Related
I would like to lower case all string values before saving them do db.
Is there any way NHibernate can do this and how ? Also are there any performance implications that I should be aware of ?
One way to achieve it would be introducing custom type for conversion. Something like:
[Serializable]
public class LowerCaseStringType : AbstractStringType, ILiteralType
{
public LowerCaseStringType() : base(new StringSqlType())
{
//To avoid NHibernate to issue update on flush when the same string is assigned with different casing
Comparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
}
public override string Name { get; } = "LowerCaseString";
public override void Set(DbCommand cmd, object value, int index, ISessionImplementor session)
{
base.Set(cmd, ((string) value)?.ToLowerInvariant(), index, session);
}
//Called when NHibernate needs to inline non parameterized string right into SQL. Not sure if you need it
string ILiteralType.ObjectToSQLString(object value, Dialect.Dialect dialect)
{
return "'" + ((string) value).ToLowerInvariant() + "'";
}
//If you also want to retrieve all values in lowercase than also override Get method
}
Than you can either map required properties with this type like:
<property name="Name" type="YourNamespace.LowerCaseStringType, YourAssemblyName">
Or even register it as default type for all string mappings (at least it's true for latest NHibernate 5.2):
//Somewhere before SessionFactory is created
TypeFactory.RegisterType(typeof(string), new LowerCaseStringType(), new[] {"string", "String"});
Normally, the .Dump() extension method in LINQPad shows XNode and its derived class instances as a rendered XML fragment. Sometimes while developing code I would prefer to see actual properties of the object, in the same table form that is dumped for other types, like a table that would show the Name, Value, FirstAttribute and whatsnot properties of the node and their .ToString() values, or interactively expandable collections of subobjects. In short, as if XNode were not handled specially at all.
I am working around this by dumping individual properties, but this is tedious.
This answer suggests writing a custom extension code to achieve a similar effect for another type, namely IEnumerable, but it seems a narrower and rarer case than that which I am dealing with.
Is there an out-of-the box way to do what I want?
LINQPad supports customizing Dump for types. Using some extension methods, you can convert the types to ExpandoObjects and then they will be output with properties.
In My Extensions, after the MyExtensions class, add a top level method:
static object ToDump(object obj) {
if (obj is XObject x)
return x.ToExpando();
else
return obj;
}
In the MyExtensions class, add the following extension methods. I already had the object->Dictionary methods for converting to anonymous objects, so I used those, but you could combine them to create a single ToExpando on object:
public static ExpandoObject ToExpando(this object obj) => obj.ToDictionary().ToExpando();
public static IDictionary<string, object> ToDictionary(this object obj) {
if (obj is IDictionary<string, object> id)
return id;
else {
var dictAnsObj = new Dictionary<string, object>();
foreach (var prop in obj.GetType().GetPropertiesOrFields()) {
try {
dictAnsObj.Add(prop.Name, prop.GetValue(obj));
}
catch (Exception ex) {
dictAnsObj.Add(prop.Name, ex);
}
}
return dictAnsObj;
}
}
public static ExpandoObject ToExpando(this IDictionary<string, object> objDict) {
var e = new ExpandoObject();
var di = (IDictionary<string, object>)e;
foreach (var kvp in objDict)
di.Add(kvp);
return e;
}
You will also need this Type extension:
// ***
// *** Type Extensions
// ***
public static List<MemberInfo> GetPropertiesOrFields(this Type t, BindingFlags bf = BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance) =>
t.GetMembers(bf).Where(mi => mi.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field | mi.MemberType == MemberTypes.Property).ToList();
If you are okay with just displaying the top level object in class format, you could just use this extension method when you need to:
public static T DumpAs<T, NewT>(this T obj, Func<T, NewT> castFn, string description = null) {
if (description != null)
castFn(obj).Dump(description);
else
castFn(obj).Dump();
return obj;
}
For example,
XElement xn;
xn.DumpAs(x => x.ToExpando());
Otherwise, you will have to comment out the ToDump method or do something tricky with fluent methods to turn it on and off.
This answer depends on the previous answer, but extends it to handle dumping XObjects as classes when desired with an alternative extension method and ToDump method. It uses the same extensions as my previous answer otherwise.
