It is a fairly common when developing a web application to materialize a complex object graph from Entity Framework to render a CRUD view, and then on a subsequent HTTP request write that object graph back to the database.

Apparently, that scenario is not well supported in Entity Framework. For a detailed discussion, see

http://stackoverflow.com/q/3635071/141172 .

NHibernate does support this

http://www.ienablemuch.com/2011/01/nhibernate-saves-your-whole-object.html

There is at least one open source project that aims to solve this issue for EF:

http://stackoverflow.com/a/13820802/141172 .

I propose that Entity Framework should support a merge of disconnected object graph changes out of the box.

Hi Eric,

This is a usability issue that we are aware of and is something we have been thinking about and plan to do more work on post-EF6. I have created this work item to track the issue: http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/864 The work item also contains a link to the user voice item for this--I encourage you to vote for it if you have not done so already.

Thanks,
Arthur

<div dir="ltr">Hi Arthur, <div><br> </div> <div>Thank you for your prompt reply.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>I would disagree that the impact is &quot;low&quot;, given that it affects many web development scenarios and the work-around for deep object graphs is quite ugly. The number of votes for both the question and Ladislav's answer at </div> <div><br> </div> <div><a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3635071/update-relationships-when-saving-changes-of-ef4-poco-objects">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3635071/update-relationships-when-saving-changes-of-ef4-poco-objects</a><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div style="">are indicative that quite a few folks are facing this issue.</div> <div style=""><br> </div> <div style="">Regards,</div> <div style=""><br> Eric</div> </div> <div><br> <br> <div>On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 10:20 AM, ajcvickers <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:notifications@codeplex.com" target="_blank">notifications@codeplex.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br> <blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex; border-left:1px #ccc solid; padding-left:1ex"> <div> <p>From: ajcvickers</p> <div>Hi Eric, <br> <br> This is a usability issue that we are aware of and is something we have been thinking about and plan to do more work on post-EF6. I have created this work item to track the issue: <a href="http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/864" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/864</a> The work item also contains a link to the user voice item for this--I encourage you to vote for it if you have not done so already. <br> <br> Thanks, <br> Arthur<br> </div> <div> <p>Read the <a href="http://entityframework.codeplex.com/discussions/432661#post999661" target="_blank"> full discussion online</a>.</p> <p>To add a post to this discussion, reply to this email (<a href="mailto:entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com?subject=[entityframework:432661]" target="_blank">entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com</a>)</p> <p>To start a new discussion for this project, email <a href="mailto:entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com" target="_blank"> entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com</a></p> <p>You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this discussion on CodePlex. You can <a href="https://entityframework.codeplex.com/discussions/432661/unsubscribe/" target="_blank"> unsubscribe</a> on CodePlex.com.</p> <p>Please note: Images and attachments will be removed from emails. Any posts to this discussion will also be available online at CodePlex.com</p> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div> <br> </div>

Hi Eric,

Low is the default initial impact. The item will get an appropriate impact set when the EF team triages new items, which usually happens once per week.

Thanks,
Arthur

<div dir="ltr">Thank you Arthur.</div> <div><br> <br> <div>On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 12:38 PM, ajcvickers <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:notifications@codeplex.com" target="_blank">notifications@codeplex.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br> <blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex; border-left:1px #ccc solid; padding-left:1ex"> <div> <p>From: ajcvickers</p> <div>Hi Eric, <br> <br> Low is the default initial impact. The item will get an appropriate impact set when the EF team triages new items, which usually happens once per week. <br> <br> Thanks, <br> Arthur<br> </div> <div> <div> <p>Read the <a href="http://entityframework.codeplex.com/discussions/432661#post999706" target="_blank"> full discussion online</a>.</p> <p>To add a post to this discussion, reply to this email (<a href="mailto:entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com?subject=[entityframework:432661]" target="_blank">entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com</a>)</p> <p>To start a new discussion for this project, email <a href="mailto:entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com" target="_blank"> entityframework@discussions.codeplex.com</a></p> <p>You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this discussion on CodePlex. You can <a href="https://entityframework.codeplex.com/discussions/432661/unsubscribe/" target="_blank"> unsubscribe</a> on CodePlex.com.</p> <p>Please note: Images and attachments will be removed from emails. Any posts to this discussion will also be available online at CodePlex.com</p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div> <br> </div>