Pass Entity Framework type to generic method

Question

In my project using Entity Framework, I have a bunch of functions that look almost exactly alike, so I want to created a generic method they call:

private IHttpActionResult GetData<TEntity>(DbSet<TEntity> data) 

The problem I'm having is that the data parameter is saying TEntity has to be a reference type to work, but the type of the entity comes from auto-generated code that doesn't have any base class that I can constrain via a where clause on the method definition.

I'd basically want to call it by getting a context and passing the table in like so:

using (var context = new DataModel.MyEntities()) {
    GetData(context.Lab_SubSpace_Contact);
}

Answer 1

To expand on @Igor's answer , you don't have to pass the DbSet<TEntity> , you can also get that dynamically through the type parameter:

private IHttpActionResult GetData<TEntity>() where TEntity : class
{
    using (var context = new YourContext())
    {
        var dbSet = context.Set<TEntity>();
    }
}

Answer 2

You do not need a base class, you only have to specify a constraint that it has to be a class (not a struct). This can be done with where TEntity : class

Constraints on Type Parameters

where T : class : The type argument must be a reference type; this applies also to any class, interface, delegate, or array type.

Modified code

private IHttpActionResult GetData<TEntity>(DbSet<TEntity> data) where TEntity : class