In the MyExtensions class, add a new type of dump and a bool to track status:
public static bool bDumpAsClass = false;
public static object DumpAsClass(this object input, string descr = null) {
bDumpAsClass = true;
if (descr != null)
input.Dump(descr);
else
input.Dump();
bDumpAsClass = false;
return input;
}
Outside the MyExtensions class, add a ToDump method that uses the bool:
static object ToDump(object obj) {
if (MyExtensions.bDumpAsClass) {
if (obj is XObject x)
return x.ToExpando();
}
return obj;
}
Then you can just use DumpAsClass instead of Dump when you want to dump an XObject or descendant as a class, expanding any members as well.
Obviously you could expand the types handled when bDumpAsClass is true.
In ASP.NET Web API, it allows you to write ODATA queries in the url string to specify which data you want to return from a method. However the part that I'm having a hard time grasping is that ODATA works to filter an IQueryable collection of C# objects, not the database table itself.
This is impractical because really you would want to filter at the database level, as it would be horrible to return all objects from the database, load them into a C# IQueryable list, and then have the ODATA filter that list.
Here is the code, which uses NHibernate and Castle Active Record for data access:
public IQueryable<Message> GetAll()
{
return from m in MessageData.FindAllQueryable()
select ConvertToView(m);
}
public static IQueryable<Message> FindAllQueryable()
{
var criteria = DetachedCriteria.For<Message>()
.CreateAlias("MessageRecipients", "mr")
.AddOrder(new Order("Id", false));
return ActiveRecordMediator<Message>.FindAll(criteria).AsQueryable();
}
The end result of this code would be it returning all messages from the database. How do I allow the ODATA to perform its filters upon the database itself? Otherwise this whole concept of ODATA is completely impractical for real world situations.
Keep in mind, you're dealing with an IQueryable, which is not a physical list of objects. It is a query which has the potential to be executed and result in a list of entities. These queries can also be chained together:
var query = customRepository.Where(x => x.CustomerName == "John"); //no results generated
var query2 = query.Where(x => x.Salary > 100000); // still no results generated
var results = query2.ToList(); // now results are generated
You should be able to just return an instance of Session.Query from NHibernate. The OData functionality will then chain the criteria additional based on the URL and then enumerate the results back out.
Here is how I ended up getting it working. Much thanks to Andreas for leading me to NHibernate.OData.
In my controller action I get the odata from the url and pass it into my data access function:
public IQueryable<Message> GetAll(int authUserId, int userId, DateTime? startDate, DateTime? endDate)
{
LogWriter.Write(String.Format("Getting all messages for user {0}", userId));
//get messages and convert to view.
return from m in MessageData.FindAll(userId, startDate, endDate, GetOData())
select new Message(m);
}
protected string GetOData()
{
var odata = this.Request.RequestUri.Query;
odata = odata.Substring(odata.IndexOf("$"), odata.Length - odata.IndexOf("$"));
odata = odata.Replace("%20", " ");
return odata;
}
Inside the data access method, we get the NHibernate session and call session.ODataQuery:
public static IQueryable<Message> FindAll(int userId, DateTime? startDate, DateTime? endDate, string odata)
{
ICriteria query = GetSession().ODataQuery<Message>(odata);
var detachedCriteria = new ConvertedDetachedCriteria(query)
.CreateAlias("MessageRecipients", "mr")
.Add(Restrictions.Or(
Restrictions.Eq("SenderUserId", userId),
Restrictions.Eq("mr.Key.RecipientId", userId)
));
return FindAllQueryable(detachedCriteria);
}
public static ISession GetSession()
{
var factory = ActiveRecordMediator.GetSessionFactoryHolder().GetSessionFactories()[0];
return factory.OpenSession();
}
public static IQueryable<T> FindAllQueryable(DetachedCriteria criteria)
{
return ActiveRecordMediator<T>.FindAll(criteria).AsQueryable();
}
Also, a simple ConvertedDetachedCriteria class is needed to convert from ICriteria to DetachedCriteria.
public class ConvertedDetachedCriteria : DetachedCriteria
{
public ConvertedDetachedCriteria(ICriteria criteria)
: base((CriteriaImpl)criteria, criteria)
{
var impl = (CriteriaImpl)criteria;
impl.Session = null;
}
}
Hopefully this will help someone else. I now can write odata queries against my asp.net web api methods and have them filter at the db level, which is much more useful than filtering iqueryable c# objects!!
