Using a list of datarows to store data

Question

I have a master-detail relationship between 2 classes. The master class will contain a list of many details. Currently I was using

public class Master: cloneable<T>
{
     //other properties here...
    private List<detailClass> details
    public List<detailClass> Details
    {
        get { return details; }
    }
}

inside the master class. While saving this class, I need to use a datatable for the details list before passing it into a sp. (since we are using table value params in sql2008). reason for using tvp, is that 1 master can contain upwards of 10k details, and tvp is a very efficient way of dumping all that info into the db very fast.

Qs:When I convert the list to a datatable for db insertion, there is a double memory usage for the same data. Is there a better way of saving the details in master, other than directly using a datatable?

Qs:I next option was to try using a List details, and do datatable.ImportRow(row). But I do not know, how I can add data into a row, without having any columns defined. I also dont know how any external object can acess the individual detail fields in such a list.

---

Following casperOne's answer I used the IEnumerable<SqldataRecord> method and was able to insert data by streaming and without having to create an additional datatable in memory.To be helpful for any one else looking for similar solution, I am posting the code below.

public class DetailCollection: List<Detail>, IEnumerable<SqlDataRecord>
{
    IEnumerator<SqlDataRecord> IEnumerable<SqlDataRecord>.GetEnumerator()
    {
        // mapping the properties of the Detail object to the 
        // user defined table type in sql
        SqlMetaData[] metaDataArray = new SqlMetaData[4];

        //-1 indicates varchar(max) sql data type
        metaDataArray[0] = new SqlMetaData("Col1", SqlDbType.VarChar, -1); 
        metaDataArray[1] = new SqlMetaData("Col2", SqlDbType.TinyInt);
        metaDataArray[2] = new SqlMetaData("Col3", SqlDbType.VarChar,100);
        metaDataArray[3] = new SqlMetaData("Col4", SqlDbType.Int);

        SqlDataRecord sdr = new SqlDataRecord(metaDataArray);


        foreach (Detail detailRecord in this)
        {
                    sdr.SetValue(0, detailRecord.Property1);
                    sdr.SetValue(1, Convert.ToByte(detailRecord.Property2));
                    sdr.SetValue(2, detailRecord.Property3);
                    sdr.SetValue(3, detailRecord.Property4);
                    yield return sdr;
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

You can stream results to a table-valued parameter using one of two methods:

• IEnumerable<SqlDataRecord> - You can use yield return in an IEnumerable<SqlDataRecord> implementation (or LINQ, which is even easier) to create a streaming solution.
• DbDataReader implementation - You can create an implementation which will take a reference to your list and provide the appropriate transformations as the reader is enumerated through.

With either of these, you can basically create implementations which will take the item from the list and then transform the result to be streamed as the table-valued-parameter. This way, you don't have to rematerialize a second list in your application, you can just perform the transformation on the first as-needed.

For more information, see the section of MSDN titled "Table-Valued Parameters in SQL Server 2008", specifically, the "Configuring a SqlParameter Example" and the "Streaming Rows with a DataReader" sections.