issues and start looking for ways to speed up EF including disabling change tracking on the DbContext. (A fine option for read-only systems, but a pain for read-write)
EF6 & EF Core: (DbContext initialization)
Configuration.AutoDetectChangesEnabled = false; // If you have this set to false consider removing it.
If you must disable change tracking then you have to explicitly set the EntityState of the entity to Modified before calling SaveChanges():
db.Entry(theGood).State = EntityState.Modified;
db.SaveChanges();
Using change tracking is preferable to using EntityState because with change tracking EF will only generate an UPDATE statement if any values have changed, and only for the values that changed. With EntityState.Modified EF will always generate an UPDATE statement for all non-key fields regardless if any of them had actually changed or not.

Add or Update a Record?

I have an MVC application with the following code in the POST method of the controller. I am doing an EF Add and obviously that is not right. I want it to add the record if it doesn't exist, otherwise Update. How can I do that please?
try
{
AttributeEntities db = new AttributeEntities();
IEnumerable<string> items = viewModel.SelectedAttributes2;
int i = 0;
foreach (var item in items)
{
var temp = item;
// Save it
SelectedHarmonyAttribute attribute = new SelectedHarmonyAttribute();
attribute.CustomLabel = viewModel.ItemCaptionText;
attribute.IsVisible = viewModel.Isselected;
string harmonyAttributeID = item.Substring(1, 1);
// attribute.OrderNumber = Convert.ToInt32(order);
attribute.OrderNumber = i++;
attribute.HarmonyAttribute_ID = Convert.ToInt32(harmonyAttributeID);
db.SelectedHarmonyAttributes.Add(attribute);
db.SaveChanges();
}
}

You would need to check the database for the record you are trying to add/update. If the look-up returns null, that means that it doesn't exist in the database. If it does, you can modify the record that you looked up and call db.SaveChanges() to persist the changes you made to the database.
Edit:
int id = Convert.ToInt32(harmonyAttributeID);
var existingEntry = db.SelectedHarmonyAttributes.SingleOrDefault(x => x.HarmonyAttribute_ID == id);

One common way to determine an add or update is by simply looking at an identifier field, and setting the appropriate state.
using System.Data;
SelectedHarmonyAttribute attribute;
using (var db = new YourDbContext())
{
db.Entry(attribute).State = attribute.HarmonyAttribute_ID == 0 ? EntityState.Added : EntityState.Modified;
db.SaveChanges();
}

You could import the System.Data.Entity.Migrations namespace and use the AddOrUpdate extension method:
db.SelectedHarmonyAttributes.AddOrUpdate(attribute);
db.SaveChanges();
EDIT:
I'm assuming that SelectedHarmonyAttributes is of type DbSet
EDIT2:
Only drawback with doing it this way (and it may not be a concern for you), is that your entity isn't responsible for it's own state change. This means that you can update any property of the entity to something invalid, where you might want to internally validate it on the entity itself or maybe do some other processing you always want to occur on update. If these things are a concern for you, you should add a public Update method onto the entity and check for its existence on the database first. e.g:
var attribute = db.SelectedHarmonyAttributes.SingleOrDefault(x => x.HarmonyAttribute_ID == harmonyAttributeID);
if (attribute != null)
{
attribute.Update(viewModel.ItemCaptionText, viewModel.Isselected, i++);
}
else
{
attribute = new Attribute(viewModel.ItemCaptionText, viewModel.Isselected);
db.SelectedHarmonyAttributes.Add(attribute);
}
db.SaveChanges();
Your update method might look something like:
public void Update(string customLabel, bool isVisible, int orderNumber)
{
if (!MyValidationMethod())
{
throw new MyCustomException();
}
CustomLabel = customLabel;
IsVisible = isVisible;
OrderNumber = orderNumber;
PerformMyAdditionalProcessingThatIAlwaysWantToHappen();
}
Then make all of the entities' properties public "get" but protected "set" so they can't be updated from outside the entity itself. This might be going off an a bit of a tangent but using the AddOrUpdate method would assume you don't want to control the way an update occurs and protect your domain entity from getting into an invalid state etc. Hope this helps!

