PostgreSQL C#: Updating Data

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to update data in the PostgreSQL database using C#.

This tutorial begins where importing data from a CSV file into PostgreSQL tutorial is left off.

How to update data in PostgreSQL using C#

To update a row from a table in a PostgreSQL database from a C# program, you follow these steps:

First, construct an UPDATE statement:

var sql = "UPDATE .. ";

In the UPDATE statement, you can add parameters in the format @parameter. When you execute the query, you need to bind values to these parameters.

Using the parameters in the query helps you to prevent SQL injection attacks when the values come from untrusted sources such as user inputs.

Second, create a data source that represents the PostgreSQL database:

await using var conn = new NpgsqlConnection(connectionString);
await conn.OpenAsync();

Third, create a NpgsqlCommand object and bind one or more values to the parameters:

await using var cmd = new NpgsqlCommand(sql, conn);

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@parameter1", value1);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@parameter2", value2);
...

Finally, execute the UPDATE statement by calling the ExecuteNonQueryAsync() method of the command object:

await cmd.ExecuteNonQueryAsync();

Note that the using statement will automatically close the database connection when it is not used.

Updating data in a table

The following C# program modifies the email of the row with id 1 in the students table in the elearning database:

using Npgsql;

// Construct an UPDATE statement
var sql = @"UPDATE email = @email FROM students WHERE id= @id";

// Get the connection string
string connectionString = ConfigurationHelper.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection");

try
{
    // Set up a data source
    await using var dataSource = NpgsqlDataSource.Create(connectionString);

    // Create a Command object
    await using var cmd = dataSource.CreateCommand(sql);

    // Bind parameters
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@email", "[[email protected]](../cdn-cgi/l/email-protection.html)");
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@id", 1);

    // Execute the UPDATE statement
    await cmd.ExecuteNonQueryAsync();

    Console.WriteLine("The row has been updated successfully.");

}
catch (NpgsqlException ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
}

How it works.

First, construct an UPDATE statement that inserts a new row into the students table:

var sql = @"UPDATE email = @email FROM students WHERE id= @id";

These @email and @id are the placeholders for parameters in the UPDATE command.

Second, get the connection string from the configuration using the ConfigurationHelper class:

string connectionString = ConfigurationHelper.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection");

Third, create a data source that represents the PostgreSQL database:

await using var dataSource = NpgsqlDataSource.Create(connectionString);

Fourth, create a new NpgsqlCommand object and bind the values to its parameters:

await using var cmd = dataSource.CreateCommand(sql);

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@email", "[[email protected]](../cdn-cgi/l/email-protection.html)");
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@id", 1);

Fifth, execute the UPDATE statement by calling the ExecuteNonQueryAsync() method and display a success message:

await cmd.ExecuteNonQueryAsync();
Console.WriteLine("The row has been updated successfully.");

Finally, display an error message if any exceptions occur during the update:

// ...
catch (NpgsqlException ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
}

Verify the update

First, open a terminal and connect to the elearning database using the ed user:

psql -U ed -d elearning

It’ll prompt you to enter a password for the ed user. Input the valid password and press Enter to connect to the PostgreSQL.

Second, query data from the students table:

SELECT * FROM students
WHERE id = 1;

Output:

id | first_name | last_name |       email       | registration_date
----+------------+-----------+-------------------+-------------------
  1 | John       | Doe       | [[email protected]](../cdn-cgi/l/email-protection.html) | 2024-05-20
(1 row)

The output indicates that the program has successfully updated the email of row id 1 to [[email protected]](../cdn-cgi/l/email-protection.html).

Summary

Use the NpgsqlCommand object to execute an UPDATE statement that updates a row into a table.