Returning datatable using entity framework

Question

I am using entity framework. There is one particular situation in my application where I have to use a stored procedure. Since there are a lot of SQL statements written in t

Answer 1

This solution is simple, very fast and easy to use.

Create a DbContext extension:

using System.Data;
using System.Data.Common;
using System.Data.Entity;
..
..
public static class DbContextExtensions
{
    public static DataTable DataTable(this DbContext context, string sqlQuery)
    {
        DbProviderFactory dbFactory = DbProviderFactories.GetFactory(context.Database.Connection);

        using (var cmd = dbFactory.CreateCommand())
        {
            cmd.Connection = context.Database.Connection;
            cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
            cmd.CommandText = sqlQuery;
            using (DbDataAdapter adapter = dbFactory.CreateDataAdapter())
            {
                adapter.SelectCommand = cmd;

                DataTable dt = new DataTable();
                adapter.Fill(dt);

                return dt;
            }
        }
    }
}

Examples:

using (MyDbContext db = new MyDbContext())
{
    string query = db.Students.Where(o => o.Age > 20).ToString();

    DataTable dataTable = db.DataTable(query);

    ..

    DataTable dt = db.DataTable(
                         (  from o in db.Studets
                            where o.Age > 20
                            select o
                         ).ToString()
                    );
}