28/3/2014

Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

Posted by dotConnect Team on August 9th, 2011

This article deals with the following: StoreGeneratedPattern Identity Computed DefaultValue InsertNullBehaviour Example Conclusion

StoreGeneratedPattern
Entity Framework contains an excellent functionality of server-generated columns of the entity that is intended for defining the primary key values on the database side, concurrency check and so on. This is done by setting StoreGeneratedPattern of columns of the EF-model storage part (SSDL) to either Identity or Computed.

Identity
In a number of databases (Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite), StoreGeneratedPattern.Identity of the columns primary key is defined by the EF-designer when a model is created against the database and if these columns are made auto-increment in the database. Oracle does not have any standard way of making a column auto-increment, thus, in the database, the users have to create a sequence and the BEFORE INSERT trigger that defines the value of an auto-increment column based on the sequence; when the model is created, the users have to set the value of StoreGeneratedPattern manually in the model editor.

Computed
In most cases, supporting this functionality involves writing UPDATE-triggers in the database, which takes time and requires knowledge of a specific programming language other than SQL, for example, PL/SQL in
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Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

Oracle.

DefaultValue
To facilitate and speed up the process of development as well as to increase its flexibility, we have provided the users of our EF-providers for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite with a capability that, in simple cases, obviates the need to write INSERT and UPDATE triggers and to set a default value for columns in the database. This can also be useful when you need, if possible, to use existing objects rather than modify the database. Now, you can assign values to columns by specifying database functions in the columns DefaultValue attribute in the storage part of the EF model (SSDL). If you use Entity Data Model Designer, you will need to edit the models XML using an XML editor. Bear in mind that the DefaultValue standard attribute is checked by EF-validation and that is why it cannot be used to call a DB-function. For that reason, we have introduced the new custom devart:DefaultValue SSDL attribute (if you need to edit manually the EDMX file, do not forget to add the attribute xmlns:devart=http://devart.com/schemas/edml/StorageSchemaExtensions/1.0 to the tag Schema in SSDL). The devart:DefaultValue attribute does not trigger the type consistency check, so you can use a wider range of default values, like CURRENT_TIMESTAMP or MY_SEQUENCE.NEXTVAL. If you use Devart Entity Developer, you will be able to set the value for DefaultValue in the designer, and it will store this value correctly either in the DefaultValue attribute or in devart:DefaultValue , as required.

InsertNullBehaviour
To use this functionality, you need to configure the EF-provider. For more information on the specifics of configuration, see New Features of Entity Framework Support in dotConnect Providers; for the purpose of the present article we shall review a small example that shows how to customize the DefaultValue processing behavior. In this example, we deal with the dotConnect for Oracle provider, but the procedure is identical for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. v a rc o n f i g=O r a c l e E n t i t y P r o v i d e r C o n f i g . I n s t a n c e ;

c o n f i g . D m l O p t i o n s . I n s e r t N u l l B e h a v i o u r=I n s e r t N u l l B e h a v i o u r . I n s e r t D e f a / /o r c o n f i g . D m l O p t i o n s . I n s e r t N u l l B e h a v i o u r=I n s e r t N u l l B e h a v i o u r . I n s e r t D e f a New features are configured in the <ProviderName>EntityProviderConfig class. This class is available in the Devart.Data.<ProviderName>.Entity assembly. Dont forget to add this Devart.Data. <ProviderName>.Entity.dll assembly as Reference for the corresponding Entity Framework version (support for the new functionality is available for EF v1 and v4.x). For more information on capabilities of InsertNullBehaviour, see here.

Example
As an example, we shall use a table in Oracle, in which we want to define the behavior of the store generated columns in the model rather than create triggers. For the purpose of this example, we also suppose that we already have a sequence (MY_SEQUENCE) and a database function (MY_FUNCTION) that we can now use. Lets demonstrate all the capabilities within a single example.
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Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

Below is the script for creating the table: C R E A T ET A B L E" P r o d u c t s "( I DN U M B E R ( 9 )P R I M A R YK E Y , " P r o d u c t N a m e "V A R C H A R 2 ( 1 6 0 )N O TN U L L , " P r i c e "N U M B E R ( 1 0 ,2 ) , " F u n c t i o n G e n e r a t e d V a l u e "N U M B E RN O TN U L L , " M o d i f i e d B y "V A R C H A R 2 ( 3 0 )N O TN U L L , " L a s t M o d i f i e d "T I M E S T A M PN O TN U L L ) XML-representation of the entity in the storage model (SSDL):

< E n t i t y T y p eN a m e = " P r o d u c t s " > < K e y > < P r o p e r t y R e fN a m e = " I D "/ > < / K e y > < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " I D "T y p e = " i n t "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "/ > < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " P r o d u c t N a m e "T y p e = " V A R C H A R 2 "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "M a x L e n < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " P r i c e "T y p e = " d o u b l e "/ > < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " F u n c t i o n G e n e r a t e d V a l u e "T y p e = " d e c i m a l "N u l l a b l e = " f a l < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " M o d i f i e d B y "T y p e = " V A R C H A R 2 "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "M a x L e n g < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " L a s t M o d i f i e d "T y p e = " T I M E S T A M P "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "/ > < / E n t i t y T y p e > Now we shall modify mapping by defining the following rules: The ID column, which is the primary key, will be defined through the value of the sequence MY_SEQUENCE on INSERT. The FunctionGeneratedValue column will be defined through the call of the user-defined function MY_FUNCTION() on INSERT. The ModifiedBy will be defined through the system database function USER on INSERT and UPDATE. The LastModified column will be defined through the system database function CURRENT_TIMESTAMP on INSERT and UPDATE. This column will be used for concurrency check, so we need to set ConcurrencyMode=Fixed for this column in the conceptual model. XML SSDL after modification is shown below:

