Entity Framework Extensions Include Graph

The BulkOperation.IncludeGraph option allow you to INSERT/UPDATE/MERGE entities by including the child entities graph.

In the following example, the IncludeGraph is enabled and the list of Invoice is added to the database using BulkInsert.

List<Invoice> list = new List<Invoice>()
{
    new Invoice()
    {
        Description = "Invoice_A",
        InvoiceItems = new List<InvoiceItem>()
        {
            new InvoiceItem() { Description = "Invoice_A_InvoiceItem_A" } ,
            new InvoiceItem() { Description = "Invoice_A_InvoiceItem_B" }
        }
    },
    new Invoice()
    {
        Description = "Invoice_B",
        InvoiceItems = new List<InvoiceItem>()
        {
            new InvoiceItem() { Description = "Invoice_B_InvoiceItem_A" } ,
            new InvoiceItem() { Description = "Invoice_B_InvoiceItem_B" }
        }
    }
};

using (var context = new EntityContext())
{
    context.BulkInsert(list, options => options.IncludeGraph = true);
}

Try it in EF Core | Try it in EF6

  • It will insert a list of invoices including all the invoices items for each invoice.

IncludeGraphOperationBuilder

The IncludeGraphOperationBuilder let you customize the bulk operations by entity type.

While some options such as BatchSize are copied through the graph, all operations related to columns need to be specified in the IncludeGraphOperationBuilder since it depends from a type to another.

The following example uses Name property as a key for both User and Role entities using IncludeGraphOperationBuilder to perform BulkMerge.

ctx.BulkMerge(users, options =>
{
	options.IncludeGraph = true;
	options.IncludeGraphOperationBuilder = operation =>
	{
		if (operation is BulkOperation<User>)
		{
			var bulk = (BulkOperation<User>) operation;
			bulk.ColumnPrimaryKeyExpression = x => x.Name;
		}
		else if (operation is BulkOperation<Role>)
		{
			var bulk = (BulkOperation<Role>) operation;
			bulk.ColumnPrimaryKeyExpression = x => x.Name;
		}
	};
});

Try it in EF Core | Try it in EF6

ReadOnly

You can specify that some entities should not be inserted/updated by marking them as ReadOnly.

ctx.BulkMerge(users, options =>
{
	options.IncludeGraph = true;
	options.IncludeGraphOperationBuilder = operation =>
	{
		if (operation is BulkOperation<User>)
		{
			var bulk = (BulkOperation<User>) operation;
			bulk.IsReadOnly = true;
		}
	};
});

Try it in EF Core | Try it in EF6

Invalid

## FAQ

Why do I receive an error that asks me to specify a context factory?

To retrieve the current entities graph, our library requires a working context to use some Entity Framework features without impacting the current context. The context factory is optional if your context has a default constructor.

Read more: Context Factory

Why do I received an error that asks me to use unsafe mode?

The unsafe mode is required when some proxy entities are found in the graph. To retrieve all information, we need to detach temporary proxy type from the current context before re-attaching them. There is currently no known issue about this technic, but we prefer to force people to understand that some unsafe code is currently done under the hood by our library.

Last updated: 2024-02-05
Author:


Contents