Adding to #Justin answer, without ActiveRecord one could just return something like
public IQueryable<Message> Get()
{
ICriteria query = _unitOfWork.CurrentSession.ODataQuery<Message>(GetOData());
return query.Future<Location>().AsQueryable<Location>();
}
// Taken from #Justin's answer
protected string GetOData()
{
var odata = this.Request.RequestUri.Query;
odata = odata.Substring(odata.IndexOf("$"), odata.Length - odata.IndexOf("$"));
odata = odata.Replace("%20", " ");
return odata;
}
This should put you up for testing!
Here's the table
Users
UserId
UserName
Password
EmailAddress
and the code..
public void ChangePassword(int userId, string password){
//code to update the password..
}
Ladislav's answer updated to use DbContext (introduced in EF 4.1):
public void ChangePassword(int userId, string password)
{
var user = new User() { Id = userId, Password = password };
using (var db = new MyEfContextName())
{
db.Users.Attach(user);
db.Entry(user).Property(x => x.Password).IsModified = true;
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
You can tell entity-framework which properties have to be updated in this way:
public void ChangePassword(int userId, string password)
{
var user = new User { Id = userId, Password = password };
using (var context = new ObjectContext(ConnectionString))
{
var users = context.CreateObjectSet<User>();
users.Attach(user);
context.ObjectStateManager.GetObjectStateEntry(user)
.SetModifiedProperty("Password");
context.SaveChanges();
}
}
In Entity Framework Core, Attach returns the entry, so all you need is:
var user = new User { Id = userId, Password = password };
db.Users.Attach(user).Property(x => x.Password).IsModified = true;
db.SaveChanges();
You have basically two options:
go the EF way all the way, in that case, you would
load the object based on the userId provided - the entire object gets loaded
update the password field
save the object back using the context's .SaveChanges() method
In this case, it's up to EF how to handle this in detail. I just tested this, and in the case I only change a single field of an object, what EF creates is pretty much what you'd create manually, too - something like:
`UPDATE dbo.Users SET Password = #Password WHERE UserId = #UserId`
So EF is smart enough to figure out what columns have indeed changed, and it will create a T-SQL statement to handle just those updates that are in fact necessary.
you define a stored procedure that does exactly what you need, in T-SQL code (just update the Password column for the given UserId and nothing else - basically executes UPDATE dbo.Users SET Password = #Password WHERE UserId = #UserId) and you create a function import for that stored procedure in your EF model and you call this function instead of doing the steps outlined above
i'm using this:
entity:
public class Thing
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Info { get; set; }
public string OtherStuff { get; set; }
}
dbcontext:
public class MyDataContext : DbContext
{
public DbSet<Thing > Things { get; set; }
}
accessor code:
MyDataContext ctx = new MyDataContext();
// FIRST create a blank object
Thing thing = ctx.Things.Create();
// SECOND set the ID
thing.Id = id;
// THIRD attach the thing (id is not marked as modified)
db.Things.Attach(thing);
// FOURTH set the fields you want updated.
thing.OtherStuff = "only want this field updated.";
// FIFTH save that thing
db.SaveChanges();
While searching for a solution to this problem, I found a variation on GONeale's answer through Patrick Desjardins' blog:
public int Update(T entity, Expression<Func<T, object>>[] properties)
{
DatabaseContext.Entry(entity).State = EntityState.Unchanged;
foreach (var property in properties)
{
var propertyName = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(property);
DatabaseContext.Entry(entity).Property(propertyName).IsModified = true;
}
return DatabaseContext.SaveChangesWithoutValidation();
}
"As you can see, it takes as its second parameter an expression of a
function. This will let use this method by specifying in a Lambda
expression which property to update."
...Update(Model, d=>d.Name);
//or
...Update(Model, d=>d.Name, d=>d.SecondProperty, d=>d.AndSoOn);
( A somewhat similar solution is also given here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5749469/2115384 )
The method I am currently using in my own code, extended to handle also (Linq) Expressions of type ExpressionType.Convert. This was necessary in my case, for example with Guid and other object properties. Those were 'wrapped' in a Convert() and therefore not handled by System.Web.Mvc.ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText.
public int Update(T entity, Expression<Func<T, object>>[] properties)
{
DbEntityEntry<T> entry = dataContext.Entry(entity);
entry.State = EntityState.Unchanged;
foreach (var property in properties)
{
string propertyName = "";
Expression bodyExpression = property.Body;
if (bodyExpression.NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert && bodyExpression is UnaryExpression)
{
Expression operand = ((UnaryExpression)property.Body).Operand;
propertyName = ((MemberExpression)operand).Member.Name;
}
else
{
propertyName = System.Web.Mvc.ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(property);
}
entry.Property(propertyName).IsModified = true;
}
dataContext.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = false;
return dataContext.SaveChanges();
}
New EF Core 7 native feature — ExecuteUpdate:
Finally! After a long wait, EF Core 7.0 now has a natively supported way to run UPDATE (and also DELETE) statements while also allowing you to use arbitrary LINQ queries (.Where(u => ...)), without having to first retrieve the relevant entities from the database: The new built-in method called ExecuteUpdate — see "What's new in EF Core 7.0?".
