LINQ to SQL (Pre-Release)

Announcements

• LINQ to SQL changes in .NET 4.0

  Damien Guard - MSFT Monday, June 01, 2009 10:15 PM

  Performance

  • Query plans are reused more often by specifically defining text parameter lengths
  • Identity cache lookups for primary key with single result now includes query.Where(predicate).Single()/SingleOrDefault/First/FirstOrDefault
  • Reduced query execution overhead when DataLoadOptions specified (cache lookup considers DataLoadOptions value equivalency – post beta 1)

  Usability

  • ITable<T> interface for additional mocking possibilities
  • Contains with enums automatically casts to int or string depending on column type
  • Associations can now specify non-primary-key columns on the other end of the association
  • Support list initialization syntax for queries
  • LinqDataSource now supports inherited entities
  • LinqDataSource support for Dynamic Data query extenders added

  Query stability

  • Contains now detects self-referencing IQueryable and doesn't cause a stack overflow
  • Skip(0) no longer prevents eager loading
  • GetCommand operates within SQL Compact transactions
  • Exposing Link<T> on a property/field is detected and reported correctly
  • Compiled queries now correctly detect a change in mapping source and throw
  • String.StartsWith, EndsWith and Contains now correctly handles ~ in the search string
  • Now detects multiple active result sets (MARS) better
  • Associations are properly created between entities when using eager loading with Table-Valued Functions (TVFs)
  • Queries that contain sub-queries with scalar projections now work better

  Update stability

  • SubmitChanges no longer silently consumes transaction rollback exceptions
  • SubmitChanges deals with timestamps in a change conflict scenario properly
  • IsDbGenerated now honors renamed properties that don't match underlying column name
  • Server-generated columns and SQL replication/triggers now work instead of throwing SQL exception 

  General stability

  • Binary types equate correctly after deserialization
  • EntitySet.ListChanged fired when adding items to an unloaded entity set
  • Dispose our connections upon context disposal (ones passed in are untouched)

  SQL Metal

  • Foreign key property setter now checks all affected associations not just the first
  • Improved error handling when primary key type not supported
  • Now skips stored procedures containing table-valued parameters instead of aborting process
  • Can now be used against connections that use AttachDbFilename syntax
  • No longer crashes when unexpected data types are encountered

  LINQ to SQL class designer

  • Now handles a single anonymously named column in SQL result set
  • Improved error message for associations to nullable unique columns
  • No longer fails when using clauses are added to the partial user class
  • VarChar(1) now correctly maps to string and not char
  • Decimal precision and scale are now emitted correctly in the DbType attributes for stored procedures
  • Foreign key changes will be picked up when bringing tables back into the designer without a restart 

  Code generation (SQL Metal + LINQ to SQL class designer)

  • Stored procedures using original values now compiles when the entity and context namespaces differ
  • Virtual internal now generates correct syntax
  • Mapping attributes are now fully qualified to prevent conflicts with user types
  • KnownTypeAttributes are now emitted for DataContractSerializer with inheritance
  • Delay-loaded foreign keys now have the correct, compilable, code generated
  • Using stored procedures with concurrency no longer gets confused if entities in different namespace to context
  • ForeignKeyReferenceAlreadyHasValueException is now thrown if any association is loaded not just the first