Is it possible to run native sql with entity framework?

Question

I am trying to search an XML field within a table, This is not supported with EF.

Without using pure Ado.net is possible to have native SQL support with EF?

Answer 1

So what do we say about all this in 2017? 80k consultations suggests that running a SQL request in EF is something a lot of folk want to do. But why? For what benefit?

Justin, a guru with 20 times my reputation, in the accepted answer gives us a static method that looks line for line like the equivalent ADO code. Be sure to copy it well because there are a few subtleties to not get wrong. And you're obliged to concatenate your query with your runtime parameters since there's no provision for proper parameters. So all users of this method will be constructing their SQL with string methods (fragile, untestable, sql injection), and none of them will be unit testing.

The other answers have the same faults, only moreso. SQL buried in double quotes. SQL injection opportunities liberally scattered around. Esteemed peers, this is absolutely savage behaviour. If this was C# being generated, there would be a flame war. We don't even accept generating HTML this way, but somehow its OK for SQL. I know that query parameters were not the subject of the question, but we copy and reuse what we see, and the answers here are both models and testaments to what folk are doing.

Has EF melted our brains? EF doesn't want you to use SQL, so why use EF to do SQL.

Wanting to use SQL to talk to a relational DB is a healthy, normal impulse in adults. QueryFirst shows how this could be done intelligently, your sql in .sql file, validated as you type, with intellisense for tables and columns. The C# wrapper is generated by the tool, so your queries become discoverable in code, with intellisense for your inputs and results. End to end strong typing, without ever having to worry about a type. No need to ever remember a column name, or its index. And there are numerous other benefits... The temptation to concatenate is removed. The possibility of mishandling your connections also. All your queries and the code that accesses them are continuously integration-tested against your dev DB. Schema changes in your DB pop up as compile errors in your app. We even generate a self test method in the wrapper, so you can test new versions of your app against existing production databases, rather than waiting for the phone to ring. Anyone still need convincing?

Disclaimer: I wrote QueryFirst :-)