Validation failed for one or more entities while saving changes to SQL Server Database using Entity Framework

Question

I want to save my Edit to Database and I am using Entity FrameWork Code-First in ASP.NET MVC 3 / C# but I am getting errors. In my Event class, I have DateTime and TimeSpan datatypes but in my database, I've got Date and time respectively. Could this be the reason? How can I cast to the appropriate datatype in the code before saving changes to database.

public class Event
{
    public int EventId { get; set; }
    public int CategoryId { get; set; }
    public int PlaceId { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public decimal Price { get; set; }
    public DateTime EventDate { get; set; }
    public TimeSpan StartTime { get; set; }
    public TimeSpan EndTime { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
    public string EventPlaceUrl { get; set; }
    public Category Category { get; set; }
    public Place Place { get; set; }
}

Method in the controller >>>> Problem at storeDB.SaveChanges();

// POST: /EventManager/Edit/386        
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(int id, FormCollection collection)
{
    var theEvent = storeDB.Events.Find(id);

    if (TryUpdateModel(theEvent))
    {
        storeDB.SaveChanges();
        return RedirectToAction("Index");
    }
    else
    {
        ViewBag.Categories = storeDB.Categories.OrderBy(g => g.Name).ToList();
        ViewBag.Places = storeDB.Places.OrderBy(a => a.Name).ToList();
        return View(theEvent);
    }
}

with

public class EventCalendarEntities : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Event> Events { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Category> Categories { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Place> Places { get; set; } 
}

SQL Server 2008 R2 Database / T-SQL

EventDate (Datatype = date)  
StartTime (Datatype = time)  
EndTime (Datatype = time)  

Http Form

EventDate (Datatype = DateTime) e.g. 4/8/2011 12:00:00 AM  
StartTime (Datatype = Timespan/time not sure) e.g. 08:30:00  
EndTime (Datatype = Timespan/time not sure) e.g. 09:00:00  

Server Error in '/' Application.

Validation failed for one or more entities. See 'EntityValidationErrors' property for more details.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Data.Entity.Validation.DbEntityValidationException: Validation failed for one or more entities. See 'EntityValidationErrors' property for more details.

Source Error:

Line 75:             if (TryUpdateModel(theEvent))
Line 76:             {
Line 77:                 storeDB.SaveChanges();
Line 78:                 return RedirectToAction("Index");
Line 79:             }

Source File: C:\sep\MvcEventCalendar\MvcEventCalendar\Controllers\EventManagerController.cs Line: 77

Stack Trace:

[DbEntityValidationException: Validation failed for one or more entities. See 'EntityValidationErrors' property for more details.]

Answer 1

You can extract all the information from the DbEntityValidationException with the following code (you need to add the namespaces: System.Data.Entity.Validation and System.Diagnostics to your using list):

catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)
{
    foreach (var validationErrors in dbEx.EntityValidationErrors)
    {
        foreach (var validationError in validationErrors.ValidationErrors)
        {
            Trace.TraceInformation("Property: {0} Error: {1}", 
                                    validationError.PropertyName, 
                                    validationError.ErrorMessage);
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

No code change required:

While you are in debug mode within the catch {...} block open up the "QuickWatch" window (Ctrl+Alt+Q) and paste in there:

((System.Data.Entity.Validation.DbEntityValidationException)ex).EntityValidationErrors

or:

((System.Data.Entity.Validation.DbEntityValidationException)$exception).EntityValidationErrors

If you are not in a try/catch or don't have access to the exception object.

This will allow you to drill down into the ValidationErrors tree. It's the easiest way I've found to get instant insight into these errors.