ExecuteUpdate is precisely meant for these kinds of scenarios, it can operate on any IQueryable instance, and lets you update specific columns on any number of rows, while always issuing a single UPDATE statement behind the scenes, making it as efficient as possible.
Usage:
Let's take OP's example — i.e. updating the password column of a specific user:
dbContext.Users
.Where(u => u.Id == someId)
.ExecuteUpdate(b =>
b.SetProperty(u => u.Password, "NewPassword")
);
As you can see, calling ExecuteUpdate requires you to make calls to the SetProperty method, to specify which property to update, and also what new value to assign to it.
EF Core will translate this into the following UPDATE statement:
UPDATE [u]
SET [u].[Password] = "NewPassword"
FROM [Users] AS [u]
WHERE [u].[Id] = someId
Also, ExecuteDelete for deleting rows:
There's also a counterpart to ExecuteUpdate called ExecuteDelete, which, as the name implies, can be used to delete a single or multiple rows at once without having to first fetch them.
Usage:
// Delete users that haven't been active in 2022:
dbContext.Users
.Where(u => u.LastActiveAt.Year < 2022)
.ExecuteDelete();
Similar to ExecuteUpdate, ExecuteDelete will generate DELETE SQL statements behind the scenes — in this case, the following one:
DELETE FROM [u]
FROM [Users] AS [u]
WHERE DATEPART(year, [u].[LastActiveAt]) < 2022
Other notes:
Keep in mind that both ExecuteUpdate and ExecuteDelete are "terminating", meaning that the update/delete operation will take place as soon as you call the method. You're not supposed to call dbContext.SaveChanges() afterwards.
If you're curious about the SetProperty method, and you're confused as to why ExectueUpdate doesn't instead receive a member initialization expression (e.g. .ExecuteUpdate(new User { Email = "..." }), then refer to this comment (and the surrounding ones) on the GitHub issue for this feature.
Furthermore, if you're curious about the rationale behind the naming, and why the prefix Execute was picked (there were also other candidates), refer to this comment, and the preceding (rather long) conversation.
Both methods also have async equivalents, named ExecuteUpdateAsync, and ExecuteDeleteAsync respectively.
In EntityFramework Core 2.x there is no need for Attach:
// get a tracked entity
var entity = context.User.Find(userId);
entity.someProp = someValue;
// other property changes might come here
context.SaveChanges();
Tried this in SQL Server and profiling it:
exec sp_executesql N'SET NOCOUNT ON;
UPDATE [User] SET [someProp] = #p0
WHERE [UserId] = #p1;
SELECT ##ROWCOUNT;
',N'#p1 int,#p0 bit',#p1=1223424,#p0=1
Find ensures that already loaded entities do not trigger a SELECT and also automatically attaches the entity if needed (from the docs):
Finds an entity with the given primary key values. If an entity with the given primary key values is being tracked by the context, then it is returned immediately without making a request to the database. Otherwise, a query is made to the database for an entity with the given primary key values and this entity, if found, is attached to the context and returned. If no entity is found, then null is returned.
I'm late to the game here, but this is how I am doing it, I spent a while hunting for a solution I was satisified with; this produces an UPDATE statement ONLY for the fields that are changed, as you explicitly define what they are through a "white list" concept which is more secure to prevent web form injection anyway.
An excerpt from my ISession data repository:
public bool Update<T>(T item, params string[] changedPropertyNames) where T
: class, new()
{
_context.Set<T>().Attach(item);
foreach (var propertyName in changedPropertyNames)
{
// If we can't find the property, this line wil throw an exception,
//which is good as we want to know about it
_context.Entry(item).Property(propertyName).IsModified = true;
}
return true;
}
This could be wrapped in a try..catch if you so wished, but I personally like my caller to know about the exceptions in this scenario.
