[c#] How to update record using Entity Framework 6?

I am trying to update record using EF6. First finding the record, if exists, update it. Here is my code:-

var book = new Model.Book
{
    BookNumber =  _book.BookNumber,
    BookName = _book.BookName,
    BookTitle = _book.BookTitle,
};
using (var db = new MyContextDB())
{
    var result = db.Books.SingleOrDefault(b => b.BookNumber == bookNumber);
    if (result != null)
    {
        try
        {
            db.Books.Attach(book);
            db.Entry(book).State = EntityState.Modified;
            db.SaveChanges();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Everytime I try to update record using above code, I am getting this error:-

{System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbUpdateConcurrencyException: Store update, insert, or delete statement affected an unexpected number of rows (0). Entities may have been modified or deleted since entities were loaded. Refresh ObjectStateManager entrie

I have the same problem when trying to update record using Attach() and then SaveChanges() combination, but I am using SQLite DB and its EF provider (the same code works in SQLServer DB without problem).

I found out, when your DB column has GUID (or UniqueIdentity) in SQLite and your model is nvarchar, SQLIte EF treats it as Binary(i.e., byte[]) by default. So when SQLite EF provider tries to convert GUID into the model (string in my case) it will fail as it will convert to byte[]. The fix is to tell the SQLite EF to treat GUID as TEXT (and therefore conversion is into strings, not byte[]) by defining "BinaryGUID=false;" in the connectionstring (or metadata, if you're using database first) like so:

  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="Entities" connectionString="metadata=res://savetyping...=System.Data.SQLite.EF6;provider connection string=&quot;data source=C:\...\db.sqlite3;Version=3;BinaryGUID=false;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
  </connectionStrings>

Link to the solution that worked for me: How does the SQLite Entity Framework 6 provider handle Guids?

You should remove db.Books.Attach(book);

So you have an entity that is updated, and you want to update it in the database with the least amount of code...

Concurrency is always tricky, but I am assuming that you just want your updates to win. Here is how I did it for my same case and modified the names to mimic your classes. In other words, just change attach to add, and it works for me:

public static void SaveBook(Model.Book myBook)
{
    using (var ctx = new BookDBContext())
    {
        ctx.Books.Add(myBook);
        ctx.Entry(myBook).State = System.Data.Entity.EntityState.Modified;
        ctx.SaveChanges();
    }
}

I found a way that works just fine.

 var Update = context.UpdateTables.Find(id);
        Update.Title = title;

        // Mark as Changed
        context.Entry(Update).State = System.Data.Entity.EntityState.Modified;
        context.SaveChanges();

I have been reviewing the source code of Entity Framework and found a way to actually update an entity if you know the Key property:

public void Update<T>(T item) where T: Entity
{
    // assume Entity base class have an Id property for all items
    var entity = _collection.Find(item.Id);
    if (entity == null)
    {
        return;
    }

    _context.Entry(entity).CurrentValues.SetValues(item);
}

Otherwise, check the AddOrUpdate implementation for ideas.

Hope this help!

This code is the result of a test to update only a set of columns without making a query to return the record first. It uses Entity Framework 7 code first.

// This function receives an object type that can be a view model or an anonymous 
// object with the properties you want to change. 
// This is part of a repository for a Contacts object.

public int Update(object entity)
{
    var entityProperties =  entity.GetType().GetProperties();   
    Contacts con = ToType(entity, typeof(Contacts)) as Contacts;

    if (con != null)
    {
        _context.Entry(con).State = EntityState.Modified;
        _context.Contacts.Attach(con);

        foreach (var ep in entityProperties)
        {
            // If the property is named Id, don't add it in the update. 
            // It can be refactored to look in the annotations for a key 
            // or any part named Id.

            if(ep.Name != "Id")
                _context.Entry(con).Property(ep.Name).IsModified = true;
        }
    }

    return _context.SaveChanges();
}

public static object ToType<T>(object obj, T type)
{
    // Create an instance of T type object
    object tmp = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(type.ToString()));

