Linq to SQL select and update oddity

Today i came across some very odd behaviour using Linq to SQL.
I was trying to retrieve a record from the database to update one column then save the change to the database. The problem was happening when i tried to save the change. I was getting foreign constraint errors on related records that didn’t even exist!

Here is the DB structure:
T1 (id, value)
T2 (id, T1.id, values)
T3 (id, T2.id, values)

T1 existed but T2 and T3 didn’t. The foreign key constraint error i recieved was between T2 and T3 but how can that be when i didn’t create any records and they don’t exist?!

Here is the code i initially used:

DataContext Dal = new DataContext();

T1 table1 =  (from t in DC.T1
    where t.id == pID
    select t).SingleOrDefault();

table1.value = pNewValue;
Dal.SubmitChanges();

When i inspected the object VS showed that T1 had at least 1 T2 object and when i inspected T2 it had at least one T3 object.

The fix for this was to change the Linq select statement but i don’t for the life of me know why this made a difference. Here is the fixed version:

DataContext Dal = new DataContext();

T1 table1 =  Dal.T1.Where(a => a.id == pID).SingleOrDefault();

table1.value = pNewValue;
Dal.SubmitChanges();

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Related posts:

1. Limiting LINQ String Field Lengths
2. Linq – SubmitChanges does not work

Tags: linq