It would be called in something like this fashion (for me, this was via an ASP.NET Web API):
if (!session.Update(franchiseViewModel.Franchise, new[]
{
"Name",
"StartDate"
}))
throw new HttpResponseException(new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NotFound));
Entity framework tracks your changes on objects that you queried from database via DbContext. For example if you DbContext instance name is dbContext
public void ChangePassword(int userId, string password){
var user = dbContext.Users.FirstOrDefault(u=>u.UserId == userId);
user.password = password;
dbContext.SaveChanges();
}
I know this is an old thread but I was also looking for a similar solution and decided to go with the solution #Doku-so provided. I'm commenting to answer the question asked by #Imran Rizvi , I followed #Doku-so link that shows a similar implementation. #Imran Rizvi's question was that he was getting an error using the provided solution 'Cannot convert Lambda expression to Type 'Expression> [] ' because it is not a delegate type'. I wanted to offer a small modification I made to #Doku-so's solution that fixes this error in case anyone else comes across this post and decides to use #Doku-so's solution.
The issue is the second argument in the Update method,
public int Update(T entity, Expression<Func<T, object>>[] properties).
To call this method using the syntax provided...
Update(Model, d=>d.Name, d=>d.SecondProperty, d=>d.AndSoOn);
You must add the 'params' keyword in front of the second arugment as so.
public int Update(T entity, params Expression<Func<T, object>>[] properties)
or if you don't want to change the method signature then to call the Update method you need to add the 'new' keyword, specify the size of the array, then finally use the collection object initializer syntax for each property to update as seen below.
Update(Model, new Expression<Func<T, object>>[3] { d=>d.Name }, { d=>d.SecondProperty }, { d=>d.AndSoOn });
In #Doku-so's example he is specifying an array of Expressions so you must pass the properties to update in an array, because of the array you must also specify the size of the array. To avoid this you could also change the expression argument to use IEnumerable instead of an array.
Here is my implementation of #Doku-so's solution.
public int Update<TEntity>(LcmsEntities dataContext, DbEntityEntry<TEntity> entityEntry, params Expression<Func<TEntity, object>>[] properties)
where TEntity: class
{
entityEntry.State = System.Data.Entity.EntityState.Unchanged;
properties.ToList()
.ForEach((property) =>
{
var propertyName = string.Empty;
var bodyExpression = property.Body;
if (bodyExpression.NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert
&& bodyExpression is UnaryExpression)
{
Expression operand = ((UnaryExpression)property.Body).Operand;
propertyName = ((MemberExpression)operand).Member.Name;
}
else
{
propertyName = System.Web.Mvc.ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(property);
}
entityEntry.Property(propertyName).IsModified = true;
});
dataContext.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = false;
return dataContext.SaveChanges();
}
Usage:
this.Update<Contact>(context, context.Entry(modifiedContact), c => c.Active, c => c.ContactTypeId);
#Doku-so provided a cool approach using generic's, I used the concept to solve my issue but you just can't use #Doku-so's solution as is and in both this post and the linked post no one answered the usage error questions.
Combining several suggestions I propose the following:
async Task<bool> UpdateDbEntryAsync<T>(T entity, params Expression<Func<T, object>>[] properties) where T : class
{
try
{
var entry = db.Entry(entity);
db.Set<T>().Attach(entity);
foreach (var property in properties)
entry.Property(property).IsModified = true;
await db.SaveChangesAsync();
return true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("UpdateDbEntryAsync exception: " + ex.Message);
return false;
}
}
called by
UpdateDbEntryAsync(dbc, d => d.Property1);//, d => d.Property2, d => d.Property3, etc. etc.);
Or by
await UpdateDbEntryAsync(dbc, d => d.Property1);
Or by
bool b = UpdateDbEntryAsync(dbc, d => d.Property1).Result;
I use ValueInjecter nuget to inject Binding Model into database Entity using following:
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Add(CustomBindingModel model)
{
var entity= await db.MyEntities.FindAsync(model.Id);
if (entity== null) return NotFound();
entity.InjectFrom<NoNullsInjection>(model);
await db.SaveChangesAsync();
return Ok();
}
Notice the usage of custom convention that doesn't update Properties if they're null from server.