Answer 3

In the case you have classes with same property names, here is a small extension to Praveen's answer:

 catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)
 {
    foreach (var validationErrors in dbEx.EntityValidationErrors)
    {
       foreach (var validationError in validationErrors.ValidationErrors)
       {
          Trace.TraceInformation(
                "Class: {0}, Property: {1}, Error: {2}",
                validationErrors.Entry.Entity.GetType().FullName,
                validationError.PropertyName,
                validationError.ErrorMessage);
       }
    }
 }

Answer 4

As an improvement to both Praveen and Tony, I use an override:

public partial class MyDatabaseEntities : DbContext
{
    public override int SaveChanges()
    {
        try
        {
            return base.SaveChanges();
        }
        catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)
        {
            foreach (var validationErrors in dbEx.EntityValidationErrors)
            {
                foreach (var validationError in validationErrors.ValidationErrors)
                {
                    Trace.TraceInformation("Class: {0}, Property: {1}, Error: {2}",
                        validationErrors.Entry.Entity.GetType().FullName,
                        validationError.PropertyName,
                        validationError.ErrorMessage);
                }
            }

            throw;  // You can also choose to handle the exception here...
        }
    }
}

Answer 5

This implementation wrap entity exception to exception with detail text. It handles DbEntityValidationException, DbUpdateException, datetime2 range errors (MS SQL), and include key of invalid entity in message (useful when savind many entities at one SaveChanges call).

First, override SaveChanges in DbContext class:

public class AppDbContext : DbContext
{
    public override int SaveChanges()
    {
        try
        {
            return base.SaveChanges();
        }
        catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEntityValidationException)
        {
            throw ExceptionHelper.CreateFromEntityValidation(dbEntityValidationException);
        }
        catch (DbUpdateException dbUpdateException)
        {
            throw ExceptionHelper.CreateFromDbUpdateException(dbUpdateException);
        }
    }   

    public override async Task<int> SaveChangesAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        try
        {
            return await base.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken);
        }
        catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEntityValidationException)
        {
            throw ExceptionHelper.CreateFromEntityValidation(dbEntityValidationException);
        }
        catch (DbUpdateException dbUpdateException)
        {
            throw ExceptionHelper.CreateFromDbUpdateException(dbUpdateException);
        }
    }

ExceptionHelper class:

public class ExceptionHelper
{
    public static Exception CreateFromEntityValidation(DbEntityValidationException ex)
    {
        return new Exception(GetDbEntityValidationMessage(ex), ex);
    }

    public static string GetDbEntityValidationMessage(DbEntityValidationException ex)
    {
        // Retrieve the error messages as a list of strings.
        var errorMessages = ex.EntityValidationErrors
            .SelectMany(x => x.ValidationErrors)
            .Select(x => x.ErrorMessage);

        // Join the list to a single string.
        var fullErrorMessage = string.Join("; ", errorMessages);

        // Combine the original exception message with the new one.
        var exceptionMessage = string.Concat(ex.Message, " The validation errors are: ", fullErrorMessage);
        return exceptionMessage;
    }

    public static IEnumerable<Exception> GetInners(Exception ex)
    {
        for (Exception e = ex; e != null; e = e.InnerException)
            yield return e;
    }

    public static Exception CreateFromDbUpdateException(DbUpdateException dbUpdateException)
    {
        var inner = GetInners(dbUpdateException).Last();
        string message = "";
        int i = 1;
        foreach (var entry in dbUpdateException.Entries)
        {
            var entry1 = entry;
            var obj = entry1.CurrentValues.ToObject();
            var type = obj.GetType();
            var propertyNames = entry1.CurrentValues.PropertyNames.Where(x => inner.Message.Contains(x)).ToList();
            // check MS SQL datetime2 error
            if (inner.Message.Contains("datetime2"))
            {
                var propertyNames2 = from x in type.GetProperties()
                                        where x.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime) ||
                                            x.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime?)
                                        select x.Name;
                propertyNames.AddRange(propertyNames2);
            }

            message += "Entry " + i++ + " " + type.Name + ": " + string.Join("; ", propertyNames.Select(x =>
                string.Format("'{0}' = '{1}'", x, entry1.CurrentValues[x])));
        }
        return new Exception(message, dbUpdateException);
    }
}