Generic Insert and Update for LINQ To SQL

Quick code snippet time!

The following are generic methods for inserting and updating a detached entity into a database using LINQ to SQL.

    1: /// <summary>

    2: /// Updates the database with item.

    3: /// </summary>

    4: /// <typeparam name="T">Type of the item</typeparam>

    5: /// <param name="item">The item.</param>

    6: public static void UpdateDatabaseWithItem<T>(T item) where T : class

    7: {

    8:     var store = GetNewDataContext();

    9:     var table = store.GetTable<T>();

   10:     table.Attach(item);

   11:     store.Refresh(RefreshMode.KeepCurrentValues, item);

   12:     store.SubmitChanges();

   13: }

   14:  

   15:  

   16: /// <summary>

   17: /// Inserts the item into database.

   18: /// </summary>

   19: /// <typeparam name="T">Type of the item</typeparam>

   20: /// <param name="item">The item.</param>

   21: public static void InsertItemIntoDatabase<T>(T item) where T : class

   22: {

   23:     var store = GetNewDataContext();

   24:     var table = store.GetTable<T>();

   25:     table.InsertOnSubmit(item);

   26:     store.SubmitChanges();

   27: }

GetNewDataContext() is a method (not shown) which does what its name says, returns a data context.

The only part that is not really obvious is on line 11. That line is a "hack" to allow you to attach an entity as modified without using a timestamp or turning off optimistic concurrency or attaching a previous version of the entity.  What this means is that this update will throw a fit if there is a concurrency error!  However, for my use of this code ( mainly for unit test preparation ) it works great.