Writing to the database from LINQ in C# - c#

I am trying to write some content to my database via LINQ. Currently, I'm getting the following error:
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'MyTable' when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
I understand this is a primary key related issue. My table has the identity specification set to "Yes" with Identity Increment set to "1". But I have successfully updated other tables using code that looks like the following:
using (DataModelDataContext context = new DataModelDataContext())
{
List<MyTable> newRecords = new List<MyTable>();
MyTable record1 = new MyTable();
record1.CreatedBy = GetUserName();
record1.Information = GetInformation();
newRecords.Add(record1);
MyTable record2 = new MyTable();
record2.CreatedBy = GetUserName();
record2.Information = GetInformation();
newRecords.Add(record2);
context.MyTables.InsertAllOnSubmit(newRecords);
context.SubmitChanges();
}
What would cause this error? If I want to write new records, is there a way to set the primary key before it gets sent to the db? Something like "GetNextKey()" or something? Basically, I just need to insert these records. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks!

The code you have posted would work, assuming neither of those fields have the identity value. You basically need to assure you do not try to set the identity value before you add the item to the Table collection. (actually, you should never set the identity value from your code in most circumstances when it is to be generated in the DB).
So somewhere, the code that is having an error is trying to set the identity field's value.

If the ID is important (say you're importing data, and records you'll be inserting later will reference these records), then turn off the identity temporarily while you perform the insert. If having a particular ID on each record doesn't matter, and you can let the identity column pick one (which is 99.9 percent of the time), make sure you're not specifying a value for the ID before trying to save the record. Also make sure that your mapping between the object and the DB specifies that the ID is an identity, so EF knows not to try to insert the ID column.

Check to make sure your primary key/identity column has the following set within the DBML:
Auto Generated Value: True
Auto-Sync: OnInsert
This will make sure that LINQ-To-SQL will not try and insert the key value into that column and that it will update the value after an insert takes place. These should be on when you added the table to the DBML.

Related

LINQ to SQL: inserting child entity fails because ID is not included in SQL?

I'm doing a very simple insert into a database by assigning the child of an LINQ-to-SQL entity, but it's failing on the foreign key.
The code is:
var imageStripFileAltText = new ImageStripFileAltText();
imageStripFileAltText.Alt = "alt text";
imageStripFile.ImageStripFileAltText = imageStripFileAltText;
db.SubmitChanges();
imageStripFile is a custom type ImageStripFile with a corresponding table in the database.
db is a DataContext.
When I inspect imageStripFile.ImageStripFileAltText in the debugger, I see that it has been assigned the correct foreign key Id, that is, the primary key of imageStripFile. However, I get the following Exception:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: 'The INSERT statement conflicted
with the FOREIGN KEY constraint
"FK_ImageStripFileAltText_ImageStripFile". The conflict occurred in
database "Cms", table "dbo.ImageStripFile", column 'Id'.
Since I made sure the ImageStripFile with the corresponding ID exists, this baffled me, until I inspected the generated SQL:
DECLARE #p0 NVarChar(4000) = 'alt text'
INSERT INTO [dbo].[ImageStripFileAltText]([Alt])
VALUES (#p0)
The generated SQL does not include the ID in the parameters!
What am I doing wrong?
I've also tried directly assigning the foreign key ID:
var imageStripFileAltText =
new ImageStripFileAltText() { ImageStripFileId = imageStripFile.Id };
but the result is the same.
Edit: If I remove the IsIdentity property from the child table's primary key (which I now believe is the correct situation), I get a different Exception:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: 'Cannot insert the value NULL into
column 'ImageStripFileId', table 'Cms.dbo.ImageStripFileAltText';
column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails.
Note that this corresponds with the generated SQL as well.
In my scenario, the PK field in my table was not auto incremented i.e. IsIdentity was set to false. Try checking this in your tables.
Wow. I was building my model on the Development Database and executing the code on the Production Database, on which the ImageStripFileAltText table had a slightly different scheme (probably something with IsIdentity?), since I was still tinkering with it when I wrote the code.
Long story short: the code is fine; don't be an idiot and work diligently.
IsIdentity needs to set true of ID and set autoincremented

How does Entity Framework handle Default constraints in the database table?

I am working on code which I cannot run until it's finished, as it is a long and tedious process to go through. I have been tasked to add a new table to the existing database, update the .edmx of the model and write a method to add new rows to the table through c# backend code.
In my situation, I have 2 default constraints on my table
SomeTable
------------
ID INT IDENTITY (1,1) PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED,
SomeDate DATETIME2 NOT NULL DEFAULT GETDATE(),
SomeOtherField VARCHAR(1024) NOT NULL DEFAULT ''
Using the .edmx model of this table, I set SomeDate's StoreGeneratedPattern to Computed. I also manually double-checked it in the SSDL to ensure the computed StoreGeneratedPattern attribute was on the SomeDate Field in the SomeTable entity.
As far as I know, and are unsure of, when I have a the following code
public void AddSomeRow(...)
{
SomeDbContext context = new SomeDbContext;
var table = new SomeTable { SomeOtherField = "Value" };
context.SomeTables.Add(table);
context.SaveChanges();
}
I believe the SomeDate Field will be set to it's default constraint (because it hasn't been populated in the entity). Is this true?
Doing the same steps listed above for SomeOtherField, can I still manually give it a value (the value appearing into that field instead of the Default Constraint) or omit it (The default constraint will be set into that field)?
This question was hard to explain, I apologize if it doesn't make sense
The StoreGeneratedPattern implies that the value is always generated by the DB, so that you're not allowed to modify it. I.e it only makes sense for DB computed columns.
At least until EF 6.1 there is no direct way to support DB defaults. The only thing that you can do is move the default values out of the DB and generate them in the model (or code first) side. You'll find some work-aounds but they're not safe for some cases (specially for N-tier apps).

