EF: Should I explicitly close database connection when calling OpenConnection manually

Question

I open connection in constructor. Consider this code:

public abstract class DataContext : DbContext, IDataContext
{
    static DataContext()
    {
        if (DataContextConfiguration.UseSafePersian)
        {
            DbInterception.Add(new SafePersianInterceptor());                
        }
    }

    private readonly bool _saveChangesOnModify = false;

    protected DataContext(string nameOrConnectionString)
        : base(nameOrConnectionString)
    {
        this.OpenConnection();
    }
   internal void OpenConnection()
        {
            if (((IObjectContextAdapter)this).ObjectContext.Connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
                ((IObjectContextAdapter)this).ObjectContext.Connection.Open();
        }
    }

Should I close connection when I open connection explicitly?

I use Entity Framework version 6.

UPDATE

I got this error and it happens very often:

Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to obtaining a connection from the pool. This may have occurred because all pooled connections were in use and max pool size was reached.

We don't know which class this method is in, so this question is unanswerable at the moment. What is `base`? — spender, Jan 21 '15 at 12:24
Take a look at this [answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/5285965/1298308) — Aminul, Jan 21 '15 at 12:37
Possible duplicate of [Entity Framework and context dispose](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15666824/entity-framework-and-context-dispose) — Michael Freidgeim, Dec 05 '17 at 03:33

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 21 '15 at 12:35

4

Usually EF opens and closes the connections automatically before/after an operation is completed. However if you open a connection manually, EF will NOT close it for you after a database operation is completed.

It is best practice to close a connection if you don't need it. It's also best practice for the DbContext to be short-lived (if it's possible in your scenario).

Anyway, the connection will be closed when your DbContext object is disposed (by the garbage collector for example). But you should close it as soon as you're done with it.

For more information about EF connection management, please refer to the following MSDN page.

answered Jan 21 '15 at 12:35

Attila Klenik

753
6
13

Worth mentioning that connection *will* be closed automatically if the context is initialized with a `using` clause. – haim770 Jan 21 '15 at 12:39
In that case it will be closed because of the disposing, so it's not really an automatic management step from the DbContext itself. But true, using a using block is almost always a good idea. – Attila Klenik Jan 21 '15 at 12:43

EF: Should I explicitly close database connection when calling OpenConnection manually

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