ASP.NET Entity Framework - Create Trigger Programatically - ef-code-first

I posted this question on the ASP.NET forums, and was eventually directed to post the same question here.
Original asp.net forums post: http://forums.asp.net/t/1774923.aspx/1?Database+Generated+DateTimes
I'm trying to add CreatedDate and ModifedDate to my Code First models. If this were database first I would have added a GETDATE() default value to both of these. A few options were presented on how to do this using C.F.. However, I think the cleanest suggestion was to use triggers to manage these date fields.
Is there a way to manage the creation of triggers using the E.F./C.F. so that I don't have to re-create them every time my model changes?
ricka6 from the asp.net forums suggested I include the following post as it may be related: Mapping many to many relationship
Thank you!
-Walker

Try using EF 4.3 with database migrations, so your database won't be recreated every time your model changes. Alternatively, you can take a look at this question for ideas how to create custom database initializer.

Related

Creating Classes from Exising Database

I have ben following through a tutorial that shows how to get started creating a Web Forms Application in ASP.NET...and have got to the part where you create Data Classes. These assume you are starting from scratch and generating the database from code - however - I already have a database created and populated from elsewhere.
Entering line by line to create the Class for each table seems very laborious. (I'm using VB.Net and VS 2013 by the way)
Q1. Can anyone help by suggesting a more automated way of doing this? Surely there is a tool to grab the schema?
Q2. Although the tutorial mentions Entity Framework and Code Behind briefly - having done some reading and research - I am very confused by all of the different terms for data access. Am I using ADO.NET ?? Is the methodology called Code Behind as opposed to something else? Are there better ways to connect to a database and Read/Update/Delete records.
Q3. If I want to use a Data Grid to show the data do I use the generated classes to do this - or just 'bind' the grid directly to the database?
I have been a developer for 40 years but the newer .Net models are causing me some confusion so any advice gratefully received. (and any simple books or tutorials that can be suggested would be helpful).
Thanks
Q1: What you want is to generate "EF Designer from database" by using a Entity Data Model.
In your project add a new item and look under "Data".
What this technique does is auto generating entity classes from your predefined database.
Q2: I suggest you read Getting started with Entity Framework. "Database First" is just a description of how you want to use the Entity framework - by saying you already have a database structure.
Q3: In this case if you use Entity Framework and the "database first" mechanism to generate entities you can databind the gridview from the result of a entity LINQ query, please see this example: Tutorial: Databinding

Out Of Memory when using Entity Framework with large database (600+ entities)

I'm using Entity Framework 5 with large database with 600+ tables (haven't counted stored procedure and views yet). After few start and running using Visual Studio 2012 I get Out of Memory error when trying to Update my Model.EDMX file (using right click Update from Database) or simply while trying to compile.
Quick google search says many people faced similar problem and someone in one forum suggested to use multiple EDMX files to avoid this.
(link http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/adodotnetentityframework/thread/b4ce1494-a0b4-42c6-af56-4ecbfeb83e29)
My question is
1) Is there any way I can avoid this error and use large number of tables without trouble with EF?
2) Is Entity Framework model is right ORM for me for large enterprise database? If not, can someone suggest me good one?
Thanks in advance
To answer your first question.
I have found that updating the Entity Framework does not seem to work reliably in all cases.
Have you tried deleting all the objects in the model and inserting them again? It may be an acceptable workaround.
I'd recommend spending some time looking into nHibernate. It's not as user friendly in terms as UI than Entity Framework but that should be an advantage for you if you are dealing with a large number of tables.
http://nhforge.org/Default.aspx
Also, you're aware that you don't have to map all of the tables in your Entity model? You can just bring in the ones you need. I'm assuming that you don't need all 600 tables for what you're doing.

Dynamically update table rows in entity framework

Can anyone tell how to update table rows dynamically in entity framework? I am new in entity framework. Thanks in advance.
This is a pretty general question, but what you need to do is basically this:
Access your data context.
Get a given object (/record) from your context (/database).
Change the object.
Call SaveChanges() on the data context.
If you are learning EF a site that helped me a lot when I was learning it is http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg696194(VS.103).aspx. It contains lots of information in problem/solution format. You can also look at this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Entity-Framework-Building-Centric/dp/0596807260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355991856&sr=8-1&keywords=entity+framework
or this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Entity-Framework-Code-First/dp/1449312942/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355991858&sr=8-4&keywords=entity+framework
which are both quite useful depending on whether you wish to use the designer or Code First.

I am needing to change the table schema without reloading the app domain (EF Model Caching Issue)

I have a custom implementation of a multi tenant code first system basically SQL Schema Divisions of the tenants. I am using the ToTable method to map the schema correctly on the first call, but as I have read about the model being cached changing the schema on the second call do a different tenant does not work. Is there any ways in EF 4.1 to disable the caching or to rebuild the model every time.. Yes i know this is not great for performance. Thanks for any help..
Although it is an old question, but for all those who face this issue and end up finding this question for a possible solution. Here it goes...
Initially caching could be turned off by setting the "CacheForContextType" property of the ModelBuilder to ‘false’ in the OnModelCreating method. This method is defined in DBContext as virtual and needs to be overridden. But in EF 4.1 this property has been removed, since model creation is an expensive process and the Microsoft team wanted to promote a better pattern. Check this link
It seems like the Build() command on the ModelBuilder is what you're looking for.
modelBuilder.Build().Compile().CreateObjectContext...

Add columns to SqlWebEventProvider

In an ASP.NET application, we'd like to use the SqlWebEventProvider to log any Event that occurs during the application lifetime.
The problem is that we think that the table aspnet_WebEvent_Event doesn't provide enough columns and should log more information (we need to keep the Logged user).
I'm aware that this information could be stored in the "Details" column but it wouldn't then be really simple to filter the results and build reports.
So I'm searching for a simple solution to add a column. I wish I could derive SqlWebEventProvider but the methods used to build the stored procedure parameters are private (PrepareParams() and FillParams()).
Any simple solution that doesn't imply to rewrite the entire Provider class ?
Instead of adding columns to the SqlWebEventProvider and it's table default schema, you may consider creating your own WebEventProvider that logs events to a database of your own schema.
Here is an introductory reference on how to do so.
http://bit.ly/2fXeuH
After a lot of searching it seems that it is not possible without inheriting from the existing SqlWebEventProvider and overriding the methods properly to insert the values.
You can look into the .NET Framework code to check for the current implementation with .Net Reflector

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