get identity when adding via entity framework

I'm using entity framework to insert a new record into my templates database. I would like to know what the identity of the inserted record is after the insert is done.
my code for inserting the record...
WEBSITE_ORDER_LINE_TEMPLATES newTemplate = new WEBSITE_ORDER_LINE_TEMPLATES();
newTemplate.customerNo = Customer.CustomerNo;
newTemplate.templateName = txtSaveTemplate.Text.Trim();
dpot.WEBSITE_ORDER_LINE_TEMPLATES.Add(newTemplate);
i want to know what the templateId is... in sql, this field is set as primary key and IsIdentity=Yes.
is there a quick way to get this value without searching the database where customer and templatename match? I need to know the ID because after this part, i want to enter template line information and there's a foreign key on that table on the templateId in this table.
Call the SaveChanges() method. EF updates the newTemplate.templateId with SELECT SCOPE_IDENTITY() after the INSERT.

How can I set the primary key value to other col in table when I insert a new row in SQL Server

I am using LINQ-to-SQL class. I am inserting a new row using LINQ method object.InsertOnSubmit().
I need to set same value which is generate by SQL Server (using Identity) for table primary key column.
Now I need the same value at the time of inserting new row into table. And set the same value for other column in the same table at the time of insert only.
As I cannot update as after inserting because table has UPDATE TRIGGER.
I tried the following
_db.EmpNews.InsertOnSubmit(_EmpNews);
...
_db.DisplaySeq = _EmpNews.ID;
...
_db.SubmitChanges();
Where ID is the auto-generated (Identity) column.
The first question really is: why would you need to store the same value in two separate columns in the same table? What do you need this for? Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me....
Since the value of the IDENTITY column is only available once the row has actually been inserted, there is no way to get that value and set it to another column before the row has indeed been saved to the database table.
That basically leaves three options to get that value and store it somewhere else:
you can write an AFTER INSERT trigger that just set the other column to the value that's just been inserted in the IDENTITY column
you could wrap the whole saving process into a stored procedure which you call from your C# code (instead of just saving the object) and you would do the INSERT of the row, then get the newly created IDENTITY value and update the row again with that new value. But that would cause an UPDATE to happen - which you seem to say is impossible for you because of an UPDATE trigger (not quite clear on why this should be a problem....)
you can write two lines of C# code to get the IDENTITY value after it's been inserted (and available in the ID property of your object) and then store the object a second time. But that, too, would cause an UPDATE to happen - which you seem to say is impossible for you because of an UPDATE trigger (not quite clear on why this should be a problem....)
So I guess your best option would be an INSERT trigger to do this.
Try something like this:
CREATE TRIGGER trInsertEmpNews
ON dbo.EmpNews AFTER INSERT
AS BEGIN
UPDATE dbo.EmpNews
SET DisplaySeq = i.ID
FROM INSERTED i
WHERE dbo.EmpNews.ID = i.ID
END

Entity Framework 4 Returning KEY/Primary Key

Entity Framework 4 Returning KEY/Primary Key
I’m Trying to find a way to Return a Key/Primary Key without having to create a stored procedure to do it for me using:
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[UserRecords]
(
#Name varchar(10)
) AS
-- INSERT the new record
INSERT INTO MyTable (Name)
VALUES(#Name)
-- Now return the InventoryID of the newly inserted record
SELECT SCOPE_IDENTITY() AS ID
Though Visual Studio 2010 I then Use the Add Function Import From the Model Browser and Create a Complex Type.
Then Though C# i use the Following Code to check its working.
SQL_DB_Entities DB= new SQL_DB_Entities();
var ReturnValue = DB.UserRecords("BOB").First();
Console.Write(ReturnValue.ID);
Console.Read();
I'm simply looking for a better way to return the ID and also being very sure im not going to cause head aches for myself laster on down the track.
If you feel this is not the best way to return the key please let me know.
I have Tried it this way but returns 0
SQL_DB_Entities DB = new SQL_DB_Entities();
User UserObject = new User{Name = “BOB”};
DB.AddToUserTable(UserObject);
DB.SaveChanges():
Int key = UserObject.ID;
Console.WriteLine(key.ToString());
I should also mention that the DB is looking after the Primary Keys not my application.
If you correctly setup StoreGeneratedPattern to Identity in your entity and if you have autogenerated PKs in the database, EF will fill the Ids of your inserted entities after each save changes. Check this article to understand store generated pattern.
Normally PKs are dealt with as a particular property on an EF Object EntityKey. You are probably best to have a look at EntityKeys.
The usual way is to set the StoreGeneratedPattern property of the PK column in your model as Identity. Or if you are using code-first, annotate the property with:
[Key, DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
I am not sure whether this works with sprocs, though. By the way, any special reason you are using sprocs in this case?

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