Update database via Linq to SQL not working

I'm developing a C# ASP.NET application, in which i'm retrieving some data from the database, throwing in a form, and when i click on Save, i want it to save my changes in the database.
I'm using Linq to SQL. The code below, at the end, call the method ClienteBusiness.SalvarAlteracoes(cliente), which by the way, only calls the ClienteData.SalvarAlteracoes(cliente) method.
protected void Salvar()
{
TB_CLIENTE_CLI cliente = new TB_CLIENTE_CLI();
int idEstado = 0;
int idCidade = 0;
if (!Int32.TryParse(ddlEstado.SelectedValue, out idEstado))
{
return;
}
if (!Int32.TryParse(Request.Form[ddlCidade.UniqueID], out idCidade))
{
return;
}
cliente.TXT_RAZAOSOCIAL_CLI = txtRazaoSocial.Text;
cliente.TXT_NOMEFANTASIA_CLI = txtNomeFantasia.Text;
cliente.TXT_CNPJ_CLI = txtCNPJ.Text;
cliente.TXT_CEP_CLI = txtCEP.Text;
/*e os demais campos*/
//Se a tela for de edição, altera o valor do ID para o cliente correspondente.
cliente.ID_CLIENTE_CLI = this.IdCliente;
ClienteBusiness.SalvarAlteracoes(cliente);
HTMLHelper.jsAlertAndRedirect(this, "Salvo com sucesso!", ResolveUrl("~/Pages/ClientePage.aspx"));
}
The method which save the changes is described below:
public static Int32 SalvarAlteracoes(TB_CLIENTE_CLI cliente)
{
using (PlanoTesteDataContext context = DataContext.ObterConexao())
{
if (cliente.ID_CLIENTE_CLI == 0)
{
context.TB_CLIENTE_CLIs.InsertOnSubmit(cliente);
}
else
{
context.TB_CLIENTE_CLIs.Attach(cliente, true);
}
context.SubmitChanges();
} return cliente.ID_CLIENTE_CLI;
}
On the line context.TB_CLIENTE_CLIs.Attach(cliente, true); i'm receiving a System.InvalidOperationException: An entity can only be attached as modified without original state if it declares a version member or does not have an update check policy.
I've already checked the UpdateChecks and they are set to Never.
What can I do? Thanks and sorry for the bad english.

This should work:
else
{
context.Refresh(System.Data.Linq.RefreshMode.KeepCurrentValues, cliente);
context.TB_CLIENTE_CLIs.Attach(cliente);
}
This Refresh overload will keep the changes made by the user,it compares the modified entity with the original values from the database, detects the difference and marks the entity as modified and the call to SubmitChanges applies the update to the database.

You may very well run into trouble using Linq2SQL with disconnected entities. EF is a more suited solution to handle this.
However, please ensure you have set all properties on the entity on UpdateCheck to NEVER. I have tested this myself and it works. If this does work it will run an UPDATE statement on every column regardless of whether it has been updated or not. Could cause a problem if you use triggers on your tables. It might be a better idea to use a Timestamp instead to track the entities so concurrency issues between multiple users can be raised.
If you try to Attach an entity from a context where the ObjectTrackingEnabled is not set to False then you will have the following exception thrown:
An unhandled exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in System.Data.Linq.dll
Additional information: An attempt has been made to Attach or Add an entity that is not new, perhaps having been loaded from another DataContext. This is not supported.
As an example please use the following for retrieving and reattaching an entity:
public TB_CLIENTE_CLI Get(int id)
{
using (PlanoTesteDataContext ctx = new PlanoTesteDataContext())
{
ctx.ObjectTrackingEnabled = false;
return ctx.TB_CLIENTE_CLI.SingleOrDefault(n => n.ID == id);
}
}
public void Save(TB_CLIENTE_CLI cliente)
{
using (PlanoTesteDataContext ctx = new PlanoTesteDataContext())
{
ctx.DeferredLoadingEnabled = false;
ctx.TB_CLIENTE_CLI.Attach(cliente, true);
ctx.SubmitChanges();
}
}
You will also need to set DeferredLoadingEnabled loading to False in the Save method so that you can save down changes on the entity subsequent times after the first initial save on modification.

Entity Framework Update Problem

I am using Entity Framework & LINQ to retrieve data. I am having a problem with the following:
var customer= db.customers.where(c=>c.id==1);
customer.name=santhosh;
customer.city=hyd;
The fields are changing in the database before I call:
db.SaveChanges();
How do I avoid this?

As others have said, I believe that you are using your context in another place as well and that other location is calling savechanges and updating everything. Try doing what #Evan suggested with a using statment to make sure you have a fresh context.
AsNoTracking will not ensure that you get a entity that is not cached in the database, its purpose is to not put the objects inside the context. If you use AsNoTracking and then change the entities returned in the query you will need to attach them as modified to the context before calling savechanges or else they won't be updated.
var customer= db.customers.AsNoTracking().Single(c=>c.id==1);
customer.name=santhosh;
customer.city=hyd;
ctx.customers.Attach(customer);
ctx.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(customer, System.Data.EntityState.Modified);
I would have just commented on the other posts but don't have enough rep yet.

