[entity-framework] How do I view the SQL generated by the Entity Framework?

How do I view the SQL generated by entity framework ?

(In my particular case I'm using the mysql provider - if it matters)

IQueryable query = from x in appEntities
                   where x.id = 32
                   select x;
var queryString = query.ToString();

Will return the sql query. Working using datacontext of EntityFramework 6

Use Logging with Entity Framework Core 3.x

Entity Framework Core emits SQL via the logging system. There are only a couple of small tricks. You must specify an ILoggerFactory and you must specify a filter. Here is an example from this article

Create the factory:

var loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.Create(builder =>
{
    builder
    .AddConsole((options) => { })
    .AddFilter((category, level) =>
        category == DbLoggerCategory.Database.Command.Name
        && level == LogLevel.Information);
});

Tell the DbContext to use the factory in the OnConfiguring method:

optionsBuilder.UseLoggerFactory(_loggerFactory);

From here, you can get a lot more sophisticated and hook into the Log method to extract details about the executed SQL. See the article for a full discussion.

public class EntityFrameworkSqlLogger : ILogger
{
    #region Fields
    Action<EntityFrameworkSqlLogMessage> _logMessage;
    #endregion
    #region Constructor
    public EntityFrameworkSqlLogger(Action<EntityFrameworkSqlLogMessage> logMessage)
    {
        _logMessage = logMessage;
    }
    #endregion
    #region Implementation
    public IDisposable BeginScope<TState>(TState state)
    {
        return default;
    }
    public bool IsEnabled(LogLevel logLevel)
    {
        return true;
    }
    public void Log<TState>(LogLevel logLevel, EventId eventId, TState state, Exception exception, Func<TState, Exception, string> formatter)
    {
        if (eventId.Id != 20101)
        {
            //Filter messages that aren't relevant.
            //There may be other types of messages that are relevant for other database platforms...
            return;
        }
        if (state is IReadOnlyList<KeyValuePair<string, object>> keyValuePairList)
        {
            var entityFrameworkSqlLogMessage = new EntityFrameworkSqlLogMessage
            (
                eventId,
                (string)keyValuePairList.FirstOrDefault(k => k.Key == "commandText").Value,
                (string)keyValuePairList.FirstOrDefault(k => k.Key == "parameters").Value,
                (CommandType)keyValuePairList.FirstOrDefault(k => k.Key == "commandType").Value,
                (int)keyValuePairList.FirstOrDefault(k => k.Key == "commandTimeout").Value,
                (string)keyValuePairList.FirstOrDefault(k => k.Key == "elapsed").Value
            );
            _logMessage(entityFrameworkSqlLogMessage);
        }
    }
    #endregion
}

Entity Framework 4 Solution

Most of the answers here were EF6-specific. Here's one for those of you still using EF4.

This method replaces the @p__linq__0/etc. parameters with their actual values, so you can just copy and paste the output into SSMS and run it or debug it.

    /// <summary>
    /// Temporary debug function that spits out the actual SQL query LINQ is generating (with parameters)
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="q">IQueryable object</param>
    private string Debug_GetSQLFromIQueryable<T>(IQueryable<T> q)
    {
        System.Data.Objects.ObjectQuery oq = (System.Data.Objects.ObjectQuery)q;
        var result = oq.ToTraceString();
        List<string> paramNames = new List<string>();
        List<string> paramVals = new List<string>();
        foreach (var parameter in oq.Parameters)
        {
            paramNames.Add(parameter.Name);
            paramVals.Add(parameter.Value == null ? "NULL" : ("'" + parameter.Value.ToString() + "'"));
        }
        //replace params in reverse order, otherwise @p__linq__1 incorrectly replaces @p__linq__10 for instance
        for (var i = paramNames.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
        {
            result = result.Replace("@" + paramNames[i], paramVals[i]);
        }
        return result;
    }

I've just done this:

IQueryable<Product> query = EntitySet.Where(p => p.Id == id);
Debug.WriteLine(query);

And the result shown in the Output:

SELECT 
    [Extent1].[Id] AS [Id], 
    [Extent1].[Code] AS [Code], 
    [Extent1].[Name] AS [Name], 
    [Extent2].[Id] AS [Id1], 
    [Extent2].[FileName] AS [FileName], 
    FROM  [dbo].[Products] AS [Extent1]
    INNER JOIN [dbo].[PersistedFiles] AS [Extent2] ON [Extent1].[PersistedFileId] = [Extent2].[Id]
    WHERE [Extent1].[Id] = @p__linq__0

You can do the following in EF 4.1:

var result = from x in appEntities
             where x.id = 32
             select x;

System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(result .ToString());

That will give you the SQL that was generated.

