storing enum to database in entity

Question

i am trying to pass a dropdown selected value to database my datacontracts has the following code

      public EnumTypes.RegardingObjectType RegardingObjectType { get; set; }
    public Guid RegardingObjectId { get; set; }

enumtypes.cs has the following

    public class EnumTypes
{

    public enum RegardingObjectType
    {
        UnknownOrNone = 0,
        Account = 1,
        Cellsite = 2,

eventdal.cs has the following

       private t_Event MapEventToEntity(Event newevent, t_Event eventToBeChanged)
    {
   eventToBeChanged.RegardingObjectType = int.Parse(newevent.RegardingObjectType.ToString());

it builds fine but getting exception while running

If you're using EF5, you don't have to do anything special to map enums: EF handles it automatically. If you're not using EF5, perhaps you should. — Chris Pratt, Apr 08 '13 at 19:54
@ChrisPratt By the c#-4.0 tag, I'd assume that he'd be using EF 4. It also might not be possible for him to switch. — Corey Adler, Apr 08 '13 at 20:06
yes we are using 4.0 and have morethan one project thats involved here — user2167089, Apr 08 '13 at 20:13

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 08 '13 at 20:07

1

Entity Framework 4 does not support using enums as column types. If you want to have native support for enums, you'll need to upgrade to Entity Framework 5.

If you absolutely have to use EF 4 (because of a project that's already been implemented in it), then I recommend that you go around it as so:

public int RegardingObjectTypeAsInt { get; set; }

[NotMapped]
public EnumTypes.RegardingObjectType RegardingObjectType
{
  get { return (EnumTypes.RegardingObjectType) this.RegardingObjectTypeAsInt; }
  set { this.RegardingObjectTypeAsInt = (int)value; }
}

It's not a pretty solution, but it's a solid workaround to the problem, and you still get to bind to it on your pages and treat it as the enum itself in your other code.

answered Apr 08 '13 at 20:07

Corey Adler

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should i place this code in my dal or in datacontracts? – user2167089 Apr 08 '13 at 21:06
This should be in the actual database object itself. – Corey Adler Apr 08 '13 at 21:12
we are using data first model so i am not allowed to make changes to actual database object. Insted im trying to tweak it in dal. is there a way to do this in dal – user2167089 Apr 08 '13 at 21:41
@IronMan84 +1, but one note - upgrading to EF5 will not help if you are using VS2010 (Framework 4) – Sergey Berezovskiy Apr 08 '13 at 22:06
@lazyberezovsky Quite true. I even mentioned that in the comment to the question. – Corey Adler Apr 08 '13 at 22:46

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 08 '13 at 22:01

0

this worked

eventToBeChanged.RegardingObjectType = (int)newevent.RegardingObjectType;

instead of

  eventToBeChanged.RegardingObjectType = int.Parse(newevent.RegardingObjectType.ToString());

answered Apr 08 '13 at 22:01

user2167089

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

0

If you want to map the string value to the database, check out this answer:

How to map an enum property in Entity Framework 4

As @IronMan84 pointed out though, I'm not sure if this works with multi-word enums - but it's useful and it works none-the-less.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

Community

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answered Apr 08 '13 at 22:47

MattSull

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storing enum to database in entity

3 Answers3