C# – How to Handle Primary Key in Entity Framework 5 Code First

centity-frameworkentity-framework-5sql

In my EF5 code-first models, creation of new records works better if the database sets the primary key. I am using a Guid for primary key and if DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity is set, SQL Server will always create the uniqueidentifier.

However, this causes issues when I am trying to initially seed the database. If I set the Guid in my seed method, SQL Server overrides it. If I don't set the Guid, I get a new record every time. What is a recommended solution to seed the database using pre-set Guids and keep DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity set for my normal operations?

Example class model:

[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public Guid Id { get; set; }
public RecordName { get; set; }
public DateTime? Created { get; set; }
public DateTime? Updated { get; set; }

Example seed method:

var record = new Record()
            {
                Id = new Guid("3B80725E-9550-4933-807F-C2FAA0942225"),
                RecordName = "New Record",
                Created = DateTime.UtcNow,
                Updated = DateTime.UtcNow,
             };
context.Record.AddOrUpdate(record);
context.SaveChanges();

Best Answer

AddOrUpdate has an overload that allows you to specify the key

From MSDN

So you need to supply the method with the natural key:

context.Record.AddOrUpdate(c => c.RecordName, new Record()
            {
                RecordName = "New Record",
                Created = DateTime.UtcNow,
                Updated = DateTime.UtcNow,
             })

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.net – Entity Framework vs LINQ to SQL

LINQ to SQL only supports 1 to 1 mapping of database tables, views, sprocs and functions available in Microsoft SQL Server. It's a great API to use for quick data access construction to relatively well designed SQL Server databases. LINQ2SQL was first released with C# 3.0 and .Net Framework 3.5.

LINQ to Entities (ADO.Net Entity Framework) is an ORM (Object Relational Mapper) API which allows for a broad definition of object domain models and their relationships to many different ADO.Net data providers. As such, you can mix and match a number of different database vendors, application servers or protocols to design an aggregated mash-up of objects which are constructed from a variety of tables, sources, services, etc. ADO.Net Framework was released with the .Net Framework 3.5 SP1.

This is a good introductory article on MSDN: Introducing LINQ to Relational Data

SQLite – UPSERT not INSERT or REPLACE

Assuming three columns in the table: ID, NAME, ROLE

BAD: This will insert or replace all columns with new values for ID=1:

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO Employee (id, name, role) 
  VALUES (1, 'John Foo', 'CEO');

BAD: This will insert or replace 2 of the columns... the NAME column will be set to NULL or the default value:

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO Employee (id, role) 
  VALUES (1, 'code monkey');

GOOD: Use SQLite On conflict clause UPSERT support in SQLite! UPSERT syntax was added to SQLite with version 3.24.0!

UPSERT is a special syntax addition to INSERT that causes the INSERT to behave as an UPDATE or a no-op if the INSERT would violate a uniqueness constraint. UPSERT is not standard SQL. UPSERT in SQLite follows the syntax established by PostgreSQL.

GOOD but tedious: This will update 2 of the columns. When ID=1 exists, the NAME will be unaffected. When ID=1 does not exist, the name will be the default (NULL).

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO Employee (id, role, name) 
  VALUES (  1, 
            'code monkey',
            (SELECT name FROM Employee WHERE id = 1)
          );

This will update 2 of the columns. When ID=1 exists, the ROLE will be unaffected. When ID=1 does not exist, the role will be set to 'Benchwarmer' instead of the default value.

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO Employee (id, name, role) 
  VALUES (  1, 
            'Susan Bar',
            COALESCE((SELECT role FROM Employee WHERE id = 1), 'Benchwarmer')
          );

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