Entity Framework Classic Bulk Update

Description

The EF Bulk Update feature lets you update thousands of entities in your database efficiently.

This feature is provided by the library EF Extensions (Included with EF Classic). EF Extensions is used by over 2000 customers all over the world and supports all Entity Framework version (EF4, EF5, EF6, EF Core, EF Classic).

// Easy to use
context.BulkUpdate(customers);

// Easy to customize
context.BulkUpdate(customers, options => options.ColumnPrimaryKeyExpression = customer => customer.Code);

Try it: NET Core | NET Framework

Performance Comparison

Try it: NET Core | NET Framework

HINT:

Performance may differ from a database to another. A lot of factors might affect the benchmark time such as index, column type, latency, throttling, etc.

Why BulkUpdate is faster than SaveChanges?

Updating thousands of entities for a file importation is a typical scenario.

The SaveChanges method makes it quite impossible to handle this kind of situation due to the number of database round-trips required. The SaveChanges perform one database round-trip for every entity to update. So, if you need to update 10,000 entities, 10,000 database round-trips will be performed which is INSANELY slow.

The BulkUpdate in counterpart requires the minimum database round-trips possible. For example, under the hood of SQL Server, a SqlBulkCopy is performed first in a temporary table, then an UPDATE from the temporary table to the destination table is performed which is the most effective tactic available.

Real-Life Scenarios

Bulk Update with custom key

You need to update a list of Customer but you don't have the IDs, you only have the unique customer codes. The ColumnPrimaryKeyExpression lets you choose the key to use.

context.BulkUpdate(customers, options => options.ColumnPrimaryKeyExpression = customer => customer.Code);

Try it: NET Core | NET Framework

Bulk Update specific columns

You need to update a list of Customer but only update some specific columns such as FirstName and LastName. The ColumnInputExpression option let you choose the columns to update.

context.BulkUpdate(customers, options => { 
    options.ColumnInputExpression = customer => new { customer.FirstName, customer.LastName };
    options.ColumnPrimaryKeyExpression = customer => customer.Code;
});

Try it: NET Core | NET Framework

Bulk Update invoice and related invoice items (Include Graph)

You need to update a list of Invoice and include related InvoiceItem. By default, the BulkUpdate doesn't include the graph but you can enable it with the IncludeGraph option.

context.BulkUpdate(invoices, options => options.IncludeGraph = true);

Try it: NET Core | NET Framework

Documentation

BulkUpdate

Methods

Learn more

More documentation can be found here: EF Extensions - Bulk Update