Entity Framework Core - REST json merge patch (Partial Update)

Question

EF Core supports Json Patch - RFC6902

I wanted to add support for Json Merge Patch in my app - RFC7396

I am new to entity framework.

I tried following, it works fine, but wanted to know if the implementation is alright (model validation being handled in a filter, so please ignore that part):

[HttpPatch("{id}")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Update(int id, [FromBody] TEntity updatedEntity)
{
    TEntity entity = repository.GetById<TEntity>(id);
    if (entity == null)
    {
         return NotFound(new { message = $"{EntityName} does not exist!" });
    }
    repository.Update(entity, updatedEntity);
    await repository.SaveAsync();
    return NoContent();
}

And in the repository:

public void Update<TEntity>(TEntity entity, TEntity updatedEntity) where TEntity : class, IEntity
{
    updatedEntity.Id = entity.Id;
    PropertyInfo[] properties = entity.GetType().GetProperties();
    foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in properties)
    {
        if (propertyInfo.GetValue(updatedEntity, null) != null)
        {
            propertyInfo.SetValue(entity, propertyInfo.GetValue(updatedEntity, null), null);
        }
    }
    entity.ModifiedDate = DateTime.UtcNow;
    context.Entry(entity).Property(e => e.CreatedDate).IsModified = false;
}

@H.Herzl Partial update of a table, if a property is missing in the request json it is not affected. The code posted works fine, basically I want the approach review of my code from experts — adnan kamili
– adnan kamili, Commented Jan 6, 2017 at 5:40

humbrie · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-17 06:58:58Z

2

Its a bad pattern to use entity types, which reflect an internal schema (your database) in external interfaces (your api).

but for a partial update you can use dynamic like this:

dynamic changedData = new { /* props you wanna change */ };
DataContext.Entry(yourEntity).CurrentValues.SetValues(changedData);

answered Mar 17, 2017 at 6:58

humbrie

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1 Comment

Adam Weitzman Over a year ago

can you use this for nested classes?

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