Linq to SQL and concurrency with Rob Conery repository pattern

Question

I have implemented a DAL using Rob Conery\'s spin on the repository pattern (from the MVC Storefront project) where I map database objects to domain objects using Linq and u

Answer 1

I worked through this and found the following solution. It works in all the test cases I (and more importantly, my testers!) can think of.

I am using the .Attach() method on the datacontext, and a TimeStamp column. This works fine for the first time that you save a particular primary key back to the database but I found that the datacontext throws a System.Data.Linq.DuplicateKeyException "Cannot add an entity with a key that is already in use."

The work around for this I created was to add a dictionary that stored the item I attach the first time around and then every subsequent time I save I reuse that item.

Example code is below, I do wonder if I've missed any tricks - concurrency is pretty fundamental so the hoops I'm jumping through seem a little excessive.

Hopefully the below proves useful, or someone can point me towards a better implementation!

private Dictionary _attachedPayments;

public void SavePayments(IList payments)
    {
        Dictionary savedPayments =
            new Dictionary();

        // Items with a zero id are new
        foreach (Domain.Payment p in payments.Where(p => p.PaymentId != 0))
        {
            // The list of attached payments that works around the linq datacontext  
            // duplicatekey exception
            if (_attachedPayments.ContainsKey(p.PaymentId)) // Already attached
            {
                Payment dbPayment = _attachedPayments[p.PaymentId];                    
                // Just a method that maps domain to datacontext types
                MapDomainPaymentToDBPayment(p, dbPayment, false);
                savedPayments.Add(dbPayment, p);
            }
            else // Attach this payment to the datacontext
            {
                Payment dbPayment = new Payment();
                MapDomainPaymentToDBPayment(p, dbPayment, true);
                _dataContext.Payments.Attach(dbPayment, true);
                savedPayments.Add(dbPayment, p);
            }
        }

        // There is some code snipped but this is just brand new payments
        foreach (var payment in newPayments)
        {
            Domain.Payment payment1 = payment;
            Payment newPayment = new Payment();
            MapDomainPaymentToDBPayment(payment1, newPayment, false);
            _dataContext.Payments.InsertOnSubmit(newPayment);
            savedPayments.Add(newPayment, payment);
        }

        try
        {
            _dataContext.SubmitChanges();
            // Grab the Timestamp into the domain object
            foreach (Payment p in savedPayments.Keys)
            {
                savedPayments[p].PaymentId = p.PaymentId;
                savedPayments[p].Timestamp = p.Timestamp;
                _attachedPayments[savedPayments[p].PaymentId] = p;
            }
        }
        catch (ChangeConflictException ex)
        {
            foreach (ObjectChangeConflict occ in _dataContext.ChangeConflicts)
            {
                Payment entityInConflict = (Payment) occ.Object;

                // Use the datacontext refresh so that I can display the new values
                _dataContext.Refresh(RefreshMode.OverwriteCurrentValues, entityInConflict);
                _attachedPayments[entityInConflict.PaymentId] = entityInConflict;

            }
            throw;
        }

    }