Lazy Loading,Eager Loading,Explicit Loading

in Entity Framework 4

This is going to be the ninth post of a series of posts regarding ASP.Net and the Entity Framework and
how we can use Entity Framework to access our datastore. You can find the first one here, the second
one here , the third one here , the fourth one here, the fifth one here ,the sixth one here ,the seventh
one here and the eighth one here.

I have a post regarding ASP.Net and EntityDataSource. You can read it here.I have 3 more posts on
Profiling Entity Framework applications. You can have a look at them here, here andhere.
In this post I will be looking into Lazy Loading, Eager Loading, Explicit Loading options . It is very
important to know what happens when EF generates on the fly the SQL queries that hit the database. You
must understand exactly what is hitting your database.I know a lot of people who are using EF and have
performance issues with their applications. Most of the time , they get surprised with the number of queries
that hit the database to return the data.

I assume that you have access to a version of SQL Server.If you do not, you can download and install the
free SQL Server Express edition from here.
In this post (step 9) you will find a T-SQL script that will create the database objects of
theCompanyEmployees database.Before that you execute the T-SQL script you must create in the Query
window the CompanyEmployees database yourself. You can download
thecompaniesemployeesinsertt.zip to insert data into the tables.
1) Launch Visual Studio 2010 (express edition will work fine). Create an empty ASP.Net web site from the
available templates and choose a suitable name for it. Choose C# as the development language.
2) Add a new item to your website,a web form.Leave the default name.
3) Add a new project to your solution, a class library project.Remove the class1.cs file from the project.
4) Add a new ADO.Net Entity Data model to the class library project. Choose a suitable name for it,
e.g CompanyEmployees.edmx.
5) Then the Wizard pops up. Choose "Generate from Database" option and finish the steps of the wizard by
selecting only the tables (Companies,Employees) to be included in the model. Now you have your model
ready with all the entities and the generated code.
6) Lazy Loading is enabled by default in EF version 4. Let's write a small query and see how it behaves.We
will get the company names for the first 3 companies and then ask for their employee's first name.
You must have your SQL Profiler launched and have the SQL:BatchStarting andRPC:Completed events
selected in your new trace.Run the trace.Remember we do not have to do anything to enable Lazy Loading.

In the Page_Load() event handling routine of the Default.aspx page type,
using(var ctx = new CompanyEmployeesEntities())
{

var query = ctx.Companies.Take(3);

foreach (var company in query)
{
Response.Write(company.CompanyName);

Response.Write("<br/>");


foreach (var emp in company.Employees)
{
Response.Write(emp.EmpFirstName);
Response.Write("<br/>");
}
}

}

7) Run your application and you will see that we get the company names and their associated employees
first names. Have a look at the SQL Profiler trace. In my case we have 4 queries (our database is being hit 4
times). I have the first query selecting the first 3 companies and then 3 queries to get the employees for
that company.
SELECT TOP (3)
[c].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID],
[c].[CompanyName] AS [CompanyName]
FROM [dbo].[Companies] AS [c]
exec sp_executesql N'SELECT
[Extent1].[EmpID] AS [EmpID],
[Extent1].[EmpFirstName] AS [EmpFirstName],
[Extent1].[EmpLastName] AS [EmpLastName],
[Extent1].[Email] AS [Email],
[Extent1].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID],
[Extent1].[Street] AS [Street],
[Extent1].[City] AS [City],
[Extent1].[Country] AS [Country],
[Extent1].[PostalCode] AS [PostalCode],
[Extent1].[Phone] AS [Phone]
FROM [dbo].[Employees] AS [Extent1]
WHERE [Extent1].[CompanyID] = @EntityKeyValue1',N'@EntityKeyValue1 int',@EntityKeyValue1=1
exec sp_executesql N'SELECT
[Extent1].[EmpID] AS [EmpID],
[Extent1].[EmpFirstName] AS [EmpFirstName],
[Extent1].[EmpLastName] AS [EmpLastName],
[Extent1].[Email] AS [Email],
[Extent1].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID],
[Extent1].[Street] AS [Street],
[Extent1].[City] AS [City],
[Extent1].[Country] AS [Country],
[Extent1].[PostalCode] AS [PostalCode],
[Extent1].[Phone] AS [Phone]
FROM [dbo].[Employees] AS [Extent1]
WHERE [Extent1].[CompanyID] = @EntityKeyValue1',N'@EntityKeyValue1 int',@EntityKeyValue1=2
exec sp_executesql N'SELECT
[Extent1].[EmpID] AS [EmpID],
[Extent1].[EmpFirstName] AS [EmpFirstName],
[Extent1].[EmpLastName] AS [EmpLastName],
[Extent1].[Email] AS [Email],
[Extent1].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID],
[Extent1].[Street] AS [Street],
[Extent1].[City] AS [City],
[Extent1].[Country] AS [Country],
[Extent1].[PostalCode] AS [PostalCode],
[Extent1].[Phone] AS [Phone]
FROM [dbo].[Employees] AS [Extent1]
WHERE [Extent1].[CompanyID] = @EntityKeyValue1',N'@EntityKeyValue1 int',@EntityKeyValue1=3


