LINQ to SQL – Generic Insert

Currently I’m working on a project’s data layer code. I’ve chosen LINQ to SQL for this purpose and created a helper library to perform CRUD operations in an easy and generic way.

Following is the code which insert any database object using LINQ:

   1: public static void Insert<T>(T entityData) where T : class

   2: {

   3:     using (TransactionScope trans = new TransactionScope())

   4:     {

   5:         using (App_Data.DBDataContext db = new App_Data.DBDataContext())

   6:         {

   7:             db.GetTable<T>().InsertOnSubmit(entityData);

   8:             db.SubmitChanges();

   9:             trans.Complete();

  10:         }

  11:     }

  12: }

Technorati Tags: LINQ

Few noteworthy points:

• I’m using transaction scope but we can omit that, because for single update or insert, LINQ already provides transaction support. This is only required while making multiple inserts or updates
• Conditional generics are used because GetTable<T>() requires T to be a reference type
• Just like above method, update and delete can also be implemented

Usage

• Suppose you have a database table Order
• In LINQ to SQL, this table is represented as a class, in which table columns are represented as properties
• To insert a new record for Order
• Create new object of Order – Order orderNewObject = new Order();
• Fill orderNewObject properties with desired values
• Pass this new object to Insert method like this - Insert<Order>(orderNewObject);

Using above method we can easily perform database operation without even writing a single T-SQL statement.

Cheers!