Multiple rows update without select - linq

Question

An old question for Linq 2 Entities. I'm just asking it again, in case someone has came up with the solution.
I want to perform query that does this:
UPDATE dbo.Products WHERE Category = 1 SET Category = 5
And I want to do it with Entity Framework 4.3.1.
This is just an example, I have a tons of records I just want 1 column to change value, nothing else. Loading to DbContext with Where(...).Select(...), changing all elements, and then saving with SaveChanges() does not work well for me.
Should I stick with ExecuteCommand and send direct query as it is written above (of course make it reusable) or is there another nice way to do it from Linq 2 Entities / Fluent.
Thanks!

Answer 1

What you are describing isnt actually possible with Entity Framework. You have a few options,
You can write it as a string and execute it via EF with .ExecuteSqlCommand (on the context)
You can use something like Entity Framework Extended (however from what ive seen this doesnt have great performance)

Answer 2

You can update an entity without first fetching it from db like below
using (var context = new DBContext())
{
context.YourEntitySet.Attach(yourExistingEntity);
// Update fields
context.SaveChanges();
}

Answer 3

If you have set-based operations, then SQL is better suited than EF.
So, yes - in this case you should stick with ExecuteCommand.

Answer 4

I don't know if this suits you but you can try creating a stored procedure that will perform the update and then add that procedure to your model as a function import. Then you can perform the update in a single database call:
using(var dc = new YourDataContext())
{
dc.UpdateProductsCategory(1, 5);
}
where UpdateProductsCategory would be the name of the imported stored procedure.

Answer 5

Yes, ExecuteCommand() is definitely the way to do it without fetching all the rows' data and letting ChangeTracker sort it out. Just to provide an example:
Will result in all rows being fetched and an update performed for each row changed:
using (YourDBContext yourDB = new YourDBContext()) {
yourDB.Products.Where(p => p.Category = 1).ToList().ForEach(p => p.Category = 5);
yourDB.SaveChanges();
}
Just a single update:
using (YourDBContext yourDB = new YourDBContext()) {
var sql = "UPDATE dbo.Products WHERE Category = #oldcategory SET Category = #newcategory";
var oldcp = new SqlParameter { ParameterName = "oldcategory", DbType = DbType.Int32, Value = 1 };
var newcp = new SqlParameter { ParameterName = "newcategory", DbType = DbType.Int32, Value = 5 };
yourDB.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(sql, oldcp, newcp);
}