If you are using a DbContext, you can do the following to get the SQL:

var result = from i in myContext.appEntities
             select new Model
             {
                 field = i.stuff,
             };
var sql = result.ToString();

To have the query always handy, without changing code add this to your DbContext and check it on the output window in visual studio.

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        Database.Log = (query)=> Debug.Write(query);
    }

Similar to @Matt Nibecker answer, but with this you do not have to add it in your current code, every time you need the query.

Necromancing.
This page is the first search result when searching for a solution for any .NET Framework, so here as a public service, how it's done in EntityFrameworkCore (for .NET Core 1 & 2):

var someQuery = (
    from projects in _context.projects
    join issues in _context.issues on projects.Id equals issues.ProjectId into tmpMapp
    from issues in tmpMapp.DefaultIfEmpty()
    select issues
) //.ToList()
;

// string sql = someQuery.ToString();
// string sql = Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.IQueryableExtensions.ToSql(someQuery);
// string sql = Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.IQueryableExtensions1.ToSql(someQuery);
// using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
string sql = someQuery.ToSql();
System.Console.WriteLine(sql);

And then these extension methods (IQueryableExtensions1 for .NET Core 1.0, IQueryableExtensions for .NET Core 2.0) :

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Internal;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Internal;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage;
using Remotion.Linq.Parsing.Structure;


namespace Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
{

    // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1412863/how-do-i-view-the-sql-generated-by-the-entity-framework
    // http://rion.io/2016/10/19/accessing-entity-framework-core-queries-behind-the-scenes-in-asp-net-core/

    public static class IQueryableExtensions
    {
        private static readonly TypeInfo QueryCompilerTypeInfo = typeof(QueryCompiler).GetTypeInfo();

        private static readonly FieldInfo QueryCompilerField = typeof(EntityQueryProvider).GetTypeInfo().DeclaredFields
            .First(x => x.Name == "_queryCompiler");

        private static readonly PropertyInfo NodeTypeProviderField =
            QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredProperties.Single(x => x.Name == "NodeTypeProvider");

        private static readonly MethodInfo CreateQueryParserMethod =
            QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredMethods.First(x => x.Name == "CreateQueryParser");

        private static readonly FieldInfo DataBaseField =
            QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredFields.Single(x => x.Name == "_database");

        private static readonly PropertyInfo DatabaseDependenciesField =
            typeof(Database).GetTypeInfo().DeclaredProperties.Single(x => x.Name == "Dependencies");

        public static string ToSql<TEntity>(this IQueryable<TEntity> query) where TEntity : class
        {
            if (!(query is EntityQueryable<TEntity>) && !(query is InternalDbSet<TEntity>))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("Invalid query");
            }

            var queryCompiler = (QueryCompiler) QueryCompilerField.GetValue(query.Provider);
            var nodeTypeProvider = (INodeTypeProvider) NodeTypeProviderField.GetValue(queryCompiler);
            var parser = (IQueryParser) CreateQueryParserMethod.Invoke(queryCompiler, new object[] {nodeTypeProvider});
            var queryModel = parser.GetParsedQuery(query.Expression);
            var database = DataBaseField.GetValue(queryCompiler);
            var databaseDependencies = (DatabaseDependencies) DatabaseDependenciesField.GetValue(database);
            var queryCompilationContext = databaseDependencies.QueryCompilationContextFactory.Create(false);
            var modelVisitor = (RelationalQueryModelVisitor) queryCompilationContext.CreateQueryModelVisitor();
            modelVisitor.CreateQueryExecutor<TEntity>(queryModel);
            var sql = modelVisitor.Queries.First().ToString();

            return sql;
        }
    }



    public class IQueryableExtensions1
    {
        private static readonly TypeInfo QueryCompilerTypeInfo = typeof(QueryCompiler).GetTypeInfo();

        private static readonly FieldInfo QueryCompilerField = typeof(EntityQueryProvider).GetTypeInfo()
            .DeclaredFields
            .First(x => x.Name == "_queryCompiler");

        private static readonly PropertyInfo NodeTypeProviderField =
            QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredProperties.Single(x => x.Name == "NodeTypeProvider");

        private static readonly MethodInfo CreateQueryParserMethod =
            QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredMethods.First(x => x.Name == "CreateQueryParser");

        private static readonly FieldInfo DataBaseField =
            QueryCompilerTypeInfo.DeclaredFields.Single(x => x.Name == "_database");

