Querying and Saving Related Data

Julie Lerman
MOST TRUSTED AUTHORITY ON ENTITY FRAMEWORK

@julielerman thedatafarm.com
 Inserting, update & deleting related data

Module Saving related data that wasn’t tracked

Overview Eager loading queries and shaping results

with projections
Loading related data for objects in memory
Filtering queries with related data
Querying and persisting across many-to-
many relationships
Querying and persisting across one-to-one
relationships
Inserting Related Data
 Change Tracker Response
to New Child of Existing Parent

As child’s key value is not set, Child’s FK value to parent

state will automatically be (e.g. Quote.SamuraiId) is set
“Added” to parent’s key
DbContext/DbSet Tracking Methods

Add
Update
Remove
Attach
EF Core’s Default Entity State of Graph Data
Has Key Value No Key Value

Add(graph) Added* Added

Update(graph) Modified Added

Attach(graph) Unchanged Added

*Database will throw an exception if IDENTITY INSERT is illegal (default)

 “Foreign keys? NEVER!
They will make my classes dirty!”

“Foreign keys in my classes

make my life so much simpler!”
Eager Loading Related Data
 Methods to Load Related Data

Eager Loading Query Projections

Include related objects in query Define the shape of query results

Explicit Loading Lazy Loading*

Request related data of
objects in memory On-the-fly retrieval of related data

*Arrived with EF Core 2.1

 SQL Generated from Includes

Query is broken
Single Query up into multiple
with Left Join(s) queries sent in a
single command

Default With AsSplitQuery()

 Eager Loading with Include

EF->EF6 ( 2008 -> today) EF Core 5 (2020)

Include returns 100% of related objects Filtered Include!

EF Core 1, 2 & 3 (2016-2019)

Include returns 100% of related objects

 Eager Loading with Include

EF->EF6 ( 2008 -> today) EF Core 5 (2020)

Include returns 100% of related objects Filtered Include!

EF Core 1, 2 & 3 (2016-2019)

Include returns 100% of related objects

 Eager Loading with Include

EF->EF6 ( 2008 -> today) EF Core 5 (2020)

Include returns 100% of related objects Filtered Include!

EF Core 1, 2 & 3 (2016-2019)

Include returns 100% of related objects

Eager Loading with Include

EF Core 5 (2020)

Filtered Include!
Eager Loading with Include

EF Core 5 (2020)

Filtered Include!
 Query Workflow

Receives tabular results

Materializes results
Samurais Quotes as objects
for those
Samurais

Adds tracking details

to DbContext instance

DbContext connects
the relationships
 More Ways to Use Include
_context.Samurais t Get quotes for the samurai
.Include(s => s.Quotes) t Then get the translations for those
quotes
.ThenInclude(q=>q.Translations)
.FirstOrDefault();

t Get quotes for samurais

_context.Samurais t Also get the clan for samurais
.Include(s => s.Quotes)
.Include(s=>s.Clan)
.FirstOrDefault();
_context.Samurais
.Include(s=>s.Quotes) t Include child objects

_context.Samurais
t Include children & grandchildren
.Include(s=>s.Quotes)
.ThenInclude(q=>q.Translations)

_context.Samurais t Include just grandchildren

.Include(s=>s.Quotes.Translations)

_context.Samurais t Include different children

.Include(s=>s.Quotes)
.Include(s=>s.Clan)

…Various combinations…
Projecting Related Data in Queries
 EF Core Can Only Track Entities
Recognized by the DbContext

Entities that are

Anonymous types properties of an
are not tracked anonymous type
are tracked
Loading Related Data for Objects Already
in Memory
 Methods to Load Related Data

Eager Loading Query Projections

Include related objects in query Define the shape of query results

Explicit Loading Lazy Loading*

Request related data of
objects in memory On-the-fly retrieval of related data

*Arrived with EF Core 2.1

With samurai object already in memory

_context.Entry(samurai).Collection(s => s.Quotes).Load();

_context.Entry(samurai).Reference(s => s.Horse).Load();

Explicit Loading
Explicitly retrieve related data for objects already in memory

DbContext.Entry().Collection().Load()

DbContext.Entry().Reference().Load
 More on Explicit Loading

You can only load from a single object

Profile to determine if LINQ query would be better
performance
Filter loaded data using the Query method
var happyQuotes = context.Entry(samurai)
.Collection(b => b.Quotes)
.Query()
.Where(q => q.Quote.Contains(“Happy”)
.ToList();
Lazy Loading
is

OFF
by default
 Lazy Loading

Happens implicitly by mention of the navigation

Enable with these requirements:

Every navigation property in every entity must be virtual
Microsoft.EntityFramework.Proxies package
OnConfiguring optionsBuilder.UseLazyLoadingProxies()

Many “gotchas” to be wary of

foreach(var q in samurai.Quotes) t This will send one command to
{ retrieve all of the Quotes for that
samurai, then iterate through them
Console.WriteLine(q.Text);
}

t This will retrieve all of the quote

objects from the database and
var qCount=samurai.Quotes.Count(); materialize them and then give you
the count.

