The background
My model looks like the following: (writing fields instead of properties for simplicity)
public class Entity {
public long Id;
public string Name;
public Entity Parent;
}
Essential FNH mapping
Map(x => x.Name)
.Not.Nullable()
.UniqueKey("Child");
References(x => x.Parent)
.Cascade.None()
.UniqueKey("Child");
SQL
create table `Entity` (Id BIGINT not null, Name VARCHAR(255) not null, Parent_id BIGINT, primary key (Id),unique (Name, Parent_id))
And that's fine. I don't want omonimities between children of the same entities (so two entities of different parent may have same name). By the way, bear in mind that Parent_id is nullable
What I need to do
I want to enforce a check before inserting a new entity into the DB. Instead of catching an exception I want to fire a query (but I think it reduces performance...) to check if an entity with same name and parent of newcoming exists in order to throw a decent exception. Despite performance, it's still a chance to learn something new about LINQ providers
In plain old SQL I would do
SELECT Id FROM entity WHERE Name = ? AND Parent_id = ?
and this correctly supports NULL ids
What I tried (and failed, otherwise I wouldn't be here)
var exInput = (from Entity entity in entityRepository.Query()
where entity.Name.ToLowerInvariant() == _newEntity.Name.ToLowerInvariant()
&& entity.Parent.Equals(_newEntity.Parent)
select new { ParentName = entity.Parent != null ? entity.Parent.Name : null }).FirstOrDefault();
I thought NHibernate could be smart enough to accept a null value as _newEntity.Parent and also smart enough to read entity.Parent.Equals as an expression instead of a method call (which fails in case of null).
Anyway that's not the problem
The error
System.NotSupportedException: Boolean Equals(System.Object)
I know NHibernate LINQ is not a full LINQ provider and doesn't support all methods Entity Framework supports. So I could expect that. Obviously, I can workaround by first selecting entity by name and then check if both parents are null or if they Equals() (I overloaded Equals to check Id)
The question
Given that I want NHibernate to generate SQL as closest as possible to the above WHERE clause, what should I do? Is there a different LINQ syntax to use or should I extend the LINQ provider?
I was thinking about extending LINQ provider, for which I have found some documentation. It is my opinion that if the operands of comparison are of the same identity we can simply match their ID (and if one of the entities is null generate NULL identity in HQL). In this case, did anyone try an implementation to share?
Don't use Equals in the query, just use entity.Parent == _newEntity.Parent.
Your Linq query also has a few additonal differences to the SQL you want to get. Why don't you simply use the following query?
var result = (from Entity entity in entityRepository.Query()
where entity.Name == _newEntity.Name && entity.Parent == _newEntity.Parent
select entity.Id).ToArray();
I have created a linq query that returns my required data, I now have a new requirement and need to add an extra field into the returned results. My entity contains an ID field that I am trying to map against another table without to much luck.
This is what I have so far.
Dictionary<int, string> itemDescriptions = new Dictionary<int, string>();
foreach (var item in ItemDetails)
{
itemDescriptions.Add(item.ItemID, item.ItemDescription);
}
DB.TestDatabase db = new DB.TestDatabase(Common.GetOSConnectionString());
List<Transaction> transactionDetails = (from t db.Transactions
where t.CardID == CardID.ToString()
select new Transaction
{
ItemTypeID= t.ItemTypeID,
TransactionAmount = t.TransactionAmount,
ItemDescription = itemDescriptions.Select(r=>r.Key==itemTypeID).ToString()
}).ToList();
What I am trying to do is key the value from the dictonary where the key = itemTypeID
I am getting this error.
Local sequence cannot be used in LINQ to SQL implementations of query operators except the Contains operator.
What do I need to modify?
This is a duplicate of this question. The problem you're having is because you're trying to match an in-memory collection (itemDescriptions) with a DB table. Because of the way LINQ2SQL works it's trying to do this in the DB which is not possible.
There are essentially three options (unless I'm missing something)
1) refactor your query so you pass a simple primitive object to the query that can be passed accross to the DB (only good if itemDescriptions is a small set)
2) In your query use:
from t db.Transactions.ToList()
...
3) Get back the objects you need as you're doing, then populate ItemDescription in a second step.
Bear in mind that the second option will force LINQ to evaluate the query and return all transactions to your code that will then be operated on in memory. If the transaction table is large this will not be quick!
