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Generic Insert and Update for LINQ To SQL

Quick code snippet time!

The following are generic methods for inserting and updating a detached entity into a database using LINQ to SQL.

    1: /// <summary>
    2: /// Updates the database with item.
    3: /// </summary>
    4: /// <typeparam name="T">Type of the item</typeparam>
    5: /// <param name="item">The item.</param>
    6: public static void UpdateDatabaseWithItem<T>(T item) where T : class
    7: {
    8:     var store = GetNewDataContext();
    9:     var table = store.GetTable<T>();
   10:     table.Attach(item);
   11:     store.Refresh(RefreshMode.KeepCurrentValues, item);
   12:     store.SubmitChanges();
   13: }
   14:  
   15:  
   16: /// <summary>
   17: /// Inserts the item into database.
   18: /// </summary>
   19: /// <typeparam name="T">Type of the item</typeparam>
   20: /// <param name="item">The item.</param>
   21: public static void InsertItemIntoDatabase<T>(T item) where T : class
   22: {
   23:     var store = GetNewDataContext();
   24:     var table = store.GetTable<T>();
   25:     table.InsertOnSubmit(item);
   26:     store.SubmitChanges();
   27: }

 

GetNewDataContext() is a method (not shown) which does what its name says, returns a data context.

 

The only part that is not really obvious is on line 11. That line is a "hack" to allow you to attach an entity as modified without using a timestamp or turning off optimistic concurrency or attaching a previous version of the entity.  What this means is that this update will throw a fit if there is a concurrency error!  However, for my use of this code ( mainly for unit test preparation ) it works great.

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