Data bind a grid to lazy-loaded t This happened a lot in ASP.NET pages.

data The grid populate one row at a time
and lazy loads the related data for that
row, then the next, then the next. N+1
commands sent to the database!
Lazy loading when no context in t No data is retrieved
place
Using Related Data to Filter Objects
Modifying Related Data
Connected Disconnected
 Connected Disconnected

DbContext
DbContext
has no clue
is aware
about
of all changes
history of objects
made to objects
before they are
that is it tracking
attached
 The Challenge

Edited
Quote
Samurai

Quote Quote
 The Challenge

_context.Entry
( Edited
Quote
)
.State

Samurai

Quote Quote
 The Challenge

_context.Entry
( Edited
Quote
)
.State

Samurai

Quote Quote
Working with Many-to-Many Relationships
 More Likely to Join Existing Objects

Existing Battle Existing Battle New Battle

+ + +
Existing Samurai New Samurai New Samurai

Experienced samurai Rookie Samurai joins Rookie Samurai

joins an ongoing an ongoing battle started a war
battle
 More Likely to Join Existing Objects

Existing Class Existing class New class

+ + +
Existing student New student New student

Registered student Unregistered student Unregistered student

signs up for a signs up for a schedules a new class
scheduled class scheduled class
Start with Our First Many-to-Many Setup

Samurai Battle

• Id • BattleId
• Name • Name
• Quotes (List<>) • StartDate
• Horse • EndDate
• Battles (List<>)
* * : • Samurais (List<>)

Simplest convention
No mappings needed
Table is inferred by DbContext
 One-to-Many vs. Many-to-Many

Quote Samurai Battle

• Id • Id • BattleId
• Text • Name • Name
• SamuraiId • Quotes (List<>) • StartDate
• Samurai • Horse • EndDate
• Battles (List<>) • Samurais (List<>)

One Samurai to Many Quotes Many Samurais to Many Quotes

 Let’s focus on the SQL
generated for our many-to-
many relationships
EF Core supports optimistic
concurrency. See docs for
details on how to handle
exceptions like this.
Altering or Removing Many-to-Many Joins
Battle of Nagashino Battle of Anegawa
Changing a Join: Preferred Workflow

Remove the original join

Then create the new join

Be mindful of side effects from your business logic

Deleting a M2M Relationship is Easier With

Explicit
Stored
M2M
Procedure
Mapping
Adding a Many-to-Many Payload to
Existing Join Table & Data
 Migrating to explicit
mapping won’t impact
existing data …
 Migrating to explicit
mapping won’t impact
existing data …
UNLESS….
 Beware of Migration Conventions Conflicts

Inferred Table Explicit Class & Table Mapping

Combine class names DbSet name (doesn’t exist)

Table name alphabetically: or
BattleSamurai Class Name (BattleSamurai)

Table name + PK name: Property names from class

Column names SamuraisId SamuraiId
BattlesBattleId BattleId
 Beware of Migration Conventions Conflicts

Inferred Table Explicit Class & Table Mapping

Combine class names DbSet name (doesn’t exist)

Table name alphabetically: or
BattleSamurai Class Name (BattleSamurai)

Table name + PK name: Property names from class

Column names SamuraisId SamuraiId
BattlesBattleId BattleId
 Working with the
Many-to-Many Payload Data
 Skip Navigations Can Evolve Safely

AppV1 AppV2
Breath easy
Includes a *:* with skip Evolve *:* to include
*:* code still works
navigation payload data

Production Production
Deploy AppV1 Deploy AppV2
 Timeline of Events with Fade Transition

AppV1 AppV2
Breath easy
Includes a *:* with skip Evolve *:* to include
*:* code still works
navigation payload data

Production Production
Deploy AppV1 Deploy AppV2
 Timeline of Events with Fade Transition

AppV1 AppV2
Breath easy
Includes a *:* with skip Evolve *:* to include
*:* code still works
navigation payload data

Production Production
Deploy AppV1 Deploy AppV2
 Timeline of Events with Fade Transition

AppV1 AppV2
Breath easy
Includes a *:* with skip Evolve *:* to include
*:* code still works
navigation payload data

Production Production
Deploy AppV1 Deploy AppV2
 Timeline of Events with Fade Transition

AppV1 AppV2
Breath easy
Includes a *:* with skip Evolve *:* to include
*:* code still works
navigation payload data

Production Production
Deploy AppV1 Deploy AppV2
Adding payload mapping to
existing skip navigation
doesn’t break existing code
 Explicit Many-to-Many Skip Navigation

Join Entity Join Skip

w Optional Mapping Navigation
Payload
 Guidance for Editing Many-to-Many

Edit the join between Delete the existing join

two many-to-many
objects Add a new join

Edit the payload data in Query using Set<>,

a many-to-many join modify and save
Querying Across Many-to-Many
Relationships
Persisting Data in One-to-One Relationships
 Changing the Child of an Existing Parent

In EF Core 2: Mappings Course

Querying One-to-One Relationships
 “Clean” entities may be
more difficult to work with,
requiring more advanced
skills with EF Core
 You can eager load related data with
Include or load after the fact
Pay attention to lazy loading behavior
Review
EF Core 5 finally gives us filtered include
Understand behavior of untracked graphs
Review
DbContext.Entry() isolates the object you
care about
Intelligent SQL for *:* skip navigations
*:* payload data won’t harm your code
Lots of rules to understand for *:* and 1:1
 Up Next!
Raw SQL,
Stored Procedures &
Database Views
 Resources
Entity Framework Core on GitHub github.com/dotnet/efcore

EF Core Documentation docs.microsoft.com/ef

EF Core Power Tools on GitHub github.com/ErikEJ/EFCorePowerTools/wiki

EF Core 2: Mappings (Pluralsight course) bit.ly/2LppcMj

Handling Concurrency Conflicts in EF Core docs.microsoft.com/en-

us/ef/core/saving/concurrency

Arthur Vickers’ (EF team) Many-to-Many examples:

github.com/ajcvickers/ManyToManySamples
Querying and Saving Related Data

Julie Lerman
MOST TRUSTED AUTHORITY ON ENTITY FRAMEWORK

@julielerman thedatafarm.com