Dapper Query FirstOrDefault Discover How to Return First Row or Default Value

Description

The QueryFirstOrDefault extension method is used to return the first row of the result set returned by the query, or a default value if the result set is empty. You can call the QueryFirstOrDefault method from any object of type IDbConnection. It can execute a query and map the first result, or a default value if the sequence contains no elements.

The result can be mapped to:

• Anonymous
• Strongly Typed

Parameters

The syntax of the QueryFirstOrDefault<T> method is given below:

T QueryFirstOrDefault<T>(string sql, 
                         object param = null, 
                         IDbTransaction transaction = null, 
                         int? commandTimeout = null, 
                         CommandType? commandType = null);

The QueryFirstOrDefault method takes a SQL query as a string and an optional object parameter. The object parameter can be used to pass parameters to the SQL query.

The QueryFirstOrDefault method also takes optional parameters for transaction, command timeout, and command type.

The following table shows the different parameters of a QueryFirstOrDefault method.

First, Single & Default

First, Single & Default methods are very different. When choosing between the different methods of querying data from a database using Dapper, it is important to understand the differences between them to make the best decision for your particular needs.

QueryFirst and QuerySingle both return a single record from the database, be careful to use the right method because there are some important distinctions between the two that are mentioned in the following table.

When deciding which method to use, it is important to consider the particular needs of your application.

Example - QueryFirstOrDefault Anonymous

The raw SQL query can be executed using the QueryFirstOrDefault method and map the first result to a dynamic list, or a default value if the sequence contains no elements to a dynamic list.

You could store the results of this query in a Dapper anonymous result type as follows:

The following examples show how to use the QueryFirstOrDefault method:

string sql = "SELECT * FROM OrderDetails WHERE OrderDetailID = @OrderDetailID;";

using (var connection = new SqlConnection(FiddleHelper.GetConnectionStringSqlServerW3Schools()))
{            
    var orderDetail = connection.QueryFirstOrDefault(sql, new {OrderDetailID = 1});

    FiddleHelper.WriteTable(orderDetail);
}

These are useful for simple queries where you don't need to create a separate class to represent your data. This can save you a considerable amount of time and effort when working with complex SQL queries.

Try it: .NET Core | .NET Framework

Example - QueryFirstOrDefault Strongly Typed

Dapper provides you with the ability to get your query results as strongly typed objects instead of just getting back a dynamic object. The raw SQL query can be executed using the QueryFirstOrDefault method and map the first result to a strongly typed list, or a default value if the sequence contains no elements.

First, let's create a simple class that we can use to map our query results and we will call this class OrderDetail.

public class OrderDetail
{
	public int OrderDetailID { get; set; }
	public int OrderID { get; set; }
	public int ProductID { get; set; }
	public int Quantity { get; set; }
}

Next, we write our SQL query to fetch a particular OrderDetail from our database.

string sql = "SELECT * FROM OrderDetails WHERE OrderDetailID = @OrderDetailID;";

using (var connection = new SqlConnection(FiddleHelper.GetConnectionStringSqlServerW3Schools()))
{
    var orderDetail = connection.QueryFirstOrDefault<OrderDetail>(sql, new {OrderDetailID = 1});

    FiddleHelper.WriteTable(new List<OrderDetail>() { orderDetail });
}

In the above example, you can see that Dapper makes it very easy to map your query results to strongly typed objects.

Try it: .NET Core | .NET Framework

Related Articles

• Dapper - Anonymous Result
• Dapper - Strongly Typed Result