Marten is a .NET document database library that uses an underlying PostgreSQL database to store objects as JSON. The library has a variety of features that allow the logging of SQL statements issued to the underlying PostgreSQL database in addition to being able to do things such as get the PostgreSQL query plan for a given LINQ query.

One simple way to get the generated SQL for a Marten LINQ query is to use the ToCommand() extension method.

As an example, suppose we are developing some query code as follows (this code uses the Include method to include the related documents in a single database round-trip):

Customer customer = null;

List<Order> orders = session.Query<Order>()
                            .Include<Customer>(joinOnOrder => joinOnOrder.CustomerId, includedCustomer => customer = includedCustomer)
                            .Where(x => x.CustomerId == 4001).ToList();

If we want to get an idea of what SQL Marten will generate for this LINQ query, we can change the code as shown in the following:

Customer customer = null;

IQueryable<Order> orders = session.Query<Order>()
                                  .Include<Customer>(joinOnOrder => joinOnOrder.CustomerId, includedCustomer => customer = includedCustomer)
                                  .Where(x => x.CustomerId == 4001);

// Get the SQL command that will be issued when the query executes
NpgsqlCommand cmd = orders.ToCommand();

// Output some selected command info
Console.WriteLine(cmd.CommandText);

foreach (NpgsqlParameter parameter in cmd.Parameters)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Parameter {parameter.ParameterName} = {parameter.Value}");
}

// Ensure included customer variable is populated
List<Order> orderResults = orders.ToList();

Console.WriteLine(customer.Name);
foreach (Order order in orderResults)
{
    Console.WriteLine($" Order {order.Id} for {order.Quantity} items");
}

Running this preceding code  results in the following console output:

select d.data, d.id, d.mt_version, customer_id.data, customer_id.id, customer_id.mt_version from public.mt_doc_order as d INNER JOIN public.mt_doc_customer as customer_id ON d.customer_id = customer_id.id where d.customer_id = :arg0
Parameter arg0 = 4001
Sarah
 Order 3001 for 42 items
 Order 4001 for 477 items
 Order 5001 for 9 items

To learn more about the document database features of Marten check out my Pluralsight courses: Getting Started with .NET Document Databases Using Marten and Working with Data and Schemas in Marten.

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