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();