        private static readonly FieldInfo QueryCompilationContextFactoryField = typeof(Database).GetTypeInfo()
            .DeclaredFields.Single(x => x.Name == "_queryCompilationContextFactory");


        public static string ToSql<TEntity>(IQueryable<TEntity> query) where TEntity : class
        {
            if (!(query is EntityQueryable<TEntity>) && !(query is InternalDbSet<TEntity>))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("Invalid query");
            }

            var queryCompiler = (IQueryCompiler) QueryCompilerField.GetValue(query.Provider);

            var nodeTypeProvider = (INodeTypeProvider) NodeTypeProviderField.GetValue(queryCompiler);
            var parser =
                (IQueryParser) CreateQueryParserMethod.Invoke(queryCompiler, new object[] {nodeTypeProvider});
            var queryModel = parser.GetParsedQuery(query.Expression);
            var database = DataBaseField.GetValue(queryCompiler);
            var queryCompilationContextFactory =
                (IQueryCompilationContextFactory) QueryCompilationContextFactoryField.GetValue(database);
            var queryCompilationContext = queryCompilationContextFactory.Create(false);
            var modelVisitor = (RelationalQueryModelVisitor) queryCompilationContext.CreateQueryModelVisitor();
            modelVisitor.CreateQueryExecutor<TEntity>(queryModel);
            var sql = modelVisitor.Queries.First().ToString();

            return sql;
        }


    }


}

SQL Management Studio => Tools => SQL Server profiler

File => New Trace...

Use the Template => Blank

Event selection => T-SQL

Lefthandside check for: SP.StmtComplete

Column filters can be used to select a specific ApplicationName or DatabaseName

Start that profile running then trigger the query.

Click here for Source information

I am doing integration test, and needed this to debug the generated SQL statement in Entity Framework Core 2.1, so I use DebugLoggerProvider or ConsoleLoggerProvider like so:

[Fact]
public async Task MyAwesomeTest
    {
        //setup log to debug sql queries
        var loggerFactory = new LoggerFactory();
        loggerFactory.AddProvider(new DebugLoggerProvider());
        loggerFactory.AddProvider(new ConsoleLoggerProvider(new ConsoleLoggerSettings()));

        var builder = new DbContextOptionsBuilder<DbContext>();
        builder
            .UseSqlServer("my connection string") //"Server=.;Initial Catalog=TestDb;Integrated Security=True"
            .UseLoggerFactory(loggerFactory);

        var dbContext = new DbContext(builder.Options);

        ........

Here is a sample output from Visual Studio console:

Starting with EF6.1 you can use Interceptors to register a database logger. See chapters "Interceptors" and "Logging Database Operations" to a File here

<interceptors> 
  <interceptor type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Interception.DatabaseLogger, EntityFramework"> 
    <parameters> 
      <parameter value="C:\Temp\LogOutput.txt"/> 
      <parameter value="true" type="System.Boolean"/> 
    </parameters> 
  </interceptor> 
</interceptors>

If you want to have parameter values (not only @p_linq_0 but also their values) too, you can use IDbCommandInterceptor and add some logging to ReaderExecuted method.

For those using Entity Framework 6 and up, if you want to view the output SQL in Visual Studio (like I did) you have to use the new logging/interception functionality.

Adding the following line will spit out the generated SQL (along with additional execution-related details) in the Visual Studio output panel:

using (MyDatabaseEntities context = new MyDatabaseEntities())
{
    context.Database.Log = s => System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(s);
    // query the database using EF here.
}

More information about logging in EF6 in this nifty blog series: http://blog.oneunicorn.com/2013/05/08/ef6-sql-logging-part-1-simple-logging/

Note: Make sure you are running your project in DEBUG mode.

While there are good answers here, none solved my problem completely (I wished to get the entire SQL statement, including Parameters, from the DbContext from any IQueryable. The following code does just that. It is a combination of code snippets from Google. I have only tested it with EF6+.

Just an aside, this task took me way longer than I thought it would. Abstraction in Entity Framework is a bit much, IMHO.