< E n t i t y T y p eN a m e = " P r o d u c t s " > < K e y > < P r o p e r t y R e fN a m e = " I D "/ > < / K e y > < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " I D "T y p e = " i n t "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "S t o r e G e n e r a t e d P a t t e r < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " P r o d u c t N a m e "T y p e = " V A R C H A R 2 "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "M a x L e n < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " P r i c e "T y p e = " d o u b l e "/ > < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " F u n c t i o n G e n e r a t e d V a l u e "T y p e = " d e c i m a l "N u l l a b l e = " f a l < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " M o d i f i e d B y "T y p e = " V A R C H A R 2 "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "M a x L e n g < P r o p e r t yN a m e = " L a s t M o d i f i e d "T y p e = " T I M E S T A M P "N u l l a b l e = " f a l s e "S t o r < / E n t i t y T y p e >
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Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

Below shown is an example of C# code:

2

Tweet

/ /H e r ew et u r no nt h em o n i t o r i n go fi n t e r a c t i o nw i t ht h ed a t a b a s et h r v a rm o n=n e wD e v a r t . D a t a . O r a c l e . O r a c l e M o n i t o r{I s A c t i v e=t r u e} ;

/ /2H e r ew ec o n f i g u r et h eE F p r o v i d e r ,s ot h a tt h ed e f a u l tv a l u e sd e f i n v a rc o n f i g=O r a c l e E n t i t y P r o v i d e r C o n f i g . I n s t a n c e ; c o n f i g . D m l O p t i o n s . I n s e r t N u l l B e h a v i o u r=I n s e r t N u l l B e h a v i o u r . I n s e r t D e f a

/ /H e r ew ec r e a t et h ec o n t e x ta n dp e r f o r mi n s e r ta n du p d a t eo ft h ee n t u s i n g( v a rc t x=n e wE n t i t i e s ( ) ){ P r o d u c t sp r o d u c t=n e wP r o d u c t s ( ){ P r o d u c t N a m e=" G a d g e t " , P r i c e=2 2 0 . 2 5 } ; c t x . P r o d u c t s . A d d O b j e c t ( p r o d u c t ) ; c t x . S a v e C h a n g e s ( ) ;/ /I N S E R T p r o d u c t . P r i c e=1 9 9 . 9 9 ; c t x . S a v e C h a n g e s ( ) ;/ /U P D A T E

To monitor queries sent to the server, we recommend that you use Devart dbMonitor, a free tool, that is compatible with Devart EF-providers. However, the use of this monitor is recommended only on the stage of development and debugging of the application, since its use causes a drop in performance. Shown below is SQL generated on INSERT:

D E C L A R E u p d a t e d R o w i dR O W I D ; B E G I N I N S E R TI N T O" P r o d u c t s " ( I D ," F u n c t i o n G e n e r a t e d V a l u e " ," M o d i f i e d B y " , V A L U E S( M Y _ S E Q U E N C E . N E X T V A L ,M Y _ F U N C T I O N ( ) ,U S E R ,C U R R E N T _ T I M E S T A M P R E T U R N I N GR O W I DI N T Ou p d a t e d R o w i d ; O P E N: o u t P a r a m e t e rF O RS E L E C TI D ," F u n c t i o n G e n e r a t e d V a l u e " ," M o d i f i e d B E N D ; Shown below is SQL generated on UPDATE:

D E C L A R E u p d a t e d R o w i dR O W I D ; B E G I N U P D A T E" P r o d u c t s " S E T" M o d i f i e d B y "=U S E R ," L a s t M o d i f i e d "=C U R R E N T _ T I M E S T A M P ," P r i c e W H E R EI D=: p 1A N D" L a s t M o d i f i e d "=: p 2 R E T U R N I N GR O W I DI N T Ou p d a t e d R o w i d ; O P E N: o u t P a r a m e t e rF O RS E L E C T" M o d i f i e d B y " ," L a s t M o d i f i e d "F R O M" P r o d u
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Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

E N D ;

Conclusion
As we have seen, this functionality is extremely simple to use. If you, as yet, do not use Entity Developer, whose EF-version is shipped with our EF-providers, consider doing so, since it allows modifying the storage model much more easily and more conveniently than a standard EDM designer does and hence is a more suitable tool for this purpose. Nor should you forget to monitor SQL being sent on the development stage, so that you can be sure that everything works as intended. See also Oracle 12c Support and More New Features in New Versions of Devart Products Model-Defined Functions in Entity Developer Enhanced Entity Framework Spatials support for Oracle, MySQL and PostgreSQL Entity Framework 6 Support for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, DB2 and Salesforce New Features in Entity Developer 5.0

2 Responses to Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers
1. Max1ce Says:
November 15th, 2011 at 5:30 pm

How would you use the DefaultValue in a code-first approach without using the designer? 2. Shalex Says:
November 17th, 2011 at 1:25 pm

Microsoft does not allow setting default value in the current version of EF Code-First fluent mapping. There are several suggestions about the default value support at official Entity Framework UserVoice: http://data.uservoice.com/forums/72025-ado-net-entity-framework-ef-featuresuggestions/suggestions/1050341-allow-setting-default-values-from-model?ref=title http://data.uservoice.com/forums/72025-ado-net-entity-framework-ef-featuresuggestions/suggestions/1501715-more-options-in-code-first-db-generation?ref=title Search for:
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Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

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Set Identity and Computed Properties in Entity Framework Without Triggers

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