Search code examples
c#entity-frameworkout-of-memoryvarbinaryquerying

System.OutOfMemoryException - when Entity Framework is querying a too big data of Varbinary type


I'm trying to query a varbinary column that contain a file (1,2 Gb).

I'm using Entity Framework. See below:

Database to test

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[BIGDATA]
(
    [id] [bigint] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [BIGDATA] [varbinary](max) NULL, 

    CONSTRAINT [PK_BIGDATA] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([id] ASC) 
) ON [PRIMARY]

Data to test (any file with 1 Gb)

INSERT INTO [dbo].[BIGDATA]([BIGDATA])
VALUES
   ((SELECT BulkColumn FROM OPENROWSET(BULK N'C:\BigTest.txt', SINGLE_BLOB) AS Document))

Controller to download file

public FileResult Download()
{
        try
        {
            var context = new Models.ELOGTESTEEntities();

            var idArquivo = Convert.ToInt32(1);

            // The problem is here, when trying send command to SQL Server to read register
            var arquivo = (from item in context.BIGDATA
                           where item.id.Equals(idArquivo)
                           select item).Single();
            var mimeType = ".txt";              

            byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-8").GetBytes("BigTest.txt");
            return File(arquivo.BIGDATA1, mimeType, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes));
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw ex;
        }
    }

I can querying normally on SQL Server with Select * From BigData.

But, in Entity Framework (or command with ADO) I get this exception:

System.OutOfMemoryException

Does someone know how fix this problem?


Solution

  • Wow that is a lot data. I really think you need to not use EF to get this data, but instead use the good 'ol SqlDataReader.

    Given your .net 4.0 restriction, I found a custom implementation of streaming a read from a massive varbinary column. I can't take any credit for this other than reviewing the code and making sure there are not .net 4.5 shortcuts in it:

    http://www.syntaxwarriors.com/2013/stream-varbinary-data-to-and-from-mssql-using-csharp/

    Mods - let me know if something like this should be copy/pasted into the answer as the original URL may not be persistent.

    Edit: Here is the code from the link in case the URL goes away:

    Usage:

    // reading and returning data to the client
    VarbinaryStream filestream = new VarbinaryStream(
                                    DbContext.Database.Connection.ConnectionString, 
                                    "FileContents", 
                                    "Content", 
                                    "ID", 
                                    (int)filepost.ID, 
                                    true);
    
    // Do what you want with the stream here.
    

    The code:

    public class VarbinaryStream : Stream
    {
        private SqlConnection _Connection;
    
        private string  _TableName;
        private string  _BinaryColumn;
        private string  _KeyColumn;
        private int     _KeyValue;
    
        private long    _Offset;
    
        private SqlDataReader _SQLReader;
        private long _SQLReadPosition;
    
        private bool _AllowedToRead = false;
    
        public VarbinaryStream(
            string ConnectionString,
            string TableName,
            string BinaryColumn,
            string KeyColumn,
            int KeyValue,
            bool AllowRead = false)
        {
            // create own connection with the connection string.
            _Connection = new SqlConnection(ConnectionString);
    
            _TableName = TableName;
            _BinaryColumn = BinaryColumn;
            _KeyColumn = KeyColumn;
            _KeyValue = KeyValue;
    
    
            // only query the database for a result if we are going to be reading, otherwise skip.
            _AllowedToRead = AllowRead;
            if (_AllowedToRead == true)
            {
                try
                {
                    if (_Connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
                        _Connection.Open();
    
                    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(
                                    @"SELECT TOP 1 [" + _BinaryColumn + @"]
                                    FROM [dbo].[" + _TableName + @"]
                                    WHERE [" + _KeyColumn + "] = @id",
                                _Connection);
    
                    cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@id", _KeyValue));
    
                    _SQLReader = cmd.ExecuteReader(
                        CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess |
                        CommandBehavior.SingleResult |
                        CommandBehavior.SingleRow |
                        CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);
    
                    _SQLReader.Read();
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    // log errors here
                }
            }
        }
    
        // this method will be called as part of the Stream ímplementation when we try to write to our VarbinaryStream class.
        public override void Write(byte[] buffer, int index, int count)
        {
            try
            {
                if (_Connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
                    _Connection.Open();
    
                if (_Offset == 0)
                {
                    // for the first write we just send the bytes to the Column
                    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(
                                                @"UPDATE [dbo].[" + _TableName + @"]
                                                    SET [" + _BinaryColumn + @"] = @firstchunk 
                                                WHERE [" + _KeyColumn + "] = @id",
                                            _Connection);
    
                    cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@firstchunk", buffer));
                    cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@id", _KeyValue));
    
                    cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
    
                    _Offset = count;
                }
                else
                {
                    // for all updates after the first one we use the TSQL command .WRITE() to append the data in the database
                    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(
                                            @"UPDATE [dbo].[" + _TableName + @"]
                                                SET [" + _BinaryColumn + @"].WRITE(@chunk, NULL, @length)
                                            WHERE [" + _KeyColumn + "] = @id",
                                         _Connection);
    
                    cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@chunk", buffer));
                    cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@length", count));
                    cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@id", _KeyValue));
    
                    cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
    
                    _Offset += count;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                // log errors here
            }
        }
    
        // this method will be called as part of the Stream ímplementation when we try to read from our VarbinaryStream class.
        public override int Read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count)
        {
            try
            {
                long bytesRead = _SQLReader.GetBytes(0, _SQLReadPosition, buffer, offset, count);
                _SQLReadPosition += bytesRead;
                return (int)bytesRead;
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                // log errors here
            }
            return -1;
        }
        public override bool CanRead
        {
            get { return _AllowedToRead; }
        }
    
        #region unimplemented methods
        public override bool CanSeek
        {
            get { return false; }
        }
    
        public override bool CanWrite
        {
            get { return true; }
        }
    
        public override void Flush()
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
    
        public override long Length
        {
            get { throw new NotImplementedException(); }
        }
    
        public override long Position
        {
            get
            {
                throw new NotImplementedException();
            }
            set
            {
                throw new NotImplementedException();
            }
        }
        public override long Seek(long offset, SeekOrigin origin)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
    
        public override void SetLength(long value)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
        #endregion unimplemented methods
    }