First the using. You will need an explicit reference to 'System.Data.Entity.dll'.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.Common;
using System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
using System.Reflection;

The following class converts an IQueryable into a DataTable. Modify as your need may be:

public class EntityFrameworkCommand
{
    DbContext Context;

    string SQL;

    ObjectParameter[] Parameters;

    public EntityFrameworkCommand Initialize<T>(DbContext context, IQueryable<T> query)
    {
        Context = context;
        var dbQuery = query as DbQuery<T>;
        // get the IInternalQuery internal variable from the DbQuery object
        var iqProp = dbQuery.GetType().GetProperty("InternalQuery", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public);
        var iq = iqProp.GetValue(dbQuery, null);
        // get the ObjectQuery internal variable from the IInternalQuery object
        var oqProp = iq.GetType().GetProperty("ObjectQuery", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public);
        var objectQuery = oqProp.GetValue(iq, null) as ObjectQuery<T>;
        SQL = objectQuery.ToTraceString();
        Parameters = objectQuery.Parameters.ToArray();
        return this;
    }

    public DataTable GetData()
    {
        DataTable dt = new DataTable();
        var connection = Context.Database.Connection;
        var state = connection.State;
        if (!(state == ConnectionState.Open))
            connection.Open();
        using (var cmd = connection.CreateCommand())
        {
            cmd.CommandText = SQL;
            cmd.Parameters.AddRange(Parameters.Select(p => new SqlParameter("@" + p.Name, p.Value)).ToArray());
            using (var da = DbProviderFactories.GetFactory(connection).CreateDataAdapter())
            {
                da.SelectCommand = cmd;
                da.Fill(dt);
            }
        }
        if (!(state == ConnectionState.Open))
            connection.Close();
        return dt;
    }
}

To use, simply call it as below:

var context = new MyContext();
var data = ....//Query, return type can be anonymous
    .AsQueryable();
var dt = new EntityFrameworkCommand()
    .Initialize(context, data)
    .GetData();

There are two ways:

1. To view the SQL that will be generated, simply call ToTraceString(). You can add it into your watch window and set a breakpoint to see what the query would be at any given point for any LINQ query.
2. You can attach a tracer to your SQL server of choice, which will show you the final query in all its gory detail. In the case of MySQL, the easiest way to trace the queries is simply to tail the query log with tail -f. You can learn more about MySQL's logging facilities in the official documentation. For SQL Server, the easiest way is to use the included SQL Server profiler.

For me, using EF6 and Visual Studio 2015 I entered query in the immediate window and it gave me the generated SQL Statement

In my case for EF 6+, instead of using this in the Immediate Window to find the query string:

var sql = ((System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectQuery)query).ToTraceString();

I ended up having to use this to get the generated SQL command:

var sql = ((System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbQuery<<>f__AnonymousType3<string,string,string,short,string>>)query).ToString();

Of course your anonymous type signature might be different.

HTH.

Well, I am using Express profiler for that purpose at the moment, the drawback is that it only works for MS SQL Server. You can find this tool here: https://expressprofiler.codeplex.com/

EF Core 5.0

This loooong-awaited feature is available in EF Core 5.0! This is from the weekly status updates:

var query = context.Set<Customer>().Where(c => c.City == city);
Console.WriteLine(query.ToQueryString())

results in this output when using the SQL Server database provider:

DECLARE p0 nvarchar(4000) = N'London';

SELECT [c].[CustomerID], [c].[Address], [c].[City], [c].[CompanyName],
[c].[ContactName], [c].[ContactTitle], [c].[Country], [c].[Fax], [c].[Phone],
[c].[PostalCode], [c].[Region]
FROM [Customers] AS [c]
WHERE [c].[City] = @__city_0

Notice that declarations for parameters of the correct type are also included in the output. This allows copy/pasting to SQL Server Management Studio, or similar tools, such that the query can be executed for debugging/analysis.

woohoo!!!

My answer addresses EF core. I reference this github issue, and the docs on configuring DbContext:

Simple

Override the OnConfiguring method of your DbContext class (YourCustomDbContext) as shown here to use a ConsoleLoggerProvider; your queries should log to the console:

public class YourCustomDbContext : DbContext
{
    #region DefineLoggerFactory
    public static readonly LoggerFactory MyLoggerFactory
        = new LoggerFactory(new[] {new ConsoleLoggerProvider((_, __) => true, true)});
    #endregion


    #region RegisterLoggerFactory
    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
        => optionsBuilder
            .UseLoggerFactory(MyLoggerFactory); // Warning: Do not create a new ILoggerFactory instance each time                
    #endregion
}

Complex

This Complex case avoids overriding the DbContext OnConfiguring method. , which is discouraged in the docs: "This approach does not lend itself to testing, unless the tests target the full database."