I'm trying to do a query like so...
query.Where(x => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(x.PropertyName));
but it fails...
so for now I have implemented the following, which works...
query.Where(x => (x.PropertyName ?? string.Empty) != string.Empty);
is there a better (more native?) way that LINQ handles this?
EDIT
apologize! didn't include the provider... This is using LINQ to SQL
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=367077
Problem Statement
It's possible to write LINQ to SQL that gets all rows that have either null or an empty string in a given field, but it's not possible to use string.IsNullOrEmpty to do it, even though many other string methods map to LINQ to SQL.
Proposed Solution
Allow string.IsNullOrEmpty in a LINQ to SQL where clause so that these two queries have the same result:
var fieldNullOrEmpty =
from item in db.SomeTable
where item.SomeField == null || item.SomeField.Equals(string.Empty)
select item;
var fieldNullOrEmpty2 =
from item in db.SomeTable
where string.IsNullOrEmpty(item.SomeField)
select item;
Other Reading:
1. DevArt
2. Dervalp.com
3. StackOverflow Post
This won't fail on Linq2Objects, but it will fail for Linq2SQL, so I am assuming that you are talking about the SQL provider or something similar.
The reason has to do with the way that the SQL provider handles your lambda expression. It doesn't take it as a function Func<P,T>, but an expression Expression<Func<P,T>>. It takes that expression tree and translates it so an actual SQL statement, which it sends off to the server.
The translator knows how to handle basic operators, but it doesn't know how to handle methods on objects. It doesn't know that IsNullOrEmpty(x) translates to return x == null || x == string.empty. That has to be done explicitly for the translation to SQL to take place.
This will work fine with Linq to Objects. However, some LINQ providers have difficulty running CLR methods as part of the query. This is expecially true of some database providers.
The problem is that the DB providers try to move and compile the LINQ query as a database query, to prevent pulling all of the objects across the wire. This is a good thing, but does occasionally restrict the flexibility in your predicates.
Unfortunately, without checking the provider documentation, it's difficult to always know exactly what will or will not be supported directly in the provider. It looks like your provider allows comparisons, but not the string check. I'd guess that, in your case, this is probably about as good of an approach as you can get. (It's really not that different from the IsNullOrEmpty check, other than creating the "string.Empty" instance for comparison, but that's minor.)
... 12 years ago :) But still, some one may found it helpful:
Often it is good to check white spaces too
query.Where(x => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x.PropertyName));
it will converted to sql as:
WHERE [x].[PropertyName] IS NOT NULL AND ((LTRIM(RTRIM([x].[PropertyName])) <> N'') OR [x].[PropertyName] IS NULL)
or other way:
query.Where(x => string.Compare(x.PropertyName," ") > 0);
will be converted to sql as:
WHERE [x].[PropertyName] > N' '
If you want to go change the type of the collection from nullable type IEnumerable<T?> to non-null type IEnumerable<T> you can use .OfType<T>().
.OfType<T>() will remove null values and return a list of the type T.
Example: If you have a list of nullable strings: List<string?> you can change the type of the list to string by using OfType<string() as in the below example:
List<string?> nullableStrings = new List<string?> { "test1", null, "test2" };
List<string> strings = nullableStrings.OfType<string>().ToList();
// strings now only contains { "test1", "test2" }
This will result in a list of strings only containing test1 and test2.
Why do I get the error:
Unable to create a constant value of type 'Closure type'. Only
primitive types (for instance Int32, String and Guid) are supported in
this context.
When I try to enumerate the following Linq query?
IEnumerable<string> searchList = GetSearchList();
using (HREntities entities = new HREntities())
{
var myList = from person in entities.vSearchPeople
where upperSearchList.All( (person.FirstName + person.LastName) .Contains).ToList();
}
Update:
If I try the following just to try to isolate the problem, I get the same error:
where upperSearchList.All(arg => arg == arg)
So it looks like the problem is with the All method, right? Any suggestions?
It looks like you're trying to do the equivalent of a "WHERE...IN" condition. Check out How to write 'WHERE IN' style queries using LINQ to Entities for an example of how to do that type of query with LINQ to Entities.
Also, I think the error message is particularly unhelpful in this case because .Contains is not followed by parentheses, which causes the compiler to recognize the whole predicate as a lambda expression.