8) Let's move on to the Eager Loading option that we have . Under this line
using(var ctx = new CompanyEmployeesEntities())
{
type

ctx.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = false;
which means that I disable Lazy Loading.This is an option that belongs to theObjectContext object.
9) Run again your application. You will not see the related entities (employees first names) displayed on the
screen.
In the SQL Profiler, the trace has only this query executed in my database,
SELECT TOP (3) [c].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID], [c].[CompanyName] AS [CompanyName] FROM
[dbo].[Companies] AS [c]
Let's try to load the related entities using the Include() method

Just after the line your just typed,
ctx.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = false;
add this line of code
var query = ctx.Companies.Include("Employees").Take(3);
Comment out this line of code.
var query = ctx.Companies.Take(3);

Clear the trace results and start your trace again.
Run your application and see the results.You will see the 3 companies and their related entities - employees
first names displayed on the screen.
If you look at the trace results you will see just one query hitting the database. In my case it looks like this
SELECT
[Project1].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID],
[Project1].[CompanyName] AS [CompanyName],
[Project1].[C1] AS [C1],
[Project1].[EmpID] AS [EmpID],
[Project1].[EmpFirstName] AS [EmpFirstName],
[Project1].[EmpLastName] AS [EmpLastName],
[Project1].[Email] AS [Email],
[Project1].[CompanyID1] AS [CompanyID1],
[Project1].[Street] AS [Street],
[Project1].[City] AS [City],
[Project1].[Country] AS [Country],
[Project1].[PostalCode] AS [PostalCode],
[Project1].[Phone] AS [Phone]
FROM ( SELECT
[Limit1].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID],
[Limit1].[CompanyName] AS [CompanyName],
[Extent2].[EmpID] AS [EmpID],
[Extent2].[EmpFirstName] AS [EmpFirstName],
[Extent2].[EmpLastName] AS [EmpLastName],
[Extent2].[Email] AS [Email],
[Extent2].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID1],
[Extent2].[Street] AS [Street],
[Extent2].[City] AS [City],
[Extent2].[Country] AS [Country],
[Extent2].[PostalCode] AS [PostalCode],
[Extent2].[Phone] AS [Phone],
CASE WHEN ([Extent2].[EmpID] IS NULL) THEN CAST(NULL AS int) ELSE 1 END AS [C1]
FROM (SELECT TOP (3) [c].[CompanyID] AS [CompanyID], [c].[CompanyName] AS [CompanyName]
FROM [dbo].[Companies] AS [c] ) AS [Limit1]
LEFT OUTER JOIN [dbo].[Employees] AS [Extent2] ON [Limit1].[CompanyID] = [Extent2].[CompanyID]
) AS [Project1]
ORDER BY [Project1].[CompanyID] ASC, [Project1].[C1] ASC
10) Now let's investigate the Explicit Loading option.
Comment out this line of code
var query = ctx.Companies.Include("Employees").Take(3);

After these 2 lines of code type,
Response.Write(company.CompanyName);

Response.Write("<br/>");

type,
company.Employees.Load();
Clear the trace and start the trace again in the SQL Profiler. Run your application and see the results.You will
see the 3 companies and their related entities - employees first names displayed on the screen.
If you look at the SQL Profiler trace we have the same queries like in the Lazy Loadingoption in step 7. So
we have 4 queries hitting the database.
So, I think now we are clear on what happens. Bear in mind that 4 queries sometimes can be less costly
than one query.
It is nice to have options. Use them carefully depending on the specific requirements of your application.
Email me if you need the source code.
Hope it helps!!!