Question

I do insertion with following in my ASP.NET MVC3 project:

var query = "INSERT INTO MyTable VALUES(//some values)";
db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(query);

Is there an easy way to get the inserted row’s ID?

EDIT:

My stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE addGetID
( 
    @PersonnelID INT,
    @ShiftWorkID BIGINT,
    @EntranceDateTime DATETIME,
    @WorkflowStateRelationID BIGINT
)
AS
INSERT INTO DynamicDataEntrances VALUES (@PersonnelID, @ShiftWorkID, @EntranceDateTime, @WorkflowStateRelationID)
SELECT @@IDENTITY

My code lines:

string dt = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
SqlParameter PersonnelID = new SqlParameter("@PersonnelID", 1);
SqlParameter ShiftWorkID = new SqlParameter("@ShiftWorkID", 2);
SqlParameter EntranceDateTime = new SqlParameter("@EntranceDateTime", dt);
SqlParameter WorkflowStateRelationID = new SqlParameter("@WorkflowStateRelationID ", db.WorkflowStateRelations.Where(wsr => wsr.WorkflowID == dp.WorkflowID).Select(x => x.ID).FirstOrDefault());
SqlParameter returnValue = new SqlParameter();
returnValue.Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue;

// try 1
db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("addGetID(@PersonnelID, @ShiftWorkID, @EntranceDateTime, @WorkflowStateRelationID )", PersonnelID, ShiftWorkID, EntranceDateTime, WorkflowStateRelationID, returnValue);

// try 2
db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("addGetID @PersonnelID @ShiftWorkID @EntranceDateTime @WorkflowStateRelationID ", PersonnelID, ShiftWorkID, EntranceDateTime, WorkflowStateRelationID, returnValue);

// try 3
db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("exec addGetID @PersonnelID={0} @ShiftWorkID={1} @EntranceDateTime={2} @WorkflowStateRelationID={3} ", PersonnelID, ShiftWorkID, EntranceDateTime, WorkflowStateRelationID, returnValue);

var id = returnValue.Value;

Answer 1

I agree with [scartag][1] on this one. But to answer your question in 2 parts.

If you’re going to use direct sql then the thing to do is create a stored proc that returns the @@IDENTITY value. Then you exec your Sp with a parameter of ParameterDirection.ReturnValue and use that value.

Like such:

SqlParameter entityField = new SqlParameter("@firstName", "Frank");
SqlParameter returnValue = new SqlParameter();
returnValue.Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue;
db.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("sp_ByPassEFAndInsertEntity(@firstName)", 
                              entityField, returnValue);
var id = returnValue.Value;

Or just use EF. Create and initialize your Entity, add it to the applicable DbSet and call savechanges. Your Entity instance’s Id column will be updated with the value generated by the database.

EDIT 2: I applied the first solution to a local db of mine and could get it to give a return value either. After some research I was able to get a return value. I have a local db with a Blog table. I created an addBlog SP and this is how you can get a return value – but instead of using ExecSqlCommand you must use SqlQuery.

Here’s my SP:

    ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[addBlog] 
        @BlogName varchar(50),
        @CreateDateTime datetime
    AS
    BEGIN
        insert into Blog (Name, DateTimeCreated) values (@BlogName, @CreateDateTime)
        declare @return int
        set @return = @@identity
        select @return
    END

and my EF code:

    using (var db = new StackOverflowEntities()) {
        SqlParameter blogName = new SqlParameter("BlogName", "New Name 2");
        SqlParameter createDate = new SqlParameter("CreateDate", DateTime.Now);

        int? newIdentityValue = db.Database.SqlQuery<Int32>("addBlog @BlogName, @CreateDate", blogName, createDate).FirstOrDefault();

        Debug.WriteLine(newIdentityValue);
    }