ChangeTracker.TrackGraph() in Entity Framework Core

In the previous chapter, you learned that different methods set different EntityState to each entity of an entity graph in Entity Framework Core 2. Here, you will learn how to track an entity graph and set an appropriate EntityState to each individual entity in a graph.

The ChangeTracker.TrackGraph() method was introduced in Entity Framework Core to track the entire entity graph and set custom entity states to each entity in a graph.

Signature: public virtual void TrackGraph(object rootEntity, Action<EntityEntryGraphNode> callback)

The ChangeTracker.TrackGraph() method begins tracking an entity and any entities that are reachable by traversing it's navigation properties. The specified callback is called for each discovered entity and an appropriate EntityState must be set for each entity. The callback function allows us to implement a custom logic to set the appropriate state. If no state is set, the entity remains untracked.

The following example demonstrates the TrackGraph method.

var student = new Student() { //Root entity (with key value)
    StudentId = 1,
    Name = "Bill",
    Address = new StudentAddress()  //Child entity (with key value)
    {
        StudentAddressId = 1,
        City = "Seattle",
        Country = "USA"
    },
    StudentCourses = new List<StudentCourse>() {
            new StudentCourse(){  Course = new Course(){ CourseName="Machine Language" } },//Child entity (empty key)
            new StudentCourse(){  Course = new Course(){  CourseId=2 } } //Child entity (with key value)
        }
};
       
var context = new SchoolContext();
            
context.ChangeTracker.TrackGraph(student, e => {
                                                if (e.Entry.IsKeySet)
                                                {
                                                    e.Entry.State = EntityState.Unchanged;
                                                }
                                                else
                                                {
                                                    e.Entry.State = EntityState.Added;
                                                }
                                            });

foreach (var entry in context.ChangeTracker.Entries())
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Entity: {entry.Entity.GetType().Name}, 
                        State: {entry.State.ToString()} ");
}

Output:

Entity: Student, State: Added Entity: StudentAddress, State: Unchanged Entity: StudentCourse, State: Added Entity: Course, State: Added Entity: StudentCourse, State: Added Entity: Course, State: Unchanged

In the above example, the ChangeTracker.TrackGraph() method is used to set the state for each entity in a Student entity graph. The first parameter is an entity graph and the second parameter is a function which sets the state of each entity. We used a lambda expression to set the Unchanged state for entities who have valid key values and the Added state for entities who have empty key values. The IsKeySet becomes true when an entity has a valid key property value.

Thus, we can use the ChangeTracker.TrackGraph() method to set different EntityState for each entity in a graph.