I've spent the last 6 months battling this limitation with EF 3.5 and while I'm not the smartest person in the world, I'm pretty sure I have something useful to offer on this topic.
The SQL generated by growing a 50 mile high tree of "OR style" expressions will result in a poor query execution plan. I'm dealing with a few million rows and the impact is substantial.
There is a little hack I found to do a SQL 'in' that helps if you are just looking for a bunch of entities by id:
private IEnumerable<Entity1> getByIds(IEnumerable<int> ids)
{
string idList = string.Join(",", ids.ToList().ConvertAll<string>(id => id.ToString()).ToArray());
return dbContext.Entity1.Where("it.pkIDColumn IN {" + idList + "}");
}
where pkIDColumn is your primary key id column name of your Entity1 table.
BUT KEEP READING!
This is fine, but it requires that I already have the ids of what I need to find. Sometimes I just want my expressions to reach into other relations and what I do have is criteria for those connected relations.
If I had more time I would try to represent this visually, but I don't so just study this sentence a moment: Consider a schema with a Person, GovernmentId, and GovernmentIdType tables. Andrew Tappert (Person) has two id cards (GovernmentId), one from Oregon (GovernmentIdType) and one from Washington (GovernmentIdType).
Now generate an edmx from it.
Now imagine you want to find all the people having a certain ID value, say 1234567.
This can be accomplished with a single database hit with this:
dbContext context = new dbContext();
string idValue = "1234567";
Expression<Func<Person,bool>> expr =
person => person.GovernmentID.Any(gid => gid.gi_value.Contains(idValue));
IEnumerable<Person> people = context.Person.AsQueryable().Where(expr);
Do you see the subquery here? The generated sql will use 'joins' instead of sub-queries, but the effect is the same. These days SQL server optimizes subqueries into joins under the covers anyway, but anyway...
The key to this working is the .Any inside the expression.
I have found the cause of the error (I am using Framework 4.5). The problem is, that EF a complex type, that is passed in the "Contains"-parameter, can not translate into an SQL query. EF can use in a SQL query only simple types such as int, string...
this.GetAll().Where(p => !assignedFunctions.Contains(p))
GetAll provides a list of objects with a complex type (for example: "Function"). So therefore, I would try here to receive an instance of this complex type in my SQL query, which naturally can not work!
If I can extract from my list, parameters which are suited to my search, I can use:
var idList = assignedFunctions.Select(f => f.FunctionId);
this.GetAll().Where(p => !idList.Contains(p.FunktionId))
Now EF no longer has the complex type "Function" to work, but eg with a simple type (long). And that works fine!
I got this error message when my array object used in the .All function is null
After I initialized the array object, (upperSearchList in your case), the error is gone
The error message was misleading in this case
where upperSearchList.All(arg => person.someproperty.StartsWith(arg)))
I'm attempting to use LINQ to insert a record into a child table and I'm
receiving a "Specified cast is not valid" error that has something to do w/
the keys involved. The stack trace is:
Message: Specified cast is not valid.
Type: System.InvalidCastException
Source: System.Data.Linq TargetSite:
Boolean
TryCreateKeyFromValues(System.Object[],
V ByRef) HelpLink: null Stack: at
System.Data.Linq.IdentityManager.StandardIdentityManager.SingleKeyManager2.TryCreateKeyFromValues(Object[]
values, V& v) at
System.Data.Linq.IdentityManager.StandardIdentityManager.IdentityCache2.Find(Object[]
keyValues) at
System.Data.Linq.IdentityManager.StandardIdentityManager.Find(MetaType
type, Object[] keyValues) at
System.Data.Linq.CommonDataServices.GetCachedObject(MetaType
type, Object[] keyValues) at
System.Data.Linq.ChangeProcessor.GetOtherItem(MetaAssociation
assoc, Object instance) at
System.Data.Linq.ChangeProcessor.BuildEdgeMaps()
at
System.Data.Linq.ChangeProcessor.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode
failureMode) at
System.Data.Linq.DataContext.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode
failureMode) at
System.Data.Linq.DataContext.SubmitChanges()
(.....)
