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Entity Framework Data Concurrency

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Alternative Strategies for Handling Data Concurrency

3:03 with James Churchill

Let's wrap up this workshop by taking a look at an alternative for handling data concurrency.

Additional Learning

See this walkthrough on how you can display detailed information about which values have changed so that users can determine the best way to resolve the conflict.

Handling Concurrency with the Entity Framework 6 in an ASP.NET MVC 5 Application

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    Our data concurrency solution prevents the last one in wins scenario, 0:00
    but it doesn't give users much to go on when a problem arises. 0:04
    We're risking that users might just fall into the habit of 0:09
    always choosing the client wins option, 0:11
    in order to not lose their updates which could result in data loss. 0:14
    We could extend our solution in order to give the user more information. 0:19
    For instance, we could display detailed information about which values have 0:22
    changed, so that users can determine the best way to resolve the conflict. 0:26
    How to do this is beyond the scope of this workshop, but 0:30
    if you're interested in learning more, see the teacher's notes. 0:33
    After updating the comic book edit and 0:37
    delete processes to support optimistic concurrency controls. 0:38
    You might be wondering, is all of this effort necessary? 0:42
    Do you really need to implement data concurrency controls in your web apps? 0:46
    Well, it depends, 0:50
    it depends on the number of users your app has in any given user role. 0:52
    And it depends on the criticalness of not having accidental data loss. 0:56
    And just like with any feature that you could implement, 1:01
    it also depends on your overall budget and schedule. 1:04
    After weighing the options with your project stakeholders, and users, or 1:08
    clients you might find that it's far more important to implement other features 1:12
    rather than investing and implementing data concurrency controls. 1:16
    Or you might find that your web app simply doesn't need it. 1:20
    Whatever decision you make, the important point is to make an informed decision. 1:24
    Leveraging EF support for optimistic concurrency, isn't the only 1:28
    option available to you when implementing data concurrency controls in your web app. 1:32
    It's also possible to implement pessimistic concurrency controls. 1:36
    When a user needs to edit a record, 1:41
    they first need to place an explicit lock on the record. 1:42
    If the record already has a lock on it, 1:46
    they'll be notified which user placed the lock on it and when. 1:48
    When the user has finished updating the record, the lock is released. 1:52
    Sometimes this process is known as explicit locking. 1:56
    Since EF doesn't provide any support for 1:59
    it, implementing pessimistic concurrency controls typically requires 2:01
    more effort on the developers part than its optimistic counterpart. 2:05
    Even when you're implementing optimistic concurrency controls, there's a lot of 2:09
    flexibility with how you communicate concurrency conflicts to users. 2:13
    At the beginning of this video we discussed the possibility of providing 2:17
    detailed error information to users, so they could see specific information 2:20
    down to the field level about the concurrency conflict. 2:25
    Generally speaking providing more information to users 2:29
    will help them make better decisions. 2:32
    Also, the sooner that users know that their update will fail, the better. 2:35
    For instance, you could use client-side javascript code to alert users when 2:39
    the record they're editing has changed on the server, without having to wait for 2:43
    the user to submit or post their changes to the server. 2:47
    We've just crushed the surface of data concurrency, and 2:51
    concurrency controls in this workshop. 2:54
    As usual, see the teacher’s notes for links and additional resources. 2:56
    Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next time. 3:00

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