LastModification fields not updated when changing one-to-many relationship #10057

3 Answer(s)

• 

  0

  AI-Bot created 12 hours ago

  Support Team ABP Agent

  1. Solution

  • Root cause

    • In ABP, modification audit properties (LastModificationTime/LastModifierId) are set by ApplyAbpConcepts during SaveChanges only when EF Core reports the entity as Modified. Historically, changing only a navigation/foreign key could be missed by EF change detection, so audit fields were not updated.
    • From ABP 8.3 onward, the framework explicitly updates ModificationAuditProperties when a navigation property changes. On earlier versions (like 9.2.3 is newer than 8.3, so it already includes this behavior), you should get updates if the FK or navigation change is tracked as a modification within the same DbContext/Unit of Work.

  • What to verify in your app

    1. Ensure updates happen inside a Unit of Work and the same DbContext instance tracks the entity and the FK change before SaveChanges.
       • Use repository.GetAsync(id), mutate tracked entity’s AuthorId (or navigation), then await repository.UpdateAsync(entity, autoSave: true) or rely on UoW completion.
    2. Change the FK scalar property, not only the navigation proxy:

  var book = await _bookRepository.GetAsync(id);
       book.AuthorId = input.AuthorId; // set the FK scalar
       // or set book.Author = await _authorRepository.GetAsync(input.AuthorId);
       await _bookRepository.UpdateAsync(book, autoSave: true);
  

  3. Do not use ExecuteUpdate/ExecuteDelete bulk operations for this scenario; they bypass EF tracking, so ABP auditing (including modification audit fields) will not run.
  4. Make sure CurrentUser is available if you expect LastModifierId. If the operation is AllowAnonymous or executed by background processes, LastModifierId may be null unless you set a principal:

  var claims = new List<Claim> { new Claim(AbpClaimTypes.UserId, userId.ToString()) };
       using (_currentPrincipalAccessor.Change(claims))
       {
           await _bookRepository.UpdateAsync(book, autoSave: true);
       }
  

  5. If you’re attaching a detached entity (e.g., mapping DTO to new entity instance and calling UpdateAsync), ensure EF knows which properties changed. Prefer fetch-and-mutate; otherwise you may need to mark the FK property as modified on the DbContext entry.

  • ABP 8.3+ behavior (applies to 9.2.3)

    • ABP updates ModificationAuditProperties when navigation properties change. If you still see no update:
      • Confirm that AuthorId change results in EF change tracker marking the entity as Modified.
      • Confirm the change is not done via raw SQL or bulk update APIs.
      • Confirm the update path is not suppressing ApplyAbpConcepts (e.g., custom DbContext SaveChanges override that skips base behavior).

  • Minimal working example

  public class BookAppService : ApplicationService
    {
        private readonly IRepository<Book, long> _bookRepository;
  
        public BookAppService(IRepository<Book, long> bookRepository)
        {
            _bookRepository = bookRepository;
        }
  
        public async Task UpdateAuthorAsync(long id, long? newAuthorId)
        {
            var book = await _bookRepository.GetAsync(id); // tracked
            book.AuthorId = newAuthorId;
            await _bookRepository.UpdateAsync(book, autoSave: true); // triggers ApplyAbpConcepts
            // After save, LastModificationTime and LastModifierId should be updated (if CurrentUser.Id exists)
        }
    }
  

  • If you must use detached updates

  var book = await _bookRepository.GetAsync(id);
    _ = ObjectMapper.Map(input, book); // ensure AuthorId ends up different
    await _bookRepository.UpdateAsync(book, autoSave: true);
  

  • Summary
    • With ABP 9.2.3, changing a FK/navigation should update LastModificationTime/LastModifierId provided:
      • The change is tracked by EF in a normal UoW (not bulk ops/raw SQL).
      • You change the entity instance fetched from repository (tracked).
      • CurrentUser is set if you expect LastModifierId.
    • If your code path still does not update the audit fields, refactor to fetch-and-mutate within the repository/UoW as shown above.

  2. Sources

  • https://abp.io/docs/latest/release-info/migration-guides/abp-8-3
  • https://abp.io/support/questions/6298
  • https://abp.io/community/articles/zvr01mtn

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• 

  0

  tim.delandtsheer@qframe.be created 12 hours ago

  Hi,

  We already tried suggestions of the AI-bot .

  • We are updating by ID. (no navigation property). In EF Core, the Id is configured as a foreign key by default.
  • We are using the default generated code from ABP-Suite. So tracked entity, explicit update. Not directly on the database.

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• 

  0

  maliming created 11 hours ago

  Support Team Fullstack Developer

  hi

  We've created a new simple ABP project to reproduce, and the same behaviour happens.

  Can you share the test project to liming.ma@volosoft.com?

  Thanks.

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