The member with identity ' ' does not exist in the metadata collection.\r\nParameter name: identity

Question

I simplified the code a little while trying to debug:

[HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Register(User model)
    {
        DateTime bla = new DateTime(2012, 12, 12);
        try
        {
            User user = new User
            {
                gid = 1,
                cid = 1,
                firstName = model.firstName,
                lastName = model.lastName,
                email = model.email,
                username = model.username,
                password = model.password,
                creationDate = bla,
                active = 1
            };
            myContext.Users.AddObject(user);
            myContext.SaveChanges();

        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw ex;
        }

        return View();               
    }

The values are transmited accordingly. Users table:

[id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[cid] [int] NULL,
[gid] [int] NULL,
[firstName] [nvarchar](100) NOT NULL,
[lastName] [nvarchar](100) NOT NULL,
[email] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
[username] [nvarchar](100) NOT NULL,
[password] [nvarchar](100) NOT NULL,
[creationDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[active] [int] NOT NULL,

CONSTRAINT [PK_Users_3213E83F0AD2A005] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED

I deleted all the foreign keys to be sure that nothing affects it. I am qute certain that at a previous moment it was working, but now I can not figure where the issue is. It crashes while performing the savechanges:

{"An error occurred while updating the entries. See the inner exception for details."}
{"The member with identity '' does not exist in the metadata collection.\r\nParameter name: identity"}

Answer 1

I had the same error being thrown when I try to insert using EF, the error was

The member with identity 'Id' does not exist in the metadata collection.\r\nParameter name: identity

It wasn't obvious at first but the exception message was very concise because my database knows the column Id int but the property created for the object on my code was int ID so coming back to named mapping, Id is not mapped to ID.

So when an object with property ID is sent to database that only know Id you will get the above error.

I hope this helps, thanks

Answer 2

The issue was reproducing because of a trigger that was on the users table. Removed it and the issue is not reproducing anymore.

Answer 3

There is probably a trigger on the table being updated and it returns output. The output is thrown away but it conflicts with EF. Such output is often used to debug triggers (and forgotten to delete later):

select 'trigger called, i am here'

or there can be missing variable:

select column 

instead of

select @variable=column 

Answer 4

I think that the best solution is in this post. I used the 3rd option and works. Here I report the reply in the link:

The issue could be related to a "instead of insert" trigger on one of your tables.

The EF framework is performing validation on the inserted row of data by calling scope_identity(). However, an "instead of insert" trigger will change the context of the insertion in such a way that the EF system's call to scope_identity will return null.

A couple ways around this:

1. Use a stored procedure to insert the data ( not tested )
2. Remove the instead of insert trigger ( triggers can cause other problems, so some people argue not to use them) ( tested, works!)
3. Turn off validation in the EF framework, so: context.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = false ( tested, works!)

Answer 5

I had this same error today and spent a few frustrating hours trying to figure it out.

I was using Entity Framework to insert a record with an identity column into a SQL server database table. Simple enough.

The table had a trigger on it which in turn ran a stored procedure. The stored procedure had a line in it:

select newid()

This is the line that broke Entity Framework.

For tables with identity columns, Entity Framework expects to be returned a single row with a single field that is the identity column.

Answer 6

it's because of trigger pass back value to EF if you are using trigger. in my problem i must check a value by selecting from other table and using of 'select' cause error in EF, so you must replace 'select' with 'set'. you can not use this code.

select @any= any from tablename  

you should use set instead of select

set @any= (select any from tablename)

Answer 7

Somedays, I hate M$.

The member with identity 'ChangeID' does not exist in the metadata collection. Parameter name: identity

I've spent two days trying to get around this.

I'm using MVC.

To get all the data I need in one fell swoop, I created a view of the table in the DB for this application, and tables in other databases. (You may update views, with some constraints.)

I do a get, and all my data is present in the record, keys, descriptions, foreign keys, etc.

I created triggers on my view, to update the portion of the view that came from the local table.

Instead of Delete worked fine. Instead of Update worked fine.

This error kept raising it's head on Instead of Insert. I could NOT get the insert trigger to successfully insert into my table. If I ran an insert on the view, with all fields provided in the SQL Management Studio, it worked fine. I know the exact values being passed because I ran SQL Server Profiler to see the code being passed.

But when the app attempted the update, it failed with The member with identity 'ChangeID' does not exist in the metadata collection.

Clue up above, someone said, "MVC expects table key to be ID"

I renamed ChangeID as ID in my view, changed it in the App, and BAM! Now it works.

What did NOT work:

• db.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = false;
• adding a select to the trigger to get scope identity

Why do I have to modify my DB or my view to satisfy some hidden M$ assumption?

None the less, after two very frustrating days, code is now working. Maybe this will save someone else some time as well.

Answer 8

Try this

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Register(User model)
{
    DateTime bla = new DateTime(2012, 12, 12);
    try
    {
        model.gid = 1;
        model.cid = 1;
        model.creationDate = bla;
        model.active = 1;

        myContext.Users.AddObject(model);
        myContext.SaveChanges();

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex);
        throw;
    }

    return View();               
}

Answer 9

I was having this issue and my fix, was that in my connection-string metadata I did not specify my model in the .msl format.

See more info here

Answer 10

In my case, SetName of the entity was incorrect. Shortly, this worked for me:

Use

myContext.AddObject(nameOfSetEntity, user);

Instead of:

myContext.Users.AddObject(user);

To get the whole correct name of the entity (thanks to Nix's answer)

string className = typeof(User).Name;
var container = myContext.MetadataWorkspace.GetEntityContainer(myContext.DefaultContainerName, System.Data.Metadata.Edm.DataSpace.CSpace);
string nameOfSetEntity= (from meta in container.BaseEntitySets
                              where meta.ElementType.Name == className
                              select meta.Name).First();

Context.AddObject(nameOfSetEntity, user);

Answer 11

The error in my case was that I had a select statement inside the trigger, I eliminated it and it worked perfectly