We Keep Coding

EF Code First Many One-To-One-Relationships

I'm starting making experience with the EF Code-First and also WCF Service and run into a problem I could not solve with all the guides about this issue:
I got the following code structure
[DataContract]
public class Feed
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int LanguageId { get; set; }
public int CategoryId { get; set; }
public int TypeId { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Name { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Description { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public FeedCategory Category { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public FeedType Type { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string FeedUrl { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public Language Language { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class FeedCategory
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Name { get; set; }
public DateTime Registered { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public IList<Feed> Feeds { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class FeedType
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Name { get; set; }
public DateTime Registered { get; set; }
public IList<Feed> Feeds { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class Language
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Name { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string CountryName { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string CountryCode { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string ShortCountryCode { get; set; }
}
But when I want to get all the feeds, all dependencies won't be received, so Category, Type & Language is null and I have no idea how to solve it.
Does anyone else knows how to do it?

I'm going to try and answer your question correctly based on my experience (from awhile ago as my company doesn't use EF anymore).
First you may need to apply a key to your entities. I did this in the OnModelCreating method.
modelBuilder.Entity<FeedType>().HasKey(k => k.Id );
Second I believe you have to set the mappings between these entities also able to be done in your OnModelCreating method.
modelBuilder.Entity<FeedType>().HasRequired<Feed>(h => h.Feed).WithOptional(x => x.FeedType);
Finally your need to enable eager loading or use the .Include on your query so that the child object is retrieved when the parent is.
All corrections welcome as it has been awhile.

Expanding classes using AutoMap

I have to import a set of data from one database to another with a somewhat different schema, and I'm considering using AutoMap. I could just write a bunch of SQL scripts, but I already have both databases in EF and I want to learn AutoMap ...
While many of the classes are similar, the problem I'm having is where the structure is really different. The target models were designed with several more layers of classes. Instead of flattening, I need to expand.
The target classes have the following properties:
public class Account
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public ContactInfo Location { get; set; }
public List<Policy> Policies { get; set; }
}
public class ContactInfo
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Address1 { get; set; }
public string Address2 { get; set; }
public string City { get; set; }
public State State { get; set; }
public string Zip { get; set; }
public string EMail { get; set; }
public List<Phone> PhoneNumbers { get; set; }
}
public class Phone
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Number { get; set; }
}
public class Policy
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public PolicyNumber PolicyNumber { get; set; }
public List<Transaction> Transactions { get; set; }
}
The source tables, however, are relatively flattened.
public partial class Account
{
public string AccountId { get; set; }
public string AccountName { get; set; }
public string PolicyNumber { get; set; }
}
public partial class Transaction
{
public int TransactionId { get; set; }
public int AccountId { get; set; }
public Nullable<System.DateTime> EffectiveDate { get; set; }
public string InsuredName { get; set; }
public string InsuredAddress { get; set; }
public string InsuredCity { get; set; }
public string InsuredState { get; set; }
public string InsuredZip { get; set; }
public string InsuredPhone { get; set; }
}
I can create the Map, but I don't know how to tell AutoMapper to handle converting the string Policy to a policy object and then add it to the list of Policies.
Mapper.CreateMap<Source.Account, Destination.Account>();
Even worse, the source data inexplicitly has the name and address info at the transaction level. Before you tell me that AutoMap might not be the best solution, please understand that these two source tables are 2 out of over 40 tables in this database, and that the others are not nearly as troublesome.
Can I configure AutoMap to convert the string property PolicyNumber to a Policy Object and add it to the Policies List of the target class?
Any suggestions on how I can get the name and address information from the Transaction into a ContactInfo class and add it at the Account level?
Thank you.

Thanks to Thomas Weller. Custom Value Resolvers handled exactly what I needed.

Asp.Net MVC Reaching The Property Using Many To Many Relation With Mapping Table

You can see my previous question which related with many to many relation but with auto generated mapping table.
I have 2 model, HrTraining and HrPerson. Any people can be assigned to one or more Trainings. You can see my model as below
public class HrTraining
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<HrMapTrainingPerson> HrMapTrainingPerson { get; set; }
}
public class HrMapTrainingPerson
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Status { get; set; }
public int HrTrainingId { get; set; }
public int HrPersonId { get; set; }
public virtual HrTraining HrTraining { get; set; }
public virtual HrPerson HrPerson { get; set; }
}
public class HrPerson
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<HrMapTrainingPerson> HrMapTrainingPerson { get; set; }
}
How can i take all training objects which assingned to a person with efficient way.

