Fastest Way of Inserting in Entity Framework

Question

I\'m looking for the fastest way of inserting into Entity Framework.

I\'m asking this because of the scenario where you have an active TransactionScope a

Answer 1

I know this is a very old question, but one guy here said that developed an extension method to use bulk insert with EF, and when I checked, I discovered that the library costs $599 today (for one developer). Maybe it makes sense for the entire library, however for just the bulk insert this is too much.

Here is a very simple extension method I made. I use that on pair with database first (do not tested with code first, but I think that works the same). Change YourEntities with the name of your context:

public partial class YourEntities : DbContext
{
    public async Task BulkInsertAllAsync(IEnumerable entities)
    {
        using (var conn = new SqlConnection(Database.Connection.ConnectionString))
        {
            await conn.OpenAsync();

            Type t = typeof(T);

            var bulkCopy = new SqlBulkCopy(conn)
            {
                DestinationTableName = GetTableName(t)
            };

            var table = new DataTable();

            var properties = t.GetProperties().Where(p => p.PropertyType.IsValueType || p.PropertyType == typeof(string));

            foreach (var property in properties)
            {
                Type propertyType = property.PropertyType;
                if (propertyType.IsGenericType &&
                    propertyType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>))
                {
                    propertyType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(propertyType);
                }

                table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn(property.Name, propertyType));
            }

            foreach (var entity in entities)
            {
                table.Rows.Add(
                    properties.Select(property => property.GetValue(entity, null) ?? DBNull.Value).ToArray());
            }

            bulkCopy.BulkCopyTimeout = 0;
            await bulkCopy.WriteToServerAsync(table);
        }
    }

    public void BulkInsertAll(IEnumerable entities)
    {
        using (var conn = new SqlConnection(Database.Connection.ConnectionString))
        {
            conn.Open();

            Type t = typeof(T);

            var bulkCopy = new SqlBulkCopy(conn)
            {
                DestinationTableName = GetTableName(t)
            };

            var table = new DataTable();

            var properties = t.GetProperties().Where(p => p.PropertyType.IsValueType || p.PropertyType == typeof(string));

            foreach (var property in properties)
            {
                Type propertyType = property.PropertyType;
                if (propertyType.IsGenericType &&
                    propertyType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>))
                {
                    propertyType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(propertyType);
                }

                table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn(property.Name, propertyType));
            }

            foreach (var entity in entities)
            {
                table.Rows.Add(
                    properties.Select(property => property.GetValue(entity, null) ?? DBNull.Value).ToArray());
            }

            bulkCopy.BulkCopyTimeout = 0;
            bulkCopy.WriteToServer(table);
        }
    }

    public string GetTableName(Type type)
    {
        var metadata = ((IObjectContextAdapter)this).ObjectContext.MetadataWorkspace;
        var objectItemCollection = ((ObjectItemCollection)metadata.GetItemCollection(DataSpace.OSpace));

        var entityType = metadata
                .GetItems(DataSpace.OSpace)
                .Single(e => objectItemCollection.GetClrType(e) == type);

        var entitySet = metadata
            .GetItems(DataSpace.CSpace)
            .Single()
            .EntitySets
            .Single(s => s.ElementType.Name == entityType.Name);

        var mapping = metadata.GetItems(DataSpace.CSSpace)
                .Single()
                .EntitySetMappings
                .Single(s => s.EntitySet == entitySet);

        var table = mapping
            .EntityTypeMappings.Single()
            .Fragments.Single()
            .StoreEntitySet;

        return (string)table.MetadataProperties["Table"].Value ?? table.Name;
    }
}

You can use that against any collection that inherit from IEnumerable, like that:

await context.BulkInsertAllAsync(items);