ValueInjecter v3+
public class NoNullsInjection : LoopInjection
{
protected override void SetValue(object source, object target, PropertyInfo sp, PropertyInfo tp)
{
if (sp.GetValue(source) == null) return;
base.SetValue(source, target, sp, tp);
}
}
Usage:
target.InjectFrom<NoNullsInjection>(source);
Value Injecter V2
Lookup this answer
Caveat
You won't know whether the property is intentionally cleared to null OR it just didn't have any value it. In other words, the property value can only be replaced with another value but not cleared.
_context.Users.UpdateProperty(p => p.Id, request.UserId, new UpdateWrapper<User>()
{
Expression = p => p.FcmId,Value = request.FcmId
});
await _context.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken);
Update Property is an extension method
public static void UpdateProperty<T, T2>(this DbSet<T> set, Expression<Func<T, T2>> idExpression,
T2 idValue,
params UpdateWrapper<T>[] updateValues)
where T : class, new()
{
var entity = new T();
var attach = set.Attach(entity);
attach.Property(idExpression).IsModified = false;
attach.Property(idExpression).OriginalValue = idValue;
foreach (var update in updateValues)
{
attach.Property(update.Expression).IsModified = true;
attach.Property(update.Expression).CurrentValue = update.Value;
}
}
And Update Wrapper is a class
public class UpdateWrapper<T>
{
public Expression<Func<T, object>> Expression { get; set; }
public object Value { get; set; }
}
I was looking for same and finally I found the solution
using (CString conn = new CString())
{
USER user = conn.USERs.Find(CMN.CurrentUser.ID);
user.PASSWORD = txtPass.Text;
conn.SaveChanges();
}
believe me it work for me like a charm.
public async Task<bool> UpdateDbEntryAsync(TEntity entity, params Expression<Func<TEntity, object>>[] properties)
{
try
{
this.Context.Set<TEntity>().Attach(entity);
EntityEntry<TEntity> entry = this.Context.Entry(entity);
entry.State = EntityState.Modified;
foreach (var property in properties)
entry.Property(property).IsModified = true;
await this.Context.SaveChangesAsync();
return true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
}
public void ChangePassword(int userId, string password)
{
var user = new User{ Id = userId, Password = password };
using (var db = new DbContextName())
{
db.Entry(user).State = EntityState.Added;
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
Is anybody using JSON.NET with nHibernate? I notice that I am getting errors when I try to load a class with child collections.
I was facing the same problem so I tried to use #Liedman's code but the GetSerializableMembers() was never get called for the proxied reference.
I found another method to override:
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
protected override JsonContract CreateContract(Type objectType)
{
if (typeof(NHibernate.Proxy.INHibernateProxy).IsAssignableFrom(objectType))
return base.CreateContract(objectType.BaseType);
else
return base.CreateContract(objectType);
}
}
We had this exact problem, which was solved with inspiration from Handcraftsman's response here.
The problem arises from JSON.NET being confused about how to serialize NHibernate's proxy classes. Solution: serialize the proxy instances like their base class.
A simplified version of Handcraftsman's code goes like this:
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver {
protected override List<MemberInfo> GetSerializableMembers(Type objectType) {
if (typeof(INHibernateProxy).IsAssignableFrom(objectType)) {
return base.GetSerializableMembers(objectType.BaseType);
} else {
return base.GetSerializableMembers(objectType);
}
}
}
IMHO, this code has the advantage of still relying on JSON.NET's default behaviour regarding custom attributes, etc. (and the code is a lot shorter!).
It is used like this
var serializer = new JsonSerializer{
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver()
};
StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
JsonWriter jsonWriter = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonTextWriter(stringWriter);
serializer.Serialize(jsonWriter, objectToSerialize);
string serializedObject = stringWriter.ToString();
Note: This code was written for and used with NHibernate 2.1. As some commenters have pointed out, it doesn't work out of the box with later versions of NHibernate, you will have to make some adjustments. I will try to update the code if I ever have to do it with later versions of NHibernate.
I use NHibernate with Json.NET and noticed that I was getting inexplicable "__interceptors" properties in my serialized objects. A google search turned up this excellent solution by Lee Henson which I adapted to work with Json.NET 3.5 Release 5 as follows.
