EF: Avoiding multiple update statements

Question

Code like this:

var compIds = from p in packinglist.List
              select p.ComponentId;
var components = from c in context.Components
                 where compIds.Contains(c.Id)
                 select c;
 foreach (var item in components)
 {
     item.CurrentSiteId = packinglist.DestinationId;
 }
 context.SaveChanges();

Ends up issuing lots of SQL Statements like

update [dbo].[Components] set [CurrentSiteId] = @0 where ([Id] = @1)

Is there a way to instruct EF (Code First) to issue the following statement:

update [dbo].[Components] set [CurrentSiteId] = @0 where ([Id] in (....))

Or should I look into using the one of the SQLQuery methods available, or a seperate tool like Dapper or massive or ...?

Answer 1

There is not currently a way to perform bulk updates in EF 4 out of the box. There are some very long, complicated work arounds that end up generating SQL though. I suggest using a stored procedure or T-SQL. Here's a quick T-SQL snippet that I've used in the past:

using (var context = new YourEntities())
{
    context.ExecuteStoreCommand(
                     @"UPDATE Components SET CurrentSiteId = 1 WHERE ID IN(1,2,3,4)");
}