pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw 1.0.0

dotnet add package pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw --version 1.0.0
NuGet\Install-Package pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw -Version 1.0.0
This command is intended to be used within the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio, as it uses the NuGet module's version of Install-Package.
<PackageReference Include="pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw" Version="1.0.0" />
For projects that support PackageReference, copy this XML node into the project file to reference the package.
paket add pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw --version 1.0.0
#r "nuget: pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw, 1.0.0"
#r directive can be used in F# Interactive and Polyglot Notebooks. Copy this into the interactive tool or source code of the script to reference the package.
// Install pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw as a Cake Addin
#addin nuget:?package=pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw&version=1.0.0

// Install pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw as a Cake Tool
#tool nuget:?package=pvWay.MsSqlMultiPartVarChar.Fw&version=1.0.0

Ms Sql MultiPart VarChar for .Net Framework

Persists multi part text values (dictionary string - string) into one single VARCHAR column into an Ms SQL Db (2014 or >=).

The package contains a cSharp class for storing/retrieving the dictionary to/from the field and the SQL code for creating a scalar function for stored procedure implementation.

Usage

Constructor

From the business layer of your applicaiton use the Dictionary constructor

	
	var dic = new Dictionary<string, string>()
	{
		{"en", "bear"},
		{"fr", "ours"}
	};
	IMpVarChar myMpVarChar = new MpVarChar(dic);

Persisting into the Db

Now let's persist this value in one single NVARCHAR(MAX) into the Db.

The following example prepares a simple SQL statement for a DAO implementation of the DAL but of course you may want to use this with the ORM of your choice (EF, NHibernate...)

	
    // convert myMpVarChar to a string for insertion into the Db.
    var mpText = myMpVarChar.ToString(); 
    
    // hum yes... in this case we should make sure we escape the single quotes if any
    mpText = mpText.Replace("'", "''");

    // now we can use this var into an insert statement
    var insertStatement = $"INSERT INTO [dbo].[MyTable] ([MpText]) VALUES ('{mpText}');";
    
    // The line above will generate the following text
    // INSERT INTO [dbo].[MyTable] ([MpText]) VALUES ('<en>bear</en><fr>ours</fr>');

    // for the simplicity i do not provide here the code executing this insert

The key value dictionnary is serialized to a single string that can be saved into the db into a VARCHAR(MAX) (or NVARCHAR(xxx)) column. Up to you to see if you need a MAX lenght or if a smaller column will do the job. the serialization cost is 4 char per dictionary entry. It takes the form '<key>::<value>::'. If the value of the key containst a ':' char it will be escaped with a '' char. This should also be taken into consideration for determining the final size of the string.

Retrieving the data from the Db

  // (not shown) here above the SELECT code that populates the IDataRecord object 
  var ord = dataRecord.GetOrdinal("MpText");
  var retrievedMpText = dataRecord.GetString(ord); // let's retreive the raw text from the Db

  // time to deserialize
  var deserializeSucceeded = MpVarChar.TryDeserialize(
  	retrievedMpText, 
  	out var retrievedMpVarChar, 
  	out var deserializationResult);

  if (!deserializeSucceeded)
  {
  	Console.WriteLine("it failed");
  	Console.WriteLine(deserializationResult);
  	// log and throw
  }
  else
  {
  	// some ways to get the data    
    // using the Dicionnary
    var enVal = retrievedMpVarChar.MpDic["en"];
    Console.WriteLine(enVal);
	// ==> displays "bear"                
    
    // using the GetPartForKey method
    var frVal = retrievedMpVarChar.GetPartForKey("fr");
    Console.WriteLine(frVal);
	// ==> displays "ours"                
    
    // using the TryGetPartForKey method
    var deOk = retrievedMpVarChar.TryGetPartForKey("de", out var deVal);
    Console.WriteLine(deVal);
	// ==> displays "bear" taking de first key in the dic as default value                
  }

SQL side

Create a function that you can use from a Stored Procedure

  CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[FnGetTranslation] 
  (
      @str NVARCHAR(MAX),
      @key NVARCHAR(MAX)
  )
    RETURNS NVARCHAR(MAX)
    AS
    BEGIN

	    IF @str IS NULL
	    BEGIN
		    RETURN NULL;
	    END

        /*
        within the values the character '<' and '>' are replaced by '&lt;' and '&gt;'.
	    the keys are encoded as XML tags <key></key> 
	    '<en>english &lt;text&gt;</en><fr>texte en français</fr><nl>nederlandse tekst</nl>'
	    */
	    DECLARE @startTag NVARCHAR(MAX) = '<' + @key + '>';
	    DECLARE @startTagPos INT = CHARINDEX(@startTag, @str, 0);

	    if (@startTagPos = 0)
	    BEGIN
	        -- find the position of the first '>' in the string
		    DECLARE @gtPos INT = CHARINDEX('>', @str, 0);
		    -- set the key to the first key in the collection
		    SET @key = SUBSTRING(@str, 2, @gtPos - 2);
		    -- adjust startTag & pos
		    SET @startTag = '<' + @key + '>';
		    SET @startTagPos = 1;
	    END

	    DECLARE @startTagLen INT = LEN(@startTag);
	    DECLARE @valueStartPos INT = @startTagPos + @startTagLen;
	    DECLARE @endTag NVARCHAR(MAX) = '</' + @key + '>';
	    DECLARE @endTagPos INT = CHARINDEX(@endTag, @str, @valueStartPos);
	    DECLARE @valueLen INT = @endTagPos - @valueStartPos;
	    DECLARE @encodedValue NVARCHAR(MAX) = SUBSTRING(@str, @valueStartPos, @valueLen);
	    DECLARE @value NVARCHAR(MAX) = REPLACE(@encodedValue, '&lt;', '<');
	    SET @value = REPLACE(@value, ';tl&', '&lt;');
	    SET @value = REPLACE(@value, '&gt;', '>');
	    SET @value = REPLACE(@value, ';tg&', '&gt;');
	    RETURN @value;

    END
Call the function from any SQL SELECT

  SELECT [dbo].[FnGetTranslation]([MpText], 'en')
  FROM [dbo].[MyTable]
  ORDER BY [dbo].[FnGetTranslation]([MpText], 'en')
  

Thanks for reading so far 😃

Product Compatible and additional computed target framework versions.
.NET Framework net461 is compatible.  net462 was computed.  net463 was computed.  net47 was computed.  net471 was computed.  net472 was computed.  net48 was computed.  net481 was computed. 
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Version Downloads Last updated
1.0.0 458 12/17/2020

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