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
private static readonly MemberInfo[] NHibernateProxyInterfaceMembers = typeof(INHibernateProxy).GetMembers();
protected override List<MemberInfo> GetSerializableMembers(Type objectType)
{
var members = base.GetSerializableMembers(objectType);
members.RemoveAll(memberInfo =>
(IsMemberPartOfNHibernateProxyInterface(memberInfo)) ||
(IsMemberDynamicProxyMixin(memberInfo)) ||
(IsMemberMarkedWithIgnoreAttribute(memberInfo, objectType)) ||
(IsMemberInheritedFromProxySuperclass(memberInfo, objectType)));
var actualMemberInfos = new List<MemberInfo>();
foreach (var memberInfo in members)
{
var infos = memberInfo.DeclaringType.BaseType.GetMember(memberInfo.Name);
actualMemberInfos.Add(infos.Length == 0 ? memberInfo : infos[0]);
}
return actualMemberInfos;
}
private static bool IsMemberDynamicProxyMixin(MemberInfo memberInfo)
{
return memberInfo.Name == "__interceptors";
}
private static bool IsMemberInheritedFromProxySuperclass(MemberInfo memberInfo, Type objectType)
{
return memberInfo.DeclaringType.Assembly == typeof(INHibernateProxy).Assembly;
}
private static bool IsMemberMarkedWithIgnoreAttribute(MemberInfo memberInfo, Type objectType)
{
var infos = typeof(INHibernateProxy).IsAssignableFrom(objectType)
? objectType.BaseType.GetMember(memberInfo.Name)
: objectType.GetMember(memberInfo.Name);
return infos[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(JsonIgnoreAttribute), true).Length > 0;
}
private static bool IsMemberPartOfNHibernateProxyInterface(MemberInfo memberInfo)
{
return Array.Exists(NHibernateProxyInterfaceMembers, mi => memberInfo.Name == mi.Name);
}
}
To use it just put an instance in the ContractResolver property of your JsonSerializer. The circular dependency problem noted by jishi can be resolved by setting the ReferenceLoopHandling property to ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore . Here's an extension method that can be used to serialize objects using Json.Net
public static void SerializeToJsonFile<T>(this T itemToSerialize, string filePath)
{
using (StreamWriter streamWriter = new StreamWriter(filePath))
{
using (JsonWriter jsonWriter = new JsonTextWriter(streamWriter))
{
jsonWriter.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer
{
NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore,
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver(),
};
serializer.Serialize(jsonWriter, itemToSerialize);
}
}
}
Are you getting a circular dependancy-error? How do you ignore objects from serialization?
Since lazy loading generates a proxy-objects, any attributes your class-members have will be lost. I ran into the same issue with Newtonsoft JSON-serializer, since the proxy-object didn't have the [JsonIgnore] attributes anymore.
You will probably want to eager load most of the object so that it can be serialized:
ICriteria ic = _session.CreateCriteria(typeof(Person));
ic.Add(Restrictions.Eq("Id", id));
if (fetchEager)
{
ic.SetFetchMode("Person", FetchMode.Eager);
}
A nice way to do this is to add a bool to the constructor (bool isFetchEager) of your data provider method.
I'd say this is a design problem in my opinion. Because NH makes connections to the database underneath all and has proxies in the middle, it is not good for the transparency of your application to serialize them directly (and as you can see Json.NET does not like them at all).
You should not serialize the entities themselves, but you should convert them into "view" objects or POCO or DTO objects (whatever you want to call them) and then serialize these.
The difference is that while NH entity may have proxies, lazy attributes, etc. View objects are simple objects with only primitives which are serializable by default.
How to manage FKs?
My personal rule is:
Entity level: Person class and with a Gender class associated
View level: Person view with GenderId and GenderName properties.
This means that you need to expand your properties into primitives when converting to view objects. This way also your json objects are simpler and easier to handle.
When you need to push the changes to the DB, in my case I use AutoMapper and do a ValueResolver class which can convert your new Guid to the Gender object.
UPDATE: Check http://blog.andrewawhitaker.com/blog/2014/06/19/queryover-series-part-4-transforming/ for a way to get the view directly (AliasToBean) from NH. This would be a boost in the DB side.
The problem can happen when NHibernate wraps the nested collection properties in a PersistentGenericBag<> type.
The GetSerializableMembers and CreateContract overrides cannot detect that these nested collection properties are "proxied". One way to resolve this is to override the CreateProperty method. The trick is to get the value from the property using reflection and test whether the type is of PersistentGenericBag. This method also has the ability to filter any properties that generated exceptions.