This error is being thrown on the following code:
ResponseDataContext db = new ResponseDataContext(m_ConnectionString);
CodebookVersion codebookVersion = db.CodebookVersions.Single(cv => cv.VersionTag == m_CodebookVersionTag);
ResponseCode rc = new ResponseCode()
{
SurveyQuestionName = "Q11",
Code = 3,
Description = "Yet another code"
};
codebookVersion.ResponseCodes.Add(rc);
db.SubmitChanges(); //exception gets thrown here
The tables in question have a FK relationship between the two of them.
The parent table's column is called 'id', is the PK, and is of type: INT NOT NULL IDENTITY
The child table's column is called 'responseCodeTableId' and is of type: INT NOT NULL.
codebookVersion (parent class) maps to table tblResponseCodeTable
responseCode (childClass) maps to table tblResponseCode
If I execute SQL directly, it works. e.g.
INSERT INTO tblResponseCode
(responseCodeTableId, surveyQuestionName, code, description)
VALUES (13683, 'Q11', 3, 'Yet another code')
Updates to the same class work properly. e.g.
codebookVersion.ResponseCodes[0].Description = "BlahBlahBlah";
db.SubmitChanges(); //no exception - change is committed to db
I've examined the variable, rc, after the .Add() operation and it does, indeed, receive the proper responseCodeTableId, just as I would expect since I'm adding it to that collection.
tblResponseCodeTable's full definition:
COLUMN_NAME TYPE_NAME
id int identity
responseCodeTableId int
surveyQuestionName nvarchar
code smallint
description nvarchar
dtCreate smalldatetime
dtCreate has a default value of GetDate().
The only other bit of useful information that I can think of is that no SQL
is ever tried against the database, so LINQ is blowing up before it ever
tries (hence the error not being a SqlException). I've profiled and verified
that no attempt is made to execute any statements on the database.
I've read around and seen the problem when you have a relationship to a non PK field, but that doesn't fit my case.
Can anyone shed any light on this situation for me? What incredibly obvious thing am I missing here?
Many thanks.
Paul Prewett
Post up the schema of the parent table.
if you look here, some other people have had your problem.
http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3493504&SiteID=1
It appears that Linq2SQL has trouble mapping some foreign keys to some primary keys. One guy had a resolution, but I think you are already mapping to an IDENTITY column.
Since the database isn't being called I think you have to look at the mappings linq to sql is using. What does the Association look like? There should be an Association on both the parent and child classes.
Take a look at the linq to sql Association between the two classes. The Association should have a ThisKey property. The cast that is failing is trying to cast the value of the property that ThisKey points to, I think.
As far as I can tell there can be a problem when there is more than one key and the type of the first key does not match the type that ThisKey points too. I'm not sure how linq would determine what the first key is.
From the looks of it you only have one key and one foreign key so that shouldn't be the problem, but the designer, if you are using it, has been known to get creative.
I'm pretty much guessing, but this looks like something I've seen before.
Is this an example of this bug? If so, try running your code in .NET 4.0 now that the beta is out.
If, like me, you aren't ready to start using the beta, you may be able to work around the problem. The issue seems to be that LINQ does not properly support relationships defined on non-primary key fields. However, the term "primary key" does not refer to the primary key defined on the SQL table, but the primary key defined in the LINQ designer.
If you dragged your tables into the designer, then Visual Studio automatically inspects the primary key defined in the database and marks the corresponding class field(s) as "primary keys". However, these do not need to correspond to each other. You can remove the key Visual Studio chose for you, and pick another field (or group of fields). Of course, you need to make sure this is logical (you should have a unique constraint in the database on the field/fields you choose).
So I had 2 tables/classes related to eachother using an alternative key. The parent table had 2 keys: a surrogate primary key defined as an int, and an alternative natural key defined as a string. In the LINQ designer, I had defined the association using the alternative key, and I experienced the InvalidCastException whenever trying to update that association field on the child object.
To work around this, I went into the LINQ designer, selected the int, and then changed the Primary Key property from True to False. Then I chose the string, and set it's Primary Key property to True. Recompiled, retested, and the InvalidCastException is gone.
Looking at your screen shot it looks like you may be able to fix your issue by changing the LINQ primary key on ResponseCode from ResponseCode.ID to ResponseCode.ResponseCodeTableID
ResponseCode rc = new ResponseCode()
{
SurveyQuestionName = "Q11",
Code = 3,
Description = "Yet another code"
};
and:
INSERT INTO tblResponseCode
(responseCodeTableId, surveyQuestionName, code, description)
VALUES (13683, 'Q11', 3, 'Yet another code')
Are not the same, you are not passing in the foreign key reference. Now, I'm huge n00b at LINQ2SQL, but I'd wager that LINQ2SQL is not smart enough to do that for you, and it expects it as the first parameter of the anonymous dictionary, and is trying to cast a string to an integer.