So you want to find a person, and get all the trainings assigned to it? There are lot of ways.. but using your models, this could be something like this
var trPersons = dbContext.HrPerson.Find(idPerson).HrMapTrainingPerson.ToList();
foreach(var trPerson in trPersons) {
var training = trPerson.HrTraining;
//do what you want, here you can get trPerson.HrTraining.Name for instance
}

ASP.NET MVC /Entity Framework Error - Invalid column name 'Environment_Id'

I'm new to ASP.NET MVC and EF hopefully this is not a silly question
When i pass model to view i'm getting this error - Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Invalid column name 'Environment_Id'.
Model nor database table has a property by that name. Could any guide me on this?.
**Here is the Version Model Class**
public partial class Version
{
public Version()
{
this.ProfileVersions = new List<ProfileVersion>();
this.ServerInfoes = new List<ServerInfo>();
}
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Number { get; set; }
public string Tag { get; set; }
public string Owner { get; set; }
public string Approver { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<ProfileVersion> ProfileVersions { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<ServerInfo> ServerInfoes { get; set; }
}
**Profile Version Class**
public partial class ProfileVersion
{
public ProfileVersion()
{
this.PlatformConfigurations = new List<PlatformConfiguration>();
}
public int Id { get; set; }
public int ProfileId { get; set; }
public int EnvironmentId { get; set; }
public int VersionId { get; set; }
public Nullable<bool> Locked { get; set; }
public string LockedBy { get; set; }
public string Comments { get; set; }
public Nullable<int> Active { get; set; }
public virtual Environment Environment { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<PlatformConfiguration> PlatformConfigurations { get;
set; }
public virtual PlatformProfile PlatformProfile { get; set; }
public virtual Version Version { get; set; }
}
**ServerInfo**
public partial class ServerInfo
{
public ServerInfo()
{
this.PlatformConfigurations = new List<PlatformConfiguration>();
}
public int Id { get; set; }
public string ServerName { get; set; }
public int ProfileId { get; set; }
public int VersionId { get; set; }
public int EnvironmentId { get; set; }
public string ServerType { get; set; }
public Nullable<short> Active { get; set; }
public string Domain { get; set; }
public string Location { get; set; }
public string IP { get; set; }
public string Subnet { get; set; }
public string Gateway { get; set; }
public Nullable<int> VLan { get; set; }
public string DNS { get; set; }
public string OS { get; set; }
public string OSVersion { get; set; }
public string Func { get; set; }
public Nullable<short> IISInstalled { get; set; }
public string ADDomainController { get; set; }
public string ADOrganizationalUnit { get; set; }
public string ADGroups { get; set; }
public string LastError { get; set; }
public Nullable<System.DateTime> LastUpdate { get; set; }
public virtual Environment Environment { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<PlatformConfiguration> PlatformConfigurations { get;
set; }
public virtual PlatformProfile PlatformProfile { get; set; }
public virtual Version Version { get; set; }
public virtual VMConfiguration VMConfiguration { get; set; }
}
**Controller Code-**
public ViewResult Index(string id )
{
var profileVerList = from ver in _context.Versions
where !(from pfv in _context.ProfileVersions
select pfv.VersionId).Contains(ver.Id)
select ver;
var bigView = new BigViewModel
{
VersionModel = profileVerList.ToList(),
};
return View(model: bigView);
}
**In the View where the exception is thrown**
#Html.DropDownList(
"SelectedVersionID",
new SelectList(
Model.VersionModel.Select(x => new { Value = x.Id, Text = x.Number}),
"Value",
"Text"
)
)

In your ProfileVersion and ServerInfo entities you have an Environment navigation property. By default, Entity Framework will try to create a database column called [Property Name]_[Referenced class PK]. In your scenario, that's Environment_Id. The problem, right now, is that you have not done a migration to have this database column created.
If I had to imagine what happened here, I'd say you first created the classes with EnvironmentId properties, migrated, then later decided to add the navigation properties, Environment to each, expecting EF to associate that with your existing EnvironmentId properties. That's where you went wrong. As I said above, EF convention is to look for a database column named Environment_Id, so if you want EF to use EnvironmentId instead, you just need to tell it so with the ForeignKey data annotation:
[ForeignKey("Environment")]
public int EnvironmentId { get; set; }

In My Case I have added My Primary Key Relationship to Same Key .. SO I have simply remove..

