Table of Contents

Microsoft SQL Server

This connector simplifies using Microsoft SQL Server. The connector is built to work with System.Data.SqlClient and provides additional extension methods for using the Entity Framework.

This connector provides an IHealthContributor that you can use in conjunction with the Steeltoe Management Health check endpoint.

Usage

You should know how the .NET Configuration service works before starting to use the connector. You need a basic understanding of the ConfigurationBuilder and how to add providers to the builder to configure the connector.

You should also know how the ASP.NET Core Startup class is used in configuring the application services. Pay particular attention to the usage of the ConfigureServices() method.

To use this connector:

  1. Create a Microsoft SQL Service instance and bind it to your application.
  2. Optionally, configure any Microsoft SQL Server client settings (such as appsettings.json) you need.
  3. Optionally, add the Steeltoe Cloud Foundry configuration provider to your ConfigurationBuilder.
  4. Add SqlConnection or DbContext to your IServiceCollection.

Add NuGet Reference

To use the Microsoft SQL Server connector, add one of the following Microsoft SQL Server packages:

Add the package as you would if you were not using Steeltoe. Then add a reference to the appropriate Steeltoe Connector NuGet package.

Configure Settings

The Microsoft SQL Server connector supports several configuration options. You can use these settings to develop or test an application locally and then override them during deployment.

The following Microsoft SQL Server connector configuration shows how to connect to SQL Server 2016 Express LocalDB:

{
  ...
  "SqlServer": {
    "Credentials": {
        "ConnectionString": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;database=Steeltoe;Trusted_Connection=True;"
    }
  }
  ...
}

The following table shows the available settings for the connector:

Key Description Steeltoe Default
Server Hostname or IP Address of server. localhost
Port Port number of server. 1433
Username Username for authentication. not set
Password Password for authentication. not set
Database Schema to which to connect. not set
ConnectionString Full connection string. Built from settings
IntegratedSecurity Enable Windows Authentication (For local use only). not set

IMPORTANT: All of the settings shown in the preceding table should be prefixed with SqlServer:Credentials:.

The samples and most templates are already set up to read from appsettings.json.

If a ConnectionString is provided and VCAP_SERVICES are not detected (a typical scenario for local application development), the ConnectionString is used exactly as provided.

Cloud Foundry

To use Microsoft SQL Server on Cloud Foundry, you need a service instance bound to your application. If the Microsoft SQL Server broker is installed in your Cloud Foundry instance, use it to create a new service instance:

cf create-service SqlServer sharedVM mySqlServerService

An alternative to the broker is to use a user-provided service to explicitly provide connection information to the application:

cf cups mySqlServerService -p '{"pw": "|password|","uid": "|user id|","uri": "jdbc:sqlserver://|host|:|port|;databaseName=|database name|"}'

This connector works with the Azure Service Broker.

If you are creating a service for an application that has already been deployed, you need to bind the service and restart or restage the application with the following commands:

# Bind service to `myApp`
cf bind-service myApp mySqlServerService

# Restage the app to pick up change
cf restage myApp

If you have not already deployed the application, a reference in the manifest.yml file can take care of the binding for you.

The commands shown in the preceding example may not exactly match the service or plan names available in your environment. You may have to adjust the create-service command to fit your environment. Use cf marketplace to see what is available.

Once the service is bound to your application, the connector's settings are available in VCAP_SERVICES.

Add SqlConnection

To use an SqlConnection in your application, add it to the service container in the ConfigureServices() method of the Startup class:

using Steeltoe.Connector.SqlServer;

public class Startup {
    ...
    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; private set; }
    public Startup(...)
    {
      ...
    }
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        // Add SqlConnection configured from Configuration
        services.AddSqlServerConnection(Configuration);

        // Add framework services.
        ...
    }
    ...
}

The AddSqlServerConnection(Configuration) method call shown in the previous example configures the SqlConnection by using the configuration built by the application and adds the connection to the service container.