Just some ideas.
This block:
codebookVersion.ResponseCodes.Add(rc);
db.SubmitChanges(); //exception gets thrown here
Can you try InsertOnSubmit instead of Add? i.e.
codebookVersion.ResponseCodes.InsertOnSubmit(rc);
I think Add is not meant to be used to insert records if my memory serves me right. InsertOnSubmit is the one to use.
To try and narrow down the culprit.
Have you tried replacing the anonymous dictionary with something like:
ResponseCode rc = new ResponseCode();
rc.SurveyQuestName = "Q11";
rc.Code = 3;
rc.Description = "Yet Another Code";
I've yet to really work with .NET 3.5 yet (day job is still all 2.0), so I'm wondering if there is an issue with passing the data using the anonymous dictionary (The cases don't match the SQL Columns for one).
Yea, I've read that and other posts, but it always seems to involve someone linking up to a field that simply has a unique contraint. Or in this guy's case (which does sound exactly like mine), he didn't get a solution.
Here's the parent table:
tblResponseTable definition (which maps to CodebookVersion)
COLUMN_NAME TYPE_NAME
id int identity
versionTag nvarchar
responseVersionTag nvarchar
versionTag does have a unique contraint on it, but that's not represented anywhere that I can see in the LINQ-to-SQL stuff - and since nothing ever goes to the database... still stuck.
Mike, I hear you. But no matter where I look, everything looks correct. I've checked and rechecked that the ResponseTableId is an int and that Id is an int. They're defined as such in the designer and when I go look at the generated code, everything again appears to be in order.
I've examined the associations. Here they are:
[Table(Name="dbo.tblResponseCode")]
public partial class ResponseCode : ...
...
[Association(Name="CodebookVersion_tblResponseCode", Storage="_CodebookVersion", ThisKey="ResponseCodeTableId", OtherKey="Id", IsForeignKey=true)]
public CodebookVersion CodebookVersion
{
...
}
[Table(Name="dbo.tblResponseCodeTable")]
public partial class CodebookVersion : ...
...
[Association(Name="CodebookVersion_tblResponseCode", Storage="_ResponseCodes", ThisKey="Id", OtherKey="ResponseCodeTableId")]
public EntitySet<ResponseCode> ResponseCodes
{
...
}
And a screenshot of the association in case that will help:
Any further thoughts?
ResponseCode rc = new ResponseCode()
{
CodebookVersion = codebookVersion,
SurveyQuestionName = "Q11",
Code = 3,
Description = "Yet another code"
};
db.ResponseCodes.InsertOnSubmit(rc);
db.SubmitChanges();
You may want to check to see that any fields in your database tables which are set by the db server when inserting a new record have that reflected in the Linq to SQL diagram. If you select a field on the Linq to SQL diagram and view its properties you will see a field called "Auto Generated Value" which if set to true will ensure all new records take on the default value specified in the database.
LINQ to SQL has been deprecated, FYI - http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2008/10/29/update-on-linq-to-sql-and-linq-to-entities-roadmap.aspx.
I ran into a very similar problem. I'll link you over to my wordy post: http://forums.asp.net/p/1223080/2763049.aspx
And I'll also offer a solution, just a guess...
ResponseDataContext db = new ResponseDataContext(m_ConnectionString);
CodebookVersion codebookVersion = db.CodebookVersions.Single(cv => cv.VersionTag == m_CodebookVersionTag);
ResponseCode rc = new ResponseCode()
{
ResponseCodeTableId = codebookVersion.Id,
SurveyQuestionName = "Q11",
Code = 3,
Description = "Yet another code"
};
db.ResponseCodes.InsertOnSubmit(rc);
db.SubmitChanges();
Somewhere in your object graph there is a conversion error, the underlying data model (or the Linq To SQL model) has changed. This is typically something like NVARCHAR(1) -> CHAR when it should be STRING, or something similar.
This error is not fun to hunt down, hopefully your object model is small.
We had a similar problem, caused by using non-integer keys. Details and hotfix number are here: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=351358