Entity Framework: There is already an open DataReader associated with this Command

Question

I am using Entity Framework and occasionally i will get this error.

EntityCommandExecutionException
{"There is already an open DataReader associated with this Command which must be closed first."}
   at System.Data.EntityClient.EntityCommandDefinition.ExecuteStoreCommands...

Even though i am not doing any manual connection management.

this error happens intermittently.

code that triggers the error (shortened for ease of reading):

        if (critera.FromDate > x) {
            t= _tEntitites.T.Where(predicate).ToList();
        }
        else {
            t= new List<T>(_tEntitites.TA.Where(historicPredicate).ToList());
        }

using Dispose pattern in order to open new connection every time.

using (_tEntitites = new TEntities(GetEntityConnection())) {

    if (critera.FromDate > x) {
        t= _tEntitites.T.Where(predicate).ToList();
    }
    else {
        t= new List<T>(_tEntitites.TA.Where(historicPredicate).ToList());
    }

}

still problematic

why wouldn't EF reuse a connection if it is already open.

Answer 1

It is not about closing connection. EF manages connection correctly. My understanding of this problem is that there are multiple data retrieval commands executed on single connection (or single command with multiple selects) while next DataReader is executed before first one has completed the reading. The only way to avoid the exception is to allow multiple nested DataReaders = turn on MultipleActiveResultSets. Another scenario when this always happens is when you iterate through result of the query (IQueryable) and you will trigger lazy loading for loaded entity inside the iteration.