This Complex case uses:

• The IServiceCollection in Startup class ConfigureServices method (instead of overriding the OnConfiguring method; the benefit is a looser coupling between the DbContext and the ILoggerProvider you want to use)
• An implementation of ILoggerProvider (instead of using the ConsoleLoggerProvider implementation shown above; benefit is our implementation shows how we would log to File (I don't see a File Logging Provider shipped with EF Core))

Like this:

public class Startup

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        ...
        var lf = new LoggerFactory();
        lf.AddProvider(new MyLoggerProvider());

        services.AddDbContext<YOUR_DB_CONTEXT>(optionsBuilder => optionsBuilder
                .UseSqlServer(connection_string)
                //Using the LoggerFactory 
                .UseLoggerFactory(lf));
        ...
    }
}

Here's the implementation of a MyLoggerProvider (and its MyLogger which appends its logs to a File you can configure; your EF Core queries will appear in the file.)

public class MyLoggerProvider : ILoggerProvider
{
    public ILogger CreateLogger(string categoryName)
    {
        return new MyLogger();
    }

    public void Dispose()
    { }

    private class MyLogger : ILogger
    {
        public bool IsEnabled(LogLevel logLevel)
        {
            return true;
        }

        public void Log<TState>(LogLevel logLevel, EventId eventId, TState state, Exception exception, Func<TState, Exception, string> formatter)
        {
            File.AppendAllText(@"C:\temp\log.txt", formatter(state, exception));
            Console.WriteLine(formatter(state, exception));
        }

        public IDisposable BeginScope<TState>(TState state)
        {
            return null;
        }
    } 
}

Applicable for EF 6.0 and above: For those of you wanting to know more about the logging functionality and adding to the some of the answers already given.

Any command sent from the EF to the database can now be logged. To view the generated queries from EF 6.x, use the DBContext.Database.Log property

What Gets Logged

 - SQL for all different kinds of commands. For example:
    - Queries, including normal LINQ queries, eSQL queries, and raw queries from methods such as SqlQuery.
    - Inserts, updates, and deletes generated as part of SaveChanges
    - Relationship loading queries such as those generated by lazy loading
 - Parameters
 - Whether or not the command is being executed asynchronously
 - A timestamp indicating when the command started executing
 - Whether or not the command completed successfully, failed by throwing an exception, or, for async, was canceled
 - Some indication of the result value
 - The approximate amount of time it took to execute the command. Note that this is the time from sending the command to getting the result object back. It does not include time to read the results.

Example:

using (var context = new BlogContext()) 
{ 
    context.Database.Log = Console.Write; 

    var blog = context.Blogs.First(b => b.Title == "One Unicorn"); 

    blog.Posts.First().Title = "Green Eggs and Ham"; 

    blog.Posts.Add(new Post { Title = "I do not like them!" }); 

    context.SaveChangesAsync().Wait(); 
}

Output:

SELECT TOP (1)
    [Extent1].[Id] AS [Id],
    [Extent1].[Title] AS [Title]
    FROM [dbo].[Blogs] AS [Extent1]
    WHERE (N'One Unicorn' = [Extent1].[Title]) AND ([Extent1].[Title] IS NOT NULL)
-- Executing at 10/8/2013 10:55:41 AM -07:00
-- Completed in 4 ms with result: SqlDataReader

SELECT
    [Extent1].[Id] AS [Id],
    [Extent1].[Title] AS [Title],
    [Extent1].[BlogId] AS [BlogId]
    FROM [dbo].[Posts] AS [Extent1]
    WHERE [Extent1].[BlogId] = @EntityKeyValue1
-- EntityKeyValue1: '1' (Type = Int32)
-- Executing at 10/8/2013 10:55:41 AM -07:00
-- Completed in 2 ms with result: SqlDataReader

UPDATE [dbo].[Posts]
SET [Title] = @0
WHERE ([Id] = @1)
-- @0: 'Green Eggs and Ham' (Type = String, Size = -1)
-- @1: '1' (Type = Int32)
-- Executing asynchronously at 10/8/2013 10:55:41 AM -07:00
-- Completed in 12 ms with result: 1

INSERT [dbo].[Posts]([Title], [BlogId])
VALUES (@0, @1)
SELECT [Id]
FROM [dbo].[Posts]
WHERE @@ROWCOUNT > 0 AND [Id] = scope_identity()
-- @0: 'I do not like them!' (Type = String, Size = -1)
-- @1: '1' (Type = Int32)
-- Executing asynchronously at 10/8/2013 10:55:41 AM -07:00
-- Completed in 2 ms with result: SqlDataReader

To log to an external file:

using (var context = new BlogContext()) 
{  
    using (var sqlLogFile = new StreamWriter("C:\\temp\\LogFile.txt"))
    {          
         context.Database.Log = sqlLogFile.Write;     
         var blog = context.Blogs.First(b => b.Title == "One Unicorn"); 
         blog.Posts.First().Title = "Green Eggs and Ham"; 
         context.SaveChanges();
   }
}

More info here: Logging and Intercepting Database Operations