EF Feature CTP5: Raw SQL Query/Command Support

One of the new features that EF feature CTP5 supplies is the support for raw SQL Query/Command through the DbContext. In this post, I’m going to show you examples for how you can use this feature. Pay attention to the fact that the details I provide might change in the future since it's only a CTP and not a release.

DbContext Raw SQL Query/Command Support

EF feature CTP5 supports the execution of raw SQL queries and commands through the DbContext. This behavior resembles the ObjectContexts same functionality that is exposed by the ExecuteStoreQuery<T>and ExecuteStoreCommand methods. You can use the DbContexts SqlQuery and SqlCommand methods which are exposed by the DbContext.Database property. The results of the method executions can be materialized into entities that can be tracked by the DbContext. Here is an example of how to use these methods:

class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    using (SchoolEntities context = new SchoolEntities())
    {
      IEnumerable sqlQuery = context.Database.SqlQuery(typeof(Department), 
        "select * from department");
      foreach (Department item in sqlQuery)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(item.Name);
      }
 
      sqlQuery = context.Database.SqlQuery(typeof(Course), "GetCoursesOrderByTitle");
      foreach (Course item in sqlQuery)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(item.Title);
      }
 
      var numberOfAffectedRows = context.Database.SqlCommand(
        "DeleteDepartment @DepartmentID", new SqlParameter("DepartmentID", 8));
      Console.WriteLine("Number of affected rows: {0}", numberOfAffectedRows);
    }
  }
}

In the program that is using the same model from my previous example, I’m executing two queries (one is raw SQL and the other is using a stored procedure) and one command. The result of the execution is as shown below:

Summary

Let's sum up - the new CTP enables the running of raw SQL queries/commands. This can be very useful in scenarios that aren’t enabled by EF or advanced scenarios.