Known Issues and Considerations in LINQ to Entities

Article
08/29/2011

This section provides information about known issues with LINQ to Entities queries.

Ordering Information Lost
Unsigned Integers Not Supported
Type Conversion Errors
Referencing Non-Scalar Variables Not Supported
Nested Queries May Fail with SQL Server 2000
Projecting to an Anonymous Type

Ordering Information Lost

Projecting columns into an anonymous type will cause ordering information to be lost in some queries that are executed against a SQL Server 2005 database set to a compatibility level of "80". This occurs when a column name in the order-by list matches a column name in the selector, as shown in the following example:

Using context As New AdventureWorksEntities()
    ' Ordering information is lost when executed against a SQL Server 2005
    ' database running with a compatibility level of "80".
    Dim results = context.Contacts.SelectMany(Function(c) c.SalesOrderHeaders) _
        .OrderBy(Function(c) c.SalesOrderDetails.Count) _
        .Select(Function(c) New With {c.SalesOrderDetails.Count})

    For Each result In results
        Console.WriteLine(result.Count)
    Next
End Using

using (AdventureWorksEntities context = new AdventureWorksEntities())
{
    // Ordering information is lost when executed against a SQL Server 2005
    // database running with a compatibility level of "80".
    var results = context.Contacts.SelectMany(c => c.SalesOrderHeaders)
        .OrderBy(c => c.SalesOrderDetails.Count)
        .Select(c => new { c.SalesOrderDetails.Count });

    foreach (var result in results)
        Console.WriteLine(result.Count);

}

Unsigned Integers Not Supported

Specifying an unsigned integer type in a LINQ to Entities query is not supported because the Entity Framework does not support unsigned integers. If you specify an unsigned integer, an ArgumentException exception will be thrown during the query expression translation, as shown in the following example. This example queries for an order with ID 48000.

Using context As New AdventureWorksEntities()
    Dim saleId As UInteger = UInt32.Parse("48000")

    Dim query = _
        From sale In context.SalesOrderDetails _
        Where sale.SalesOrderID = saleId _
        Select sale

    Try
        ' NotSupportedException exception is thrown here.
        For Each order As SalesOrderDetail In query
            Console.WriteLine("SalesOrderID: " & order.SalesOrderID)
        Next
    Catch ex As NotSupportedException
        Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + ex.Message)
    End Try
End Using

using (AdventureWorksEntities context = new AdventureWorksEntities())
{
    uint s = UInt32.Parse("48000");

    IQueryable<SalesOrderDetail> query = from sale in context.SalesOrderDetails
                                         where sale.SalesOrderID == s
                                         select sale;

    // NotSupportedException exception is thrown here.
    try
    {
        foreach (SalesOrderDetail order in query)
            Console.WriteLine("SalesOrderID: " + order.SalesOrderID);
    }
    catch (NotSupportedException ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}", ex.Message);
    }
}

Type Conversion Errors

In Visual Basic, when a property is mapped to a column of SQL Server bit type with a value of 1 using the CByte function, a SqlException is thrown with an "Arithmetic overflow error" message. The following example queries the Product.MakeFlag column in the AdventureWorks sample database and an exception is thrown when the query results are iterated over.

Using context As New AdventureWorksEntities()
    Dim productsList = _
        From product In context.Products _
        Select CByte(product.MakeFlag)

    ' Throws an SqlException exception with a "Arithmetic overflow error 
    ' for data type tinyint" message when a value of 1 is iterated over.
    For Each makeFlag In productsList
        Console.WriteLine(makeFlag)
    Next
End Using

Referencing Non-Scalar Variables Not Supported

Referencing a non-scalar variables, such as an entity, in a query is not supported. When such a query executes, a NotSupportedException exception is thrown with a message that states "Unable to create a constant value of type EntityType. Only primitive types ('such as Int32, String, and Guid') are supported in this context."

Note

Referencing a collection of scalar variables is supported.

Using context As New AdventureWorksEntities()

    Dim contact As Contact = context.Contacts.FirstOrDefault()

    ' Referencing a non-scalar closure in a query will
    ' throw an exception when the query is executed.
    Dim contacts = From c In context.Contacts _
                   Where c.Equals(contact) _
                   Select c.LastName

    Try
        For Each name As String In contacts
            Console.WriteLine("Name: ", name)
        Next

    Catch ex As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
    End Try

End Using

using (AdventureWorksEntities context = new AdventureWorksEntities())
{
    Contact contact = context.Contacts.FirstOrDefault();

    // Referencing a non-scalar closure in a query will
    // throw an exception when the query is executed.
    IQueryable<string> contacts = from c in context.Contacts
        where c == contact
        select c.LastName;

    try
    {
        foreach (string name in contacts)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Name: ", name);
        }
    }
    catch (NotSupportedException ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
    }
}

Nested Queries May Fail with SQL Server 2000

With SQL Server 2000, LINQ to Entities queries may fail if they produce nested Transact-SQL queries that are three or more levels deep.

Projecting to an Anonymous Type

If you define your initial query path to include related objects by using the Include method on the ObjectQuery and then use LINQ to project the returned objects to an anonymous type, the objects specified in the include method are not included in the query results.

Using context As New AdventureWorksEntities()
    Dim resultWithoutRelatedObjects = context.Contacts. _
        Include("SalesOrderHeaders"). _
        Select(Function(c) New With {c}).FirstOrDefault()
    If resultWithoutRelatedObjects.c.SalesOrderHeaders.Count = 0 Then
        Console.WriteLine("No orders are included.")
    End If
End Using

using (AdventureWorksEntities context = new AdventureWorksEntities())
{
    var resultWithoutRelatedObjects =
        context.Contacts.Include("SalesOrderHeaders").Select(c => new { c }).FirstOrDefault();
    if (resultWithoutRelatedObjects.c.SalesOrderHeaders.Count == 0)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("No orders are included.");
    }
}

To get related objects, do not project returned types to an anonymous type.

Using context As New AdventureWorksEntities()
    Dim resultWithRelatedObjects = context.Contacts. _
        Include("SalesOrderHeaders"). _
        Select(Function(c) c).FirstOrDefault()
    If resultWithRelatedObjects.SalesOrderHeaders.Count <> 0 Then
        Console.WriteLine("Orders are included.")
    End If
End Using

using (AdventureWorksEntities context = new AdventureWorksEntities())
{
    var resultWithRelatedObjects =
        context.Contacts.Include("SalesOrderHeaders").Select(c => c).FirstOrDefault();
    if (resultWithRelatedObjects.SalesOrderHeaders.Count != 0)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Orders are included.");
    }
}

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