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Lazy Loading

nicyeAbout 2 minAbout 651 words

Lazy Loading

FreeSql supports lazy loading of navigation properties, that is, data is loaded (read) when we need it. It supports navigation properties of One-to-One, Many-to-One, One-to-Many, and Many-to-Many relationships.

When we want to query a certain order information and display its corresponding order detailed records, we hope to use lazy loading to achieve. This not only speeds up the reading speed, but also avoids loading unnecessary data. Lazy loading is usually used for foreach loop queries.

When we are defining the Model, we need to add the virtual keyword in front of the properties. As follows:

public class Order {
    [Column(IsPrimary = true)]
    public int OrderID { get; set; }
    public string OrderTitle { get; set; }
    public string CustomerName { get; set; }
    public DateTime TransactionDate { get; set; }
    public virtual List<OrderDetail> OrderDetails { get; set; }
}
public class OrderDetail {
    [Column(IsPrimary = true)]
    public int DetailId { get; set; }

    public int OrderId { get; set; }
    public virtual Order Order { get; set; }
}

The Lazy Loading function is turn-off by default. When using this function, please turn it on at the place of declaration.

Lazy loading function depends on FreeSql.Extensions.LazyLoading package, please go to NuGet to download.

static IFreeSql fsql = new FreeSql.FreeSqlBuilder()
    .UseConnectionString(FreeSql.DataType.MySql, connectionString)
    .UseLazyLoading(true) //Enable Lazy Loading
    .UseMonitorCommand(
        cmd => Console.WriteLine(cmd.CommandText)) //Monitor SQL commands before execution
     //Be sure to define as singleton mode
    .Build(); 

var order = fsql.Select<Order>().Where(a => a.OrderID == 1).ToOne(); //Query from Order table
var orderDetail1 = order.OrderDetails; //First visit, query the database
var orderDetail2 = order.OrderDetails; //Second visit, do not query from the database
var order1 = orderDetail1.FirstOrDefault(); //Access the navigation properties without querying the database at this time. Because this property is already populated when OrderDetails is queried

Console output:

SELECT a.`OrderID`, a.`OrderTitle`, a.`CustomerName`, a.`TransactionDate` 
FROM `Order` a 
WHERE (a.`OrderID` = 1) 
limit 0,1

SELECT a.`DetailId`, a.`OrderId` 
FROM `OrderDetail` a 
WHERE (a.`OrderId` = 1)

FreeSql lazy loading supports navigation properties of One-to-One, Many-to-One, One-to-Many, and Many-to-Many relationships. The first three are similar. We separately introduce the Many-to-Many relationship.

Many-to-Many Lazy Loading

public partial class Song {
    [Column(IsIdentity = true)]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public DateTime? Create_time { get; set; }
    public bool? Is_deleted { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public string Url { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
}
public partial class Song_tag {
    public int Song_id { get; set; }
    public virtual Song Song { get; set; }

    public int Tag_id { get; set; }
    public virtual Tag Tag { get; set; }
}
public partial class Tag {
    [Column(IsIdentity = true)]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public int? Parent_id { get; set; }
    public virtual Tag Parent { get; set; }

    public decimal? Ddd { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Song> Songs { get; set; }
}

As above, there are three tables: Song, Tag, and their relationship table.

var songs = fsql.Select<Song>().Limit(10).ToList(); //Take 10 pieces of song
var songs1 = songs.First().Tags; //First visit, query the database
var songs2 = Songs.First().Tags; //Second visit, do not query from the database

Console output:

SELECT a.`Id`, a.`Create_time`, a.`Is_deleted`, a.`Title`, a.`Url` 
FROM `Song` a 
limit 0,10

SELECT a.`Id`, a.`Parent_id`, a.`Ddd`, a.`Name` 
FROM `Tag` a 
WHERE (exists(SELECT 1 
FROM `Song_tag` b 
WHERE (b.`Song_id` = 2 AND b.`Tag_id` = a.`Id`) 
limit 0,1))

Summary

Advantages: Load data only when needed, without pre-planning, avoiding the inefficiency problems caused by various complicated outer joins, indexes, and view operations.

Defect: Interacting with DB many times, performance degradation.

If you want to use data in a loop, use Greed Loading, otherwise use Lazy Loading.

Reference