Entity Framework 5 Updating a Record

Question

I have been exploring different methods of editing/updating a record within Entity Framework 5 in an ASP.NET MVC3 environment, but so far none of them tick all of the boxes I need. I'll explain why.

I have found three methods to which I'll mention the pros and cons:

Method 1 - Load original record, update each property

var original = db.Users.Find(updatedUser.UserId);

if (original != null)
{
    original.BusinessEntityId = updatedUser.BusinessEntityId;
    original.Email = updatedUser.Email;
    original.EmployeeId = updatedUser.EmployeeId;
    original.Forename = updatedUser.Forename;
    original.Surname = updatedUser.Surname;
    original.Telephone = updatedUser.Telephone;
    original.Title = updatedUser.Title;
    original.Fax = updatedUser.Fax;
    original.ASPNetUserId = updatedUser.ASPNetUserId;
    db.SaveChanges();
}    

Pros

• Can specify which properties change
• Views don't need to contain every property

Cons

• 2 x queries on database to load original then update it

Method 2 - Load original record, set changed values

var original = db.Users.Find(updatedUser.UserId);

if (original != null)
{
    db.Entry(original).CurrentValues.SetValues(updatedUser);
    db.SaveChanges();
}

Pros

• Only modified properties are sent to database

Cons

• Views need to contain every property
• 2 x queries on database to load original then update it

Method 3 - Attach updated record and set state to EntityState.Modified

db.Users.Attach(updatedUser);
db.Entry(updatedUser).State = EntityState.Modified;
db.SaveChanges();

Pros

• 1 x query on database to update

Cons

• Can't specify which properties change
• Views must contain every property

Question

My question to you guys; is there a clean way that I can achieve this set of goals?

• Can specify which properties change
• Views don't need to contain every property (such as password!)
• 1 x query on database to update

I understand this is quite a minor thing to point out but I may be missing a simple solution to this. If not method one will prevail ;-)

Answer 1

You are looking for:

db.Users.Attach(updatedUser);
var entry = db.Entry(updatedUser);
entry.Property(e => e.Email).IsModified = true;
// other changed properties
db.SaveChanges();