Entity Framework Generic insert method is inserting already existing entity again along with the new entity












0















I have following Insert method:



  public static bool Insert<T>(T item) where T : class 
{
using (ApplicationDbContext ctx = new ApplicationDbContext())
{
try
{
ctx.Set<T>().Add(item);
ctx.SaveChanges();
return true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// ...
}
}
}


This works as expected but when i want to insert a new entity, which has a relation to a existing entity, EF is re-inserting this relational (already existing) entity again along with the new entity.



Details:
I have a entity Supplier which already exists in my database.
I want to insert a new entity Product which has this existing Supplier entity as relation so i retrieve this Supplier from the database and add it to this Product Entity. When i insert it using the generic method, it re-inserts this Supplier and obviously i don't want this behavior.



Am i doing something wrong here or is this by design and should i not use a generic insert function when having relational entities attached to my new entities?



Thank you for any suggestion or information!
Kind regards



EDIT:



Product Entity:



// ... non relational properties

public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }
public ICollection<Supplier> Suppliers { get; set; }
public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }


Price Entity:



public Product Product { get; set; }
public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }


Supplier Entity:



public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }
public ICollection<Product> Products { get; set; }
public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }


ProductNumber Entity:



 public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }
public Product Product { get; set; }


How should i proceed to insert a new product? Is this possible having this structure and using a Generic insert?










share|improve this question





























    0















    I have following Insert method:



      public static bool Insert<T>(T item) where T : class 
    {
    using (ApplicationDbContext ctx = new ApplicationDbContext())
    {
    try
    {
    ctx.Set<T>().Add(item);
    ctx.SaveChanges();
    return true;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
    // ...
    }
    }
    }


    This works as expected but when i want to insert a new entity, which has a relation to a existing entity, EF is re-inserting this relational (already existing) entity again along with the new entity.



    Details:
    I have a entity Supplier which already exists in my database.
    I want to insert a new entity Product which has this existing Supplier entity as relation so i retrieve this Supplier from the database and add it to this Product Entity. When i insert it using the generic method, it re-inserts this Supplier and obviously i don't want this behavior.



    Am i doing something wrong here or is this by design and should i not use a generic insert function when having relational entities attached to my new entities?



    Thank you for any suggestion or information!
    Kind regards



    EDIT:



    Product Entity:



    // ... non relational properties

    public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Supplier> Suppliers { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }


    Price Entity:



    public Product Product { get; set; }
    public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }


    Supplier Entity:



    public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Product> Products { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }


    ProductNumber Entity:



     public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }
    public Product Product { get; set; }


    How should i proceed to insert a new product? Is this possible having this structure and using a Generic insert?










    share|improve this question



























      0












      0








      0








      I have following Insert method:



        public static bool Insert<T>(T item) where T : class 
      {
      using (ApplicationDbContext ctx = new ApplicationDbContext())
      {
      try
      {
      ctx.Set<T>().Add(item);
      ctx.SaveChanges();
      return true;
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
      // ...
      }
      }
      }


      This works as expected but when i want to insert a new entity, which has a relation to a existing entity, EF is re-inserting this relational (already existing) entity again along with the new entity.



      Details:
      I have a entity Supplier which already exists in my database.
      I want to insert a new entity Product which has this existing Supplier entity as relation so i retrieve this Supplier from the database and add it to this Product Entity. When i insert it using the generic method, it re-inserts this Supplier and obviously i don't want this behavior.



      Am i doing something wrong here or is this by design and should i not use a generic insert function when having relational entities attached to my new entities?



      Thank you for any suggestion or information!
      Kind regards



      EDIT:



      Product Entity:



      // ... non relational properties

      public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Supplier> Suppliers { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }


      Price Entity:



      public Product Product { get; set; }
      public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }


      Supplier Entity:



      public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Product> Products { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }


      ProductNumber Entity:



       public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }
      public Product Product { get; set; }


      How should i proceed to insert a new product? Is this possible having this structure and using a Generic insert?










      share|improve this question
















      I have following Insert method:



        public static bool Insert<T>(T item) where T : class 
      {
      using (ApplicationDbContext ctx = new ApplicationDbContext())
      {
      try
      {
      ctx.Set<T>().Add(item);
      ctx.SaveChanges();
      return true;
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
      // ...
      }
      }
      }


      This works as expected but when i want to insert a new entity, which has a relation to a existing entity, EF is re-inserting this relational (already existing) entity again along with the new entity.



      Details:
      I have a entity Supplier which already exists in my database.
      I want to insert a new entity Product which has this existing Supplier entity as relation so i retrieve this Supplier from the database and add it to this Product Entity. When i insert it using the generic method, it re-inserts this Supplier and obviously i don't want this behavior.



      Am i doing something wrong here or is this by design and should i not use a generic insert function when having relational entities attached to my new entities?



