How do I temporarily turn off an IDENTITY column in EF Code First?

Question

I\'m creating a rewrite of an existing application in EF Code First, but I need to import some of the data from the existing application\'s database. Here\'s the definition

Answer 1

I recently ran into this same issue. In my case, I was using SQL Server CE. Here's a link to my solution:

Inserting all rows of a DataTable into a SQL Server table, including Id values (scroll down to Edit 2)

This is basically Diego's solution #1 -- raw ADO.NET. It's not a great solution because you will need to customize the queries to account for any differences in databases, but hopefully it will help solve your problem for the moment.

Answer 2

You can't. Executing a set identity_insert command changes the behavior of SQL Server, but not the behavior of Entity Framework.

You have three choices for importing records:

• Use raw ADO.NET commands (not entities) or ExecuteSqlCommand.
• Use a different DbContext, in which you define the keys as non-generated.
• Use a different technology that's more suited for data conversion, like SSIS