c# working with Entity Framework in a multi threaded server

Question

What is the best practice for working with entity framework in a multi threaded server? I\'m using entity framework ObjectContext to manage all my database acti

Answer 1

I use entity framework in a multi-threaded environment, where any thread, ui and background (both STA and MTA), can concurrently update the same database. I resolved this problem by re-creating the entity connection from scratch at the start of usage on any new background thread. Examining the entity connection instance ConnectionString shows a reader guid which I assume is used to link common connection instances. By recreating the entity connection from scratch the guid values are different for each thread and no conflict appears to occur. Note the assembly is only required to be the same assembly as the model resides.

public static EntityConnection GetEntityConnection(
// Build the connection string.

  var sqlBuilder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
  sqlBuilder.DataSource = serverName;
  sqlBuilder.InitialCatalog = databaseName;
  sqlBuilder.MultipleActiveResultSets = true;
  ...
  var providerString = sqlBuilder.ToString();
  var sqlConnection = new SqlConnection(providerString);

// Build the emtity connection.

  Assembly metadataAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
  Assembly[] metadataAssemblies = { metadataAssembly };
  var metadataBase = @"res://*/{0}.csdl|res://*/{0}.ssdl|res://*/{0}.msl";
  var dbModelMetadata = String.Format(metadataBase, objectContextTypeModelName);
  // eg: "res://*/Models.MyDatabaseModel.csdl|res://*/Models.MyDatabaseModel.ssdl|res://*/Models.MyDatabaseModel.msl"
  var modelMetadataPaths = modelMetadata.Split('|');
  var metadataWorkspace = new MetadataWorkspace(modelMetadataPaths, metadataAssemblies);
  var entityDbConnection = new EntityConnection(metadataWorkspace, sqlConnection);
  return entityDbConnection;