Entity Framework ObjectContext -> raw SQL calls to native DBMS

Question

I have an app using the ADO.NET entity framework (the VS2008 version, not the newer, cooler one) and I need to be able to make a call down to the underlying DBMS (it\'s post

Answer 1

Craig's answer, while it didn't work as-is, got me looking in the right direction. Turns out there's an EntityConnection.StoreConnection property which gets you a connection to the underlying DBMS. So executing "native" SQL is as easy as this:

    static void ExecuteSql(ObjectContext c, string sql)
    {
        var entityConnection = (System.Data.EntityClient.EntityConnection)c.Connection;
        DbConnection conn = entityConnection.StoreConnection;

        ConnectionState initialState = conn.State;
        try
        {
            if (initialState != ConnectionState.Open)
                conn.Open();  // open connection if not already open
            using (DbCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand())
            {
                cmd.CommandText = sql;
                cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            if (initialState != ConnectionState.Open)
                conn.Close(); // only close connection if not initially open
        }
    }