Check whether you are passing the db object to some other method, and SaveChanges() is called there?
Or check whether you have a catch block of an exception and you might be using SaveChanges() in the catch block to log error message?
(These are common programming mistakes)

The fields are changing in the database before I call
If you mean changing as in changing outside of application, changes in SQL Management Studio for example. Entity Framework cannot detect those changes, so as a result you might get stale objects that was cached by Entity Framework. To prevent receiving cached object and get the up-to-date values from database, use AsNoTracking.
Try putting AsNoTracking():
var customer= db.customers.AsNoTracking().where(c=>c.id==1);
customer.name=santhosh;
customer.city=hyd;
db.SaveChanges();
Or if your problem is to detect concurrent updates(unfortunate terminology, it doesn't apply to UPDATE only) to same row, use rowversion(aka timestamp) field type; then on your .NET code add Timestamp attribute on the property. Example: http://www.ienablemuch.com/2011/07/entity-framework-concurrency-checking.html
public class Song
{
[Key]
public int SongId { get; set; }
public string SongName { get; set; }
public string AlbumName { get; set; }
[Timestamp]
public virtual byte[] Version { get; set; }
}
UPDATE (after your comment):
If you really has no intent to persist your object changes to database. Try detaching the object.
Try this:
var customer= db.customers.where(c=>c.id==1);
db.Entry(customer).State = System.Data.EntityState.Detached; // add this
customer.name=santhosh;
customer.city=hyd;
db.SaveChanges();
That won't save your changes on name and city to database.
If you want something more robust(the above will fail an exception if the object was not yet attached), create a helper:
private static void Evict(DbContext ctx, Type t,
    string primaryKeyName, object id)
{           
    var cachedEnt =
        ctx.ChangeTracker.Entries().Where(x =>  
            ObjectContext.GetObjectType(x.Entity.GetType()) == t)
            .SingleOrDefault(x =>
        {
            Type entType = x.Entity.GetType();
            object value = entType.InvokeMember(primaryKeyName,
                                System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty,
null, x.Entity, new object[] { });
 
            return value.Equals(id);
        });
 
    if (cachedEnt != null)
        ctx.Entry(cachedEnt.Entity).State = EntityState.Detached;
}
To use: Evict(yourDbContextHere, typeof(Product), "ProductId", 1);
http://www.ienablemuch.com/2011/08/entity-frameworks-nhibernate.html

Can you give a little more of the surrounding code? Might be a little difficult without seeing how you are constructing your context.
This is how I typically handle updates (I hope it might give some insight):
using (var ctx = new myModel.myEntities())
{
int pollID = 1;
var poll = (from p in ctx.Polls
where p.PollID == pollID
select p).FirstOrDefault();
poll.Question = txtPoll.Text.Trim();
ctx.SaveChanges();
}

Jack Woodward, yours did not work for me.
I had to change it up a little for SQL Compact.
var customer= db.customers.AsNoTracking().Single(c=>c.id==1);
db.customers.Attach(customer);
customer.name=santhosh;
customer.city=hyd;
db.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(customer, System.Data.EntityState.Modified);
db.SaveChanges();
db.Dispose();
This worked alot better.

Updating Database via Anonymous Type?

The following code gets all the rows from my Activities table that have not already been posted on Twitter. It then loops through and posts Twitter updates for each of those row. In the process, I would like to update the database to indicate these rows have now been "twittered".
However, I'm getting an error (indicated below) when I try and update this value. I assume this is because I'm using an anonymous type. However, if I use the full type, that will require pulling a lot of unnecessary data from the database.
Is there a way to accomplish this efficiently? Or is this yet another case where EF forces me to make compromises in performance?
using (MyEntities context = new MyEntities())
{
var activities = from act in context.Activities
where act.ActTwittered == false
select new { act.ActID, act.ActTitle, act.Category,
act.ActDateTime, act.Location, act.ActTwittered };
foreach (var activity in activities)
{
twitter.PostUpdate("...");
activity.ActTwittered = true; // <== Error: ActTwittered is read-only
}
}

You could try a "fake object approach" like this:
using (MyEntities context = new MyEntities())
{
var activities = from act in context.Activities
where act.ActTwittered == false
select new { act.ActID, act.ActTitle, act.Category,
act.ActDateTime, act.Location, act.ActTwittered };
foreach (var activity in activities)
{
twitter.PostUpdate("...");
// Create fake object with necessary primary key
var act = new Activity()
{
ActID = activity.ActID,
ActTwittered = false
};
// Attach to context -> act is in state "Unchanged"
// but change-tracked now
context.Activities.Attach(act);
// Change a property -> act is in state "Modified" now
act.ActTwittered = true;
}
// all act are sent to server with sql-update statements
// only for the ActTwittered column
context.SaveChanges();
}
It's "theoretical" code, not sure if it would work.
Edit
Not "theoretical" anymore. I've tested this with DbContext of EF 4.1 and it works as described in the sample code above. (Because DbContext is only a wrapper API around ObjectContext it's almost safe to assume that it also will work in EF 4.0.)

If you simply select 'act', then it should work. Don't forget to submit after editing.

Why are you calling select new instead of returning entire object. Entity framework will only be able to update property if it is correctly defined in schema resources which certainly is not case with anonymous type.
Entity framework will never be able to determine which table and which field the property is mapped to.