By default, this extension method will automatically configure an IHealthContributor to report the health of this database connection. This behavior can be turned off by passing false for the parameter addSteeltoeHealthChecks

Use SqlConnection

Once you have configured and added the connection to the service container, you can inject it and use it in a controller or a view:

using System.Data.SqlClient;
...
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult SqlData([FromServices] SqlConnection dbConnection)
    {
        dbConnection.Open();

        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM TestData;", dbConnection);
        SqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();

        while (rdr.Read())
        {
            ViewData["Key" + rdr[0]] = rdr[1];
        }

        rdr.Close();
        dbConnection.Close();

        return View();
    }
}

The preceding code does not create a database or a table or insert data. As written, it fails unless you create the database, table, and data ahead of time.

Add DbContext

Entity Framework 6

To use the Microsoft SQL connector with Entity Framework 6, inject a DbContext into your application by using the AddDbContext<>() method (provided by Steeltoe) that takes an IConfiguration as a parameter:

using Steeltoe.Connector.SqlServer.EF6;

public class Startup {
    ...
    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; private set; }
    public Startup(...)
    {
      ...
    }
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        ...
        services.AddDbContext<TestContext>(Configuration);
        ...
    }
    ...
}

The AddDbContext<TestContext>(..) method call configures TestContext by using the configuration built earlier and then adds the DbContext (TestContext) to the service container.

This extension method will automatically configure an IHealthContributor to report the health of this database connection.

Your DbContext does not need to be modified from a standard EF6 DbContext to work with Steeltoe:

using System.Data.Entity;
...

public class TestContext : DbContext
{
    public TestContext(string connectionString) : base(connectionString)
    {
    }
    public DbSet<TestData> TestData { get; set; }
}

Entity Framework Core

To use the Microsoft SQL Server connector with Entity Framework Core, inject a DbContext into your application with the standard AddDbContext<>() method, substituting Steeltoe's UseSqlServer method that takes an IConfiguration as a parameter in the options configuration for the standard UseSqlServer method. The following example demonstrates the basic usage:

using Steeltoe.Connector.SqlServer.EFCore;

public class Startup {
    ...
    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; private set; }
    public Startup(...)
    {
      ...
    }
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        ...
        services.AddDbContext<TestContext>(options => options.UseSqlServer(Configuration));

        // see note below explaining AddSqlServerHealthContributor
        services.AddSqlServerHealthContributor(Configuration);
        ...
    }
    ...
}

This extension method will NOT configure an IHealthContributor for this database connection. The NuGet package Steeltoe.Connector.ConnectorCore provides an IServiceCollection extension method that will. Directly add the health contributor with the code services.AddSqlServerHealthContributor(Configuration)

Your DbContext does not need to be modified from a standard DbContext to work with Steeltoe:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
...

public class TestContext : DbContext
{
    public TestContext(DbContextOptions options) : base(options)
    {

    }
    public DbSet<TestData> TestData { get; set; }
}

If you need to set additional properties for the DbContext (such as MigrationsAssembly or connection retry settings), create an Action<SqlServerDbContextOptionsBuilder>:

Action<SqlServerDbContextOptionsBuilder> sqlServerOptionsAction = (o) =>
{
  o.MigrationsAssembly(typeof(Startup).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.GetName().Name);
  // Configuring Connection Resiliency: https://docs.microsoft.com/ef/core/miscellaneous/connection-resiliency
  o.EnableRetryOnFailure(maxRetryCount: 15, maxRetryDelay: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30), errorNumbersToAdd: null);
};

Then pass your new options action into the AddDbContext method:

services.AddDbContext<TestContext>(options => options.UseSqlServer(Configuration, sqlServerOptionsAction));

Use DbContext

Once you have configured and added the DbContext to the service container, you can inject it and use it in a controller or a view:

using Project.Models;
...
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult SqlData([FromServices] TestContext context)
    {
        return View(context.TestData.ToList());
    }
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