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
{
JsonProperty property = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);
property.ShouldSerialize = instance =>
{
try
{
PropertyInfo prop = (PropertyInfo)member;
if (prop.CanRead)
{
var value = prop.GetValue(instance, null);
if (value != null && typeof(NHibernate.Collection.Generic.PersistentGenericBag<>).IsSubclassOfRawGeneric(value.GetType()))
return false;
return true;
}
}
catch
{ }
return false;
};
return property;
}
}
The IsSubclassOfRawGeneric extension used above:
public static class TypeExtensions
{
public static bool IsSubclassOfRawGeneric(this Type generic, Type? toCheck)
{
while (toCheck != null && toCheck != typeof(object))
{
var cur = toCheck.IsGenericType ? toCheck.GetGenericTypeDefinition() : toCheck;
if (generic == cur)
{
return true;
}
toCheck = toCheck?.BaseType;
}
return false;
}
}
If you serialize objects that contain NHibernate proxy classes you might end up downloading the whole database, because once the property is accessed NHibernate would trigger a request to the database.
I've just implemented a Unit of Work for NHibernate: NHUnit that fixes two of the most annoying issues from NHibernate: proxy classes and cartesian product when using fetch.
How would you use this?
var customer = await _dbContext.Customers.Get(customerId) //returns a wrapper to configure the query
.Include(c => c.Addresses.Single().Country, //include Addresses and Country
c => c.PhoneNumbers.Single().PhoneNumberType) //include all PhoneNumbers with PhoneNumberType
.Unproxy() //instructs the framework to strip all the proxy classes when the Value is returned
.Deferred() //instructs the framework to delay execution (future)
.ValueAsync(token); //this is where all deferred queries get executed
The above code is basically configuring a query: return a customer by id with multiple child objects which should be executed with other queries (futures) and the returned result should be stripped of NHibernate proxies. The query gets executed when ValueAsync is called.
NHUnit determines if it should do join with the main query, create new future queries or make use of batch fetch.
There is a simple example project on Github to show you how to use NHUnit package. If others are interested in this project I will invest more time to make it better.
This is what I use:
Have a marker interface and inherit it on your entities, e.g. in my case empty IEntity.
We will use the marker interface to detect NHibernate entity types in the contract resolver.
public class CustomerEntity : IEntity { ... }
Create a custom contract resolver for JSON.NET
public class NHibernateProxyJsonValueProvider : IValueProvider {
private readonly IValueProvider _valueProvider;
public NHibernateProxyJsonValueProvider(IValueProvider valueProvider)
{
_valueProvider = valueProvider;
}
public void SetValue(object target, object value)
{
_valueProvider.SetValue(target, value);
}
private static (bool isProxy, bool isInitialized) GetProxy(object proxy)
{
// this is pretty much what NHibernateUtil.IsInitialized() does.
switch (proxy)
{
case INHibernateProxy hibernateProxy:
return (true, !hibernateProxy.HibernateLazyInitializer.IsUninitialized);
case ILazyInitializedCollection initializedCollection:
return (true, initializedCollection.WasInitialized);
case IPersistentCollection persistentCollection:
return (true, persistentCollection.WasInitialized);
default:
return (false, false);
}
}
public object GetValue(object target)
{
object value = _valueProvider.GetValue(target);
(bool isProxy, bool isInitialized) = GetProxy(value);
if (isProxy)
{
if (isInitialized)
{
return value;
}
if (value is IEnumerable)
{
return Enumerable.Empty<object>();
}
return null;
}
return value;
}
}
public class NHibernateContractResolver : CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver {
protected override JsonContract CreateContract(Type objectType)
{
if (objectType.IsAssignableTo(typeof(IEntity)))
{
return base.CreateObjectContract(objectType);
}
return base.CreateContract(objectType);
}
protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
{
JsonProperty property = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);
property.ValueProvider = new NHibernateProxyJsonValueProvider(property.ValueProvider);
return property;
}
}
Normal uninitialized lazy loaded properties will result in null in the json output.
Collection uninitialized lazy loaded properties will result in an [] empty array in json.
So for a lazy loaded property to appear in the json output you need to eagerly load it in the query or in code before serialization.
Usage:
JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entityToSerialize, new JsonSerializerSettings() {
ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver()
});
Or globally in in ASP.NET Core Startup class
services.AddNewtonsoftJson(options =>
{
options.SerializerSettings.ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver();
});
Using:
NET 5.0
NHibernate 5.3.8
JSON.NET latest via ASP.NET Core