Saving an NHibernate object after AutoMapping it to a DTO - nhibernate

We are trying to use NHibernate 1.1 to as the persistence layer behind a web service API. Nothing new there. We use Automapper to translate the domain objects we get from (Fluent-)NHibernate to DTO's which we send over the wire.
The problem we are seeing is the following scenario:
We read an object from the repository
We translate that object (via Automapper) into the DTO form.
After some, perhaps trivial fiddling, the object is mapped back from DTO to the Fluent-Nhibernate object (including the primary key which cannot change).
We save the object.
After step 4 we get a Nonuniqueobjectexception from NHibernate and it creates a new row to save the object (with a new primary key). We want to update the original row but instead, new rows get modified(!)
So, in this situation, how can we convince NHibernate to do an actual update instead of an insert operation?
BTW, if we skip the translation to the DTO and back, there is no problem with the update.
== Tevya ==

1) NHibernate 1.1 or Fluent NHib 1.1?
2) I think you have a session management problem. If you load one object in session1 and try to persist it without attaching the actual object to session2 you will end up with a new row in the DB. Try to read and update the object within one session and see the results.

You could try merging the object into your session.
// Assuming you already have a session open
// and you've already mapped your DTO back
using (var tx = session.BeginTransaction())
{
var nhibernateObject = (YourNhibernateObjectType)session.Merge(mappedBackFromDTO);
tx.Commit();
}

You should attach your (new) object after mapping from DTO to the current ISession. Attaching is the operation made by ISession.Update method.

Related

Deteaching and attaching proxies in the Nhibernate

I'm using lazy property in the object.
1) I need to load object without that property, detach it from the session.
2) Then I need to reattach this object to newly created session and load that property.
So, I am fetching data from the database (1) :
return session
.CreateCriteria<DataResource>()
.List<DataResource>()
.ToArray();
Than I'm trying to reattach it and fulfill (2):
using (ISession session = GetSessionFactory().OpenSession())
{
session.Update(dataResource);
NHibernateUtil.Initialize(dataResource.Value);
}
In case if laziness was on one-to-many link - all works ok. (1) step returns my real object, with a proxy set to that property, and after (2) step it become real object.
But in case when I need laziness on the property, it seems that NHibernate cannot handle that with real object. Instead of that it returns proxy after step (1). Than in the step (2) it throw MappingException: No persister for: Castle.Proxies.DataResourceProxy on the .Update() line. Somehow it cannot recognise its own proxy.
You can unproxy the object before detach from the session.
To unproxy see the link
NHibernate Get objects without proxy

How to save and then update same class instance during one request with NHibernate?

I'm relatively new to NHibernate and I've got a question about it.
I use this code snippet in my MVC project in Controller's method:
MyClass entity = new MyClass
{
Foo = "bar"
};
_myRepository.Save(entity);
....
entity.Foo = "bar2";
_myRepository.Save(entity);
The first time entity saved in database succesfully. But the second time not a single request doesnt go to database. My method save in repository just does:
public void Save(T entity)
{
_session.SaveOrUpdate(entity);
}
What should I do to be able to save and then update this entity during one request? If I add _session.Flush(); after saving entity to database it works, but I'm not sure, if it's the right thing to do.
Thanks
This is the expected behavior.
Changes are only saved on Flush
Flush may be called explicitly or implicitly (see 9.6. Flush)
When using an identity generator (not recommended), inserts are sent immediately, because that's the only way to return the ID.
you should be using transactions.
a couple of good sources: here and here.
also, summer of nHibernate is how I first started with nHibernate. it's a very good resource for learning the basics.

NHibernate ISession.Save() - Why is this persisting my entities immediately?

I am creating a large number of entities with NHibernate, attaching them to my ISession, and then using a transaction to commit my changes to the database. Code sample is below:
ISession _context = SessionProvider.OpenSession();
//Create new entities
for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
{
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity(i);
//Attach new entity to the context
_context.Save(entity);
}
//Persist all changes to the database
using(var tx = _context.BeginTransaction())
{
//Flush the session
tx.Commit();
}
I was under the impression that the line _context.Save() simply makes the ISession aware of the new entity, but that no changes are persisted to the database until I Flush the session via the line tx.Commit().
What I've observed though, is that the database gets a new entity every time I call _context.Save(). I end up with too many individual calls to the database as a result.
Does anyone know why ISession.Save() is automatically persisting changes? Have I misunderstood something about how NHibernate behaves? Thanks.
***EDIT - Just to clarify (in light of the two suggested answers) - my problem here is that the database IS getting updated as soon as I call _context.Save(). I don't expect this to happen. I expect nothing to be inserted into the database until I call tx.Commit(). Neither of the two suggested answers so far helps with this unfortunately.
Some good information on identity generators can be found here
Try:
using(Session _context = SessionProvider.OpenSession())
using(var tx = _context.BeginTransaction())
{
//Create new entities
for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
{
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity(i);
//Attach new entity to the context
_context.Save(entity);
}
//Flush the session
tx.Commit();
}
Which identity generator are you using? If you are using post-insert generators like MSSQL/MySQL's Identity or Oracle's sequence to generate the value of your Id fields, that is your problem.
From NHibernate POID Generators Revealed:
Post insert generators, as the name
suggest, assigns the id’s after the
entity is stored in the database. A
select statement is executed against
database. They have many drawbacks,
and in my opinion they must be used
only on brownfield projects. Those
generators are what WE DO NOT SUGGEST
as NH Team.
Some of the drawbacks are the
following
Unit Of Work is broken with the use of
those strategies. It doesn’t matter if
you’re using FlushMode.Commit, each
Save results in an insert statement
against DB. As a best practice, we
should defer insertions to the commit,
but using a post insert generator
makes it commit on save (which is what
UoW doesn’t do).
Those strategies
nullify batcher, you can’t take the
advantage of sending multiple queries
at once(as it must go to database at
the time of Save)
You can set your batch size in your configuration:
<add key="hibernate.batch_size" value="10" />
Or you can set it in code. And make sure you do your saves within a transaction scope.
Try setting the FlushMode to Commit:
ISession _context = SessionProvider.OpenSession();
context.FlushMode = FlushMode.Commit;
peer's suggestion to set the batch size is good also.
My understanding is that when using database identity columns, NHibernate will defer inserts until the session is flushed unless it needs to perform the insert in order to retrieve a foreign key or ensure that a query returns the expected results.
Well
rebelliard's answer is a possibility depending on your mapping
you are not using explicit transactions (StuffHappens' answer)
default flush mode is auto and that complicates things (Jamie Ide's answer)
if by any change you make any queries using the nhibernate api the default behaviour is to flush the cache to the database first so that the results of those queries will match the session entity representation.
What about :
ISession _context = SessionProvider.OpenSession();
//Persist all changes to the database
using(var tx = _context.BeginTransaction())
{
//Create new entities
for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
{
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity(i);
//Attach new entity to the context
_context.Save(entity);
}
//Flush the session
tx.Commit();
}

