What's the best way to do a unique row insertion in Subsonic with SQL Server 2008?

Backend
1

Hey everyone, I’m working on a project using Subsonic with SQL Server 2008, and I’m stuck on how to insert rows without duplicates. I’ve got a table called Fruits with name as the primary key. Here’s what I’m trying to do:

Fruit apple = new Fruit();
apple.name = "Granny Smith";
apple.Save();

Fruit anotherApple = new Fruit();
anotherApple.name = "Granny Smith";
anotherApple.Save(); // This throws a duplicate key error

I know I could catch the error, but I’m wondering if there’s a cleaner way to handle this. Something like MySQL’s REPLACE command would be ideal. Any ideas on how to make this work smoothly in Subsonic? Thanks in advance for your help!

2

For your unique row insertion challenge, consider implementing a custom method that combines a check for existence with conditional insertion. You could create a static helper method in your Fruit class:

public static Fruit SaveUnique(string name)
{
var existingFruit = Fruit.SingleOrDefault(f => f.name == name);
if (existingFruit == null)
{
var newFruit = new Fruit { name = name };
newFruit.Save();
return newFruit;
}
return existingFruit;
}

This approach ensures you only insert when necessary, avoiding duplicate key errors while maintaining clean, readable code. It’s particularly useful when dealing with frequent inserts of potentially duplicate data.

3

hey iris72, u might wanna try using the InsertOrUpdate method in subsonic. it’s pretty handy for avoiding duplicate key errors. something like:

fruit.InsertOrUpdate();

this should insert if the row doesn’t exist, or update if it does. hope that helps!

4

ooh, interesting question! have u considered using a MERGE statement? it’s like SQL Server’s version of REPLACE. you could wrap it in a stored procedure and call it from Subsonic. what do you think about that approach? any particular reason you’re using name as the primary key?