Using TransactionScope with Entity Framework 6

Question

What I can't understand is if its possible to make changes to the context and get the changes in the same transaction before its commited.

This is what I´m looking for:

using (var scope = new TransactionScope(TransactionScopeOption.Required))  {      using (var context = new DbContext())      {          //first I want to update an item in the context, not to the db         Item thisItem = context.Items.First();         thisItem.Name = "Update name";         context.SaveChanges(); //Save change to this context          //then I want to do a query on the updated item on the current context, not against the db         Item thisUpdatedItem = context.Items.Where(a=>a.Name == "Update name").First();          //do some more query     }       //First here I want it to commit all the changes in the current context to the db     scope.Complete();  }  

Can someone help me understand and show me a working pattern?

Answer 1

Yes, it's possible to do and it's very useful when you want to insert a entity to database and use the auto-generated id for the next insert or update

using (var context = new DbContext())      {      using (var transaction = context.Database.BeginTransaction()) {         var item = new Item();         context.Items.Insert(item);         context.SaveChanges(); // temporary insert to db to get back the auto-generated id          // do some other things         var otherItem = context.OtherItems.First();         // use the inserted id         otherItem.Message = $"You just insert item with id = {item.Id} to database";         transaction.Commit();     } }  

Because your question also asked about a working pattern, here's my working code (with use of FluentApi, DbContext & Transaction). I was having the same issue as you :). Hope it helps you

public class FluentUnitOfWork : IDisposable {     private DbContext Context { get; }      private DbContextTransaction Transaction { get; set; }      public FluentUnitOfWork(DbContext context)     {         Context = context;     }      public FluentUnitOfWork BeginTransaction()     {         Transaction = Context.Database.BeginTransaction();         return this;     }      public FluentUnitOfWork DoInsert<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class     {         Context.Set<TEntity>().Add(entity);         return this;     }      public FluentUnitOfWork DoInsert<TEntity>(TEntity entity, out TEntity inserted) where TEntity : class     {         inserted = Context.Set<TEntity>().Add(entity);         return this;     }      public FluentUnitOfWork DoUpdate<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class     {         Context.Entry(entity).State = EntityState.Modified;         return this;     }      public FluentUnitOfWork SaveAndContinue()     {         try         {             Context.SaveChanges();         }         catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)         {             // add your exception handling code here         }         return this;     }      public bool EndTransaction()     {         try         {             Context.SaveChanges();             Transaction.Commit();         }         catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)         {             // add your exception handling code here         }         return true;     }      public void RollBack()     {         Transaction.Rollback();         Dispose();     }      public void Dispose()     {         Transaction?.Dispose();         Context?.Dispose();     } } 

Sample usage:

var status = BeginTransaction()                 // First Part                 .DoInsert(entity1)                 .DoInsert(entity2)                 .DoInsert(entity3)                 .DoInsert(entity4)                 .SaveAndContinue()                 // Second Part                 .DoInsert(statusMessage.SetPropertyValue(message => message.Message, $"Just got new message {entity1.Name}"))             .EndTransaction();