    // Loop through the properties of the object you want to convert
    foreach (PropertyInfo pi in obj.GetType().GetProperties())
    {
        try
        {
            // Get the value of the property and try to assign it to the property of T type object
            tmp.GetType().GetProperty(pi.Name).SetValue(tmp, pi.GetValue(obj, null), null);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            // Logging.Log.Error(ex);
        }
    }
    // Return the T type object:         
    return tmp;
}

Here is the complete code:

public interface IContactRepository
{
    IEnumerable<Contacts> GetAllContats();
    IEnumerable<Contacts> GetAllContactsWithAddress();
    int Update(object c);
}

public class ContactRepository : IContactRepository
{
    private ContactContext _context;

    public ContactRepository(ContactContext context)
    {
        _context = context;
    }

    public IEnumerable<Contacts> GetAllContats()
    {
        return _context.Contacts.OrderBy(c => c.FirstName).ToList();
    }

    public IEnumerable<Contacts> GetAllContactsWithAddress()
    {
        return _context.Contacts
            .Include(c => c.Address)
            .OrderBy(c => c.FirstName).ToList();
    }   

    //TODO Change properties to lambda expression
    public int Update(object entity)
    {
        var entityProperties = entity.GetType().GetProperties();

        Contacts con = ToType(entity, typeof(Contacts)) as Contacts;

        if (con != null)
        {
            _context.Entry(con).State = EntityState.Modified;
            _context.Contacts.Attach(con);

            foreach (var ep in entityProperties)
            {
                if(ep.Name != "Id")
                    _context.Entry(con).Property(ep.Name).IsModified = true;
            }
        }

        return _context.SaveChanges();
    }

    public static object ToType<T>(object obj, T type)
    {
        // Create an instance of T type object
        object tmp = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(type.ToString()));

        // Loop through the properties of the object you want to convert
        foreach (PropertyInfo pi in obj.GetType().GetProperties())
        {
            try
            {
                // Get the value of the property and try to assign it to the property of T type object
                tmp.GetType().GetProperty(pi.Name).SetValue(tmp, pi.GetValue(obj, null), null);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                // Logging.Log.Error(ex);
            }
        }
        // Return the T type object
        return tmp;
    }
}    

public class Contacts
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
    public string Company { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public Addresses Address { get; set; }    
}

public class Addresses
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string AddressType { get; set; }
    public string StreetAddress { get; set; }
    public string City { get; set; }
    public State State { get; set; }
    public string PostalCode { get; set; }  
}

public class ContactContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Addresses> Address { get; set; } 
    public DbSet<Contacts> Contacts { get; set; } 
    public DbSet<State> States { get; set; }

    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
    {
        var connString = "Server=YourServer;Database=ContactsDb;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true;";
        optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer(connString);
        base.OnConfiguring(optionsBuilder);
    }
}

This if for Entity Framework 6.2.0.

If you have a specific DbSet and an item that needs to be either updated or created:

var name = getNameFromService();

var current = _dbContext.Names.Find(name.BusinessSystemId, name.NameNo);
if (current == null)
{
    _dbContext.Names.Add(name);
}
else
{
    _dbContext.Entry(current).CurrentValues.SetValues(name);
}
_dbContext.SaveChanges();

However this can also be used for a generic DbSet with a single primary key or a composite primary key.

var allNames = NameApiService.GetAllNames();
GenericAddOrUpdate(allNames, "BusinessSystemId", "NameNo");

public virtual void GenericAddOrUpdate<T>(IEnumerable<T> values, params string[] keyValues) where T : class
{
    foreach (var value in values)
    {
        try
        {
            var keyList = new List<object>();

            //Get key values from T entity based on keyValues property
            foreach (var keyValue in keyValues)
            {
                var propertyInfo = value.GetType().GetProperty(keyValue);
                var propertyValue = propertyInfo.GetValue(value);
                keyList.Add(propertyValue);
            }

            GenericAddOrUpdateDbSet(keyList, value);
            //Only use this when debugging to catch save exceptions
            //_dbContext.SaveChanges();
        }
        catch
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
    _dbContext.SaveChanges();
}

public virtual void GenericAddOrUpdateDbSet<T>(List<object> keyList, T value) where T : class
{
    //Get a DbSet of T type
    var someDbSet = Set(typeof(T));

