Question

So this is probably a stupid question, but I am still not exactly sure how the entity frameworks objects work. I am using EF4 in an MVC3 app, and have two controllers that need to use the same LINQ query against it. Is it best to use a static method that takes the db entity by ref, or should the method use a “using” block for its own entity (as seen in this question)?

I would think the using block would add additional overhead, but I didn’t find any examples of the other method. Is there a proper way to make “library” methods for EF access?

Answer 1

In an MVC application the ObjectContext should be scoped to the request. Most DI containers can do this automatically. So you would prefer not using a using block within a method. Instead inject the context via the constructor or pass it as a method argument.