NHibernate FlushMode: How do I set up NHibernate for automatically updating an entity

After I retrieve an entity, I change a property of it.
Then I retrieve the same entity.
How do I say Nhibernate, that it shall update the entity before it loads the entity?
Here the code:
EmployeeRepository employeeRepository = new EmployeeRepository();
Employee employee = employeeRepository.GetById(4);
employee.LastName = "TEST!!!";
Employee employee2 = employeeRepository.GetById(4);
Currently Nhibernate don't make an update in my program. I thought just setting the FlushMode to Auto will update the entity automatically.
EDIT
The background is that I try to reprdouce this behaviour in another application.
There is NO save method! Just this code. The NHibernate version is really old, it is version 1.2.1.4000. maybe there is the catch.
When I set the FlushMode in the brownfield application to Commit then no update statement is generated.
But in my own project I still can not reproduce this "automatic" behaviour.
Are both calls to the employeeRepository ultimately using the same NHibernate ISession instance? If so, then they will return the same object, and the updated LastName value will be reflected. If not, then you will need to make sure you are disposing your ISession instance each time to take advantage of auto flushing.
According to the documentation for the default FlushMode of Auto:
The ISession is sometimes flushed
before query execution in order to
ensure that queries never return stale
state. This is the default flush mode.
So you have to manually flush the session to ensure that your changes are persisted before reading the object again.
EmployeeRepository employeeRepository = new EmployeeRepository();
Employee employee = employeeRepository.GetById(4);
employee.LastName = "TEST!!!";
session.Flush();
Employee employee2 = employeeRepository.GetById(4);
If your repository is using the same ISession for both calls (as it should imo) then employee 4 will be retrieved from the cache and have the change. However, the change will not have been persisted to the database yet.
If your repository GetById methods uses a new session for each call then it will always hit the database to retrieve the employee. If you're disposing of the session in the method then your objects are returned as detached from a session. This strategy defeats the purpose of NHibernate and relegates it to a simple data access tool.

Flushing in NHibernate

This question is a bit of a dupe, but I still don't understand the best way to handle flushing.
I am migrating an existing code base, which contains a lot of code like the following:
private void btnSave_Click()
{
SaveForm();
ReloadList();
}
private void SaveForm()
{
var foo = FooRepository.Get(_editingFooId);
foo.Name = txtName.Text;
FooRepository.Save(foo);
}
private void ReloadList()
{
fooRepeater.DataSource = FooRepository.LoadAll();
fooRepeater.DataBind();
}
Now that I am changing the FooRepository to Nhibernate, what should I use for the FooRepository.Save method? Should the FooRepository always flush the session when the entity is saved?
I'm not sure if I understand your question, but here is what I think:
Think in "putting objects to the session" instead of "getting and storing data". NH will store all new and changed objects in the session without any special call to it.
Consider this scenarios:
Data change:
Get data from the database with any query. The entities are now in the NH session
Change entities by just changing property values
Commit the transaction. Changes are flushed and stored to the database.
Create a new object:
Call a constructor to create a new object
Store it to the database by calling "Save". It is in the session now.
You still can change the object after Save
Commit the changes. The latest state will be stored to the database.
If you work with detached entities, you also need Update or SaveOrUpdate to put detached entities to the session.
Of course you can configure NH to behave differently. But it works best if you follow this default behaviour.
It doesn't matter whether or not you explicitly flush the session between modifying a Foo entity and loading all Foos from the repository. NHibernate is smart enough to auto-flush itself if you have made changes in the session that may affect the results of the query you are trying to run.
Ideally I try to use one session per "unit of work". This means one cohesive piece of work which may involve several smaller steps. If you feel that you do not have a seam in your architecture where you can achieve this, then managing the session inside the repository will also work. Just be aware that you are missing out on some of the power that NHibernate provides you.
I'd vote up Stefan Moser's answer if I could - I'm still getting to grips with Nh myself but I think it's nice to be able to write code like this:
private void SaveForm()
{
using (var unitofwork = UnitOfWork.Start())
{
var foo = FooRepository.Get(_editingFooId);
var bar = BarRepository.Get(_barId);
foo.Name = txtName.Text;
bar.SomeOtherProperty = txtBlah.Text;
FooRepository.Save(foo);
BarRepository.Save(bar);
UnitOfWork.CommitChanges();
}
}
so this way either the whole action succeeds or it fails and rolls back, keeping flushing/transaction management outside of the Repositories.