    //Check if any value exists with the key values
    var current = someDbSet.Find(keyList.ToArray());
    if (current == null)
    {
        someDbSet.Add(value);
    }
    else
    {
        Entry(current).CurrentValues.SetValues(value);
    }
}

You should use the Entry() method in case you want to update all the fields in your object. Also keep in mind you cannot change the field id (key) therefore first set the Id to the same as you edit.

using(var context = new ...())
{
    var EditedObj = context
        .Obj
        .Where(x => x. ....)
        .First();

    NewObj.Id = EditedObj.Id; //This is important when we first create an object (NewObj), in which the default Id = 0. We can not change an existing key.

    context.Entry(EditedObj).CurrentValues.SetValues(NewObj);

    context.SaveChanges();
}

Here's my post-RIA entity-update method (for the Ef6 time frame):

public static void UpdateSegment(ISegment data)
{
    if (data == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("The expected Segment data is not here.");

    var context = GetContext();

    var originalData = context.Segments.SingleOrDefault(i => i.SegmentId == data.SegmentId);
    if (originalData == null) throw new NullReferenceException("The expected original Segment data is not here.");

    FrameworkTypeUtility.SetProperties(data, originalData);

    context.SaveChanges();
}

Note that FrameworkTypeUtility.SetProperties() is a tiny utility function I wrote long before AutoMapper on NuGet:

public static void SetProperties<TIn, TOut>(TIn input, TOut output, ICollection<string> includedProperties)
    where TIn : class
    where TOut : class
{
    if ((input == null) || (output == null)) return;
    Type inType = input.GetType();
    Type outType = output.GetType();
    foreach (PropertyInfo info in inType.GetProperties())
    {
        PropertyInfo outfo = ((info != null) && info.CanRead)
            ? outType.GetProperty(info.Name, info.PropertyType)
            : null;
        if (outfo != null && outfo.CanWrite
            && (outfo.PropertyType.Equals(info.PropertyType)))
        {
            if ((includedProperties != null) && includedProperties.Contains(info.Name))
                outfo.SetValue(output, info.GetValue(input, null), null);
            else if (includedProperties == null)
                outfo.SetValue(output, info.GetValue(input, null), null);
        }
    }
}

For .net core

context.Customer.Add(customer);
context.Entry(customer).State = Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.EntityState.Modified;
context.SaveChanges();

Try It....

UpdateModel(book);

var book = new Model.Book
{
    BookNumber =  _book.BookNumber,
    BookName = _book.BookName,
    BookTitle = _book.BookTitle,
};
using (var db = new MyContextDB())
{
    var result = db.Books.SingleOrDefault(b => b.BookNumber == bookNumber);
    if (result != null)
    {
        try
        {
            UpdateModel(book);
            db.Books.Attach(book);
            db.Entry(book).State = EntityState.Modified;
            db.SaveChanges();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
}

Attaching an entity will set its tracking state to Unchanged. To update an existing entity, all you need to do is set the tracking state to Modified. According to the EF6 docs:

If you have an entity that you know already exists in the database but to which changes may have been made then you can tell the context to attach the entity and set its state to Modified. For example:

var existingBlog = new Blog { BlogId = 1, Name = "ADO.NET Blog" };

using (var context = new BloggingContext())
{
    context.Entry(existingBlog).State = EntityState.Modified;

    // Do some more work...  

    context.SaveChanges();
}

You're trying to update the record (which to me means "change a value on an existing record and save it back"). So you need to retrieve the object, make a change, and save it.

using (var db = new MyContextDB())
{
    var result = db.Books.SingleOrDefault(b => b.BookNumber == bookNumber);
    if (result != null)
    {
        result.SomeValue = "Some new value";
        db.SaveChanges();
    }
}

Like Renat said, remove: db.Books.Attach(book);

Also, change your result query to use "AsNoTracking", because this query is throwing off entity framework's model state. It thinks "result" is the book to track now and you don't want that.

