DKNet

Open the context connection for ADO.NET

Part of DKNet.EfCore.Relational.Helpers. Get the connection already associated with the DbContext, opening it when its state is Closed.

Use the Quick Start console project. Set DKNET_DOCS_DB to a PostgreSQL connection string with permission to create tables in a dedicated empty database. Each example uses EnsureCreatedAsync or whole-model creation; run each against its own database.

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using DKNet.EfCore.Relational.Helpers;

var connectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DKNET_DOCS_DB")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("Set DKNET_DOCS_DB to an empty PostgreSQL database.");
var o = new DbContextOptionsBuilder<DemoDb>();
o.UseNpgsql(connectionString);
await using var db = new DemoDb(o.Options);
var connection = await db.GetDbConnection();
await using var command = connection.CreateCommand();
command.CommandText = "SELECT 1";
Console.WriteLine(await command.ExecuteScalarAsync()); // 1
await connection.CloseAsync();

public sealed class DemoDb(DbContextOptions<DemoDb> options) : DbContext(options)
{
    public DbSet<Item> Items => Set<Item>();
}
public sealed class Item
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = "";
}

GetDbConnection obtains the context connection, opens it only when Closed and returns the same connection to the caller.

The cancellation token is passed to OpenAsync only when opening is necessary. This helper does not create an independent connection or close it afterward.

⚠️ Gotchas & limits

Manage connection state deliberately; do not dispose a connection owned by the context merely because this helper returned it.
It does not repair Broken or Connecting states. Provider exceptions and cancellation propagate.
When using an explicit EF transaction, assign its DbTransaction to your ADO.NET command as appropriate; obtaining the same connection does not enlist a new command automatically.

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