Support raw SQL queries without defining an entity type for the result

[anpete]

For Query Types it could be nice to not require a configuration call in OnModelCreating to add the type to the model. Instead, it may be possible to lazily add a type to the model on first access (usually query).

[mrlife]

@anpete I see where this allows raw sql to be run for a given context (existing class), but what about raw sql that is custom? Is there a way to just run a SQL command (e.g. a select) and get an object that contains the resulting rows (regardless of what tables the command includes)?

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[anpete]

@mrlife A Query Type can be any shape you want. Define the type; add it to the model as a Query Type; and then query it using FromSql.

[mrlife]

@anpete That's definitely nice to have. I think the heart of what I'm looking for is a way to skip creating any model classes and just run a query and get a result. Are there any plans to support that, either in EF Core or in some way within an ASP.NET Core project?

[anpete]

@mrlife What would be the type of the result?

[mrlife]

@anpete This kind of query is a huge part of our business, where we use joins and row_number a lot.

I suppose there are many ways to approach how to dynamically create one or more objects to hold whatever is returned from the database (based on detected database column types). That's probably a long discussion on a desirable way to do that. It's not clear if there are any options currently available in ASP.NET Core that handle this.

Examples in .NET:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.data.sqlclient.sqldatareader
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/data/adonet/ado-net-code-examples

[anpete]

@mrlife As you point out, ADO is the currently recommended way of doing this. NB: You can easily integrate ADO usage with EF, take a look at the DbContext.Database property.

It sounds like you want EF to do something here. Given that you don't want any mapping capabilities, what exactly would EF be adding over ADO? Perhaps providing an example code snippet would help.

[mrlife]

@anpete An ORM by itself would not provide any value with the types of queries we're running, however if EF Core with ADO is the way in ASP.NET Core to run any SQL and get a result set, then that's what we need.

I looked at Configuring a DbContext, but it's not clear how to use it without an explicit model file. Is that possible?

[anpete]

@mrlife It is completely fine to just use ADO from ASP.NET Core - you don't need to use EF at all.

[Vasim-DigitalNexus]

RE: it may be possible to lazily add a type to the model on first access

That would be fantastic; although, I was wondering if you could also give us the option to do add a DbQuery at runtime ourselves as well

Something like:

if (dbContext.Model.FindEntityType(typeof(T)) == null) dbContext.AddQuery(typeof(T));

[mrlife]

@anpete From your last comment, I'm having trouble finding documentation for this for aspnet core. Are you aware of any?