      Thank you for any suggestion or information!
      Kind regards



      EDIT:



      Product Entity:



      // ... non relational properties

      public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Supplier> Suppliers { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }


      Price Entity:



      public Product Product { get; set; }
      public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }


      Supplier Entity:



      public ICollection<Productnumber> ProductNumbers { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Product> Products { get; set; }
      public ICollection<Price> Prices { get; set; }


      ProductNumber Entity:



       public Supplier Supplier { get; set; }
      public Product Product { get; set; }


      How should i proceed to insert a new product? Is this possible having this structure and using a Generic insert?







      c# entity-framework insert duplicates relational-database






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Nov 14 '18 at 12:54







      Dimitri

















      asked Nov 14 '18 at 9:26









      DimitriDimitri

      174313




      174313
























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          1














          If you want to add a new product to an existing Supplier you need to do as following:



          1- Retrieve the supplier entity, let's call it sup



          2- Add the new Product to it,



          sup.Product = new Product{properties
          ...}


          3- Update the supplier entity,



          ctx.Entry(sup).State = EntityState.Modified;
          ctx.SaveChanges();


          You were adding a new supplier entity each time you were using the bool Insert<T> method and this why you got unexpected behaviour, so just update the existing entry instead.



          Hope this helps,






          share|improve this answer
























          • Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:42






          • 1





            yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:51











          • So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:15






          • 1





            put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:20








          • 1





            you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 16:51













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          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

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          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          1














          If you want to add a new product to an existing Supplier you need to do as following:



          1- Retrieve the supplier entity, let's call it sup



          2- Add the new Product to it,



          sup.Product = new Product{properties
          ...}


          3- Update the supplier entity,



          ctx.Entry(sup).State = EntityState.Modified;
          ctx.SaveChanges();


          You were adding a new supplier entity each time you were using the bool Insert<T> method and this why you got unexpected behaviour, so just update the existing entry instead.



          Hope this helps,






          share|improve this answer
























          • Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:42






          • 1





            yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:51











          • So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:15






          • 1





            put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:20








          • 1





            you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 16:51


















          1














          If you want to add a new product to an existing Supplier you need to do as following:



          1- Retrieve the supplier entity, let's call it sup



          2- Add the new Product to it,



          sup.Product = new Product{properties
          ...}


          3- Update the supplier entity,



          ctx.Entry(sup).State = EntityState.Modified;
          ctx.SaveChanges();


          You were adding a new supplier entity each time you were using the bool Insert<T> method and this why you got unexpected behaviour, so just update the existing entry instead.



          Hope this helps,






          share|improve this answer
























          • Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:42






          • 1





            yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:51











          • So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:15






          • 1





            put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:20








          • 1





            you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 16:51
















          1












          1








          1







          If you want to add a new product to an existing Supplier you need to do as following:



          1- Retrieve the supplier entity, let's call it sup



          2- Add the new Product to it,



          sup.Product = new Product{properties
          ...}


          3- Update the supplier entity,



          ctx.Entry(sup).State = EntityState.Modified;
          ctx.SaveChanges();


          You were adding a new supplier entity each time you were using the bool Insert<T> method and this why you got unexpected behaviour, so just update the existing entry instead.



          Hope this helps,






          share|improve this answer













          If you want to add a new product to an existing Supplier you need to do as following:



          1- Retrieve the supplier entity, let's call it sup



          2- Add the new Product to it,



          sup.Product = new Product{properties
          ...}


          3- Update the supplier entity,



          ctx.Entry(sup).State = EntityState.Modified;
          ctx.SaveChanges();


          You were adding a new supplier entity each time you were using the bool Insert<T> method and this why you got unexpected behaviour, so just update the existing entry instead.



          Hope this helps,







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Nov 14 '18 at 10:28









          Karoui HaithemKaroui Haithem

          555421




          555421













          • Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:42






          • 1





            yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:51











          • So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:15






          • 1





            put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:20








          • 1





            you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 16:51





















          • Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:42






          • 1





            yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 10:51











          • So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

            – Dimitri
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:15






          • 1





            put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 11:20








          • 1





            you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

            – Karoui Haithem
            Nov 14 '18 at 16:51



















          Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

          – Dimitri
          Nov 14 '18 at 10:42





          Oh my, this makes sense. But then again, if i have 2 relational entities for my Product (Supplier and Contract lets say). Would this still work, and not inserting a duplicate Contract? Seems strange to insert a new Product by updating a supplier :) Will try this in a moment and post my feedback. Thank you for your suggestion @Karoui Haithem!

          – Dimitri
          Nov 14 '18 at 10:42




          1




          1





          yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

          – Karoui Haithem
          Nov 14 '18 at 10:51





          yep, indeed, it works that way and its full of sense, if you want to link newEntityA to ExistingEntityB you retrive B and create a related A to it and then update B, same if you have A related to B to C ...

          – Karoui Haithem
          Nov 14 '18 at 10:51













          So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

          – Dimitri
          Nov 14 '18 at 11:15





          So i have done what you described, when creating a new Product, i retrieve the supplier from database (which was selected in the UI to attach to this new product). I assign properties and so on to my new product and then i add this new product to the Suppliers.Products list property and save it. This indeed creates my new Product Entity but still is duplicating my supplier... Maybe it is another relational entity causing this? I will update my OP with my Entity details.(Thank you so far!)

          – Dimitri
          Nov 14 '18 at 11:15




          1




          1





          put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

          – Karoui Haithem
          Nov 14 '18 at 11:20







          put the code which does what you just described, i am not sure but i think that you missed updating the entity (ctx.Entry(yourEntity).State = EntityState.Modified;)

          – Karoui Haithem
          Nov 14 '18 at 11:20






          1




          1





          you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

          – Karoui Haithem
          Nov 14 '18 at 16:51







          you can post your last comment in a new question and link it here then i will post an answer showing how you can use IRepository pattern with generics to handle basic CRUD operation with EF

          – Karoui Haithem
          Nov 14 '18 at 16:51






















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