var result = db.Books.AsNoTracking().SingleOrDefault(b => b.BookNumber == bookNumber);

Not related to this specific example, but I came across a challenge when trying to use EF and a DateTime field as the concurrency check field. It appears the EF concurrency code doesn't honor the precision setting from the metadata (edmx) i.e. Type="DateTime" Precision="3". The database datetime field will store a millisecond component within the field (i.e. 2020-10-18 15:49:02.123). Even if you set the original value of the Entity to a DateTime that includes the millisecond component, the SQL EF generates is this:

UPDATE [dbo].[People]
SET [dateUpdated] = @0
WHERE (([PeopleID] = @1) AND ([dateUpdated] = @2))
-- @0: '10/19/2020 1:07:00 AM' (Type = DateTime2)
-- @1: '3182' (Type = Int32)
-- @2: '10/19/2020 1:06:10 AM' (Type = DateTime2)

As you can see, @2 is a STRING representation without a millisecond component. This will cause your updates to fail.

Therefore, if you're going to use a DateTime field as a concurrency key, you must STRIP off the milliseconds/Ticks from the database field when retrieving the record and only pass/update the field with a similar stripped DateTime.

    //strip milliseconds due to EF concurrency handling
    PeopleModel p = db.people.Where(x => x.PeopleID = id);
    if (p.dateUpdated.Millisecond > 0)
    {
        DateTime d = new DateTime(p.dateUpdated.Ticks / 10000000 * 10000000);
        object[] b = {p.PeopleID, d};
        int upd = db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("Update People set dateUpdated=@p1 where peopleId=@p0", b);
        if (upd == 1)
            p.dateUpdated = d;
        else
            return InternalServerError(new Exception("Unable to update dateUpdated"));
    }
return Ok(p);

And when updating the field with a new value, strip the milliseconds also

(param)int id, PeopleModel person;
People tbl = db.People.Where(x => x.PeopleID == id).FirstOrDefault();
db.Entry(tbl).OriginalValues["dateUpdated"] = person.dateUpdated;
//strip milliseconds from dateUpdated since EF doesn't preserve them
tbl.dateUpdated = new DateTime(DateTime.Now.Ticks / 10000000 * 10000000);

I know it has been answered good few times already, but I like below way of doing this. I hope it will help someone.

//attach object (search for row)
TableName tn = _context.TableNames.Attach(new TableName { PK_COLUMN = YOUR_VALUE});
// set new value
tn.COLUMN_NAME_TO_UPDATE = NEW_COLUMN_VALUE;
// set column as modified
_context.Entry<TableName>(tn).Property(tnp => tnp.COLUMN_NAME_TO_UPDATE).IsModified = true;
// save change
_context.SaveChanges();

You can use the AddOrUpdate method:

db.Books.AddOrUpdate(book); //requires using System.Data.Entity.Migrations;
db.SaveChanges();

using(var myDb = new MyDbEntities())
{

    user user = new user();
    user.username = "me";
    user.email = "[email protected]";

    myDb.Users.Add(user);
    myDb.users.Attach(user);
    myDb.Entry(user).State = EntityState.Modified;//this is for modiying/update existing entry
    myDb.SaveChanges();
}

Here is best solution for this issue: In View add all the ID (Keys). Consider having multiple tables named (First, Second and Third)

@Html.HiddenFor(model=>model.FirstID)
@Html.HiddenFor(model=>model.SecondID)
@Html.HiddenFor(model=>model.Second.SecondID)
@Html.HiddenFor(model=>model.Second.ThirdID)
@Html.HiddenFor(model=>model.Second.Third.ThirdID)

In C# code,

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(First first)
{
  if (ModelState.Isvalid)
  {
    if (first.FirstID > 0)
    {
      datacontext.Entry(first).State = EntityState.Modified;
      datacontext.Entry(first.Second).State = EntityState.Modified;
      datacontext.Entry(first.Second.Third).State = EntityState.Modified;
    }
    else
    {
      datacontext.First.Add(first);
    }
    datacontext.SaveChanges();
    Return RedirectToAction("Index");
  }

 return View(first);
}