I realize this question is 3 years old now, but I saw a different reason for the error - both in the original question and in my own code that was pretty similar. And, in my case, I had the same error as stated above.
I had a "MY_ACTIONS" table with an ID and Name pair that I wanted to be added to a dropdown. Here's the model:
namespace TestSite.Models
{
public class MY_ACTIONS
{
//[System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2214:DoNotCallOverridableMethodsInConstructors")]
public MY_ACTIONS()
{
this.o_actions = new HashSet<MY_ACTIONS>();
}
[Key]
public int action_id { get; set; }
[StringLength(100)]
public string action_name { get; set; }
[System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2227:CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly")]
public virtual ICollection<MY_ACTIONS> o_actions { get; set; }
}
}
And to get an action to display on the dropdown it had an ID set in an int field called LASTACTION in my main table. In that model I had declared the ForeignKey relationship:
namespace TestSite.Models
{
[Table("MAIN_TABLE")]
public partial class MAIN_TABLE
{
[Key]
public int MAIN_TABLE_ID { get; set; }
public int LASTACTION { get; set; } // this would carry a number matching action_id
[ForeignKey("LASTACTION")]
public virtual MY_ACTIONS MY_ACTIONS { get; set; }
}
}
I had the error Invalid column name 'MY_ACTIONS_action_id' when loading this dropdown in my view:
#Html.DropDownList("lastaction", null, htmlAttributes: new { #class = "form-control" })
...for which I was using this ViewBag in my Controller function:
Model1 db = new Model1(); // database context
MAIN_TABLE o_main = new MAIN_TABLE();
o_main.lastaction = 2;
ViewBag.lastaction = new SelectList(db.MY_ACTIONS, "action_id", "action_name", o_main.lastaction);
If I did not have my FK relationship declared:
[ForeignKey("LASTACTION")]
public virtual MY_ACTIONS MY_ACTIONS { get; set; }
I probably also would've had the same issue. Having the representation of a virtual instance requires linking it with some physical property. This is similar to how this:
public virtual Environment Environment { get; set; }
Should be:
[ForeignKey("EnvironmentId")]
public virtual Environment Environment { get; set; }
in the ProfileVersion class, in the question, above, assuming that EnvironmentId is the Primary Key in a table called Environment (that model is not shown above).
For me, though, I already had that and I was still getting the error, so doing that still might not solve everything.
Turns out all I had to do was get rid of that ICollection<MY_ACTIONS> o_actions in the MY_ACTIONS model and the this.o_actions = new HashSet<MY_ACTIONS>(); line and it all went through fine.
There are many such lists and ICollections in play in the question above, so I would wager something is wrong with having them, as well. Start with just a plain model that represents the fields, then add in your virtual objects that represent tables linked to with foreign keys. Then you make sure your dropdown loads. Only after that should you start adding in your ICollections, HashSets, Lists<T> and other such amenities that are not actually physically part of the database - this can throw off Entity Framework into thinking it needs to do something with them that it doesn't need to do.

Correct use of Object Properties

Below is a Class I created to track the current Person in my glorified Data Entry and retrieval app. Once they select a person it calls the constrtuctor which then calls the database to fill in all the rest of the info. Also, throughout the program they will be able to change the various fields.
With this in mind do I have the below set up correctly? I am inexpierenced with properties and using Objects to store data across multiple forms and would appreciate any insight.
Thanks!
class CurrentPerson
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string MiddleName { get; set; }
public string SuffixID { get; set; }
public string TitleID { get; set; }
public string SocialSn { get; set; }
public string BirthDate { get; set; }
public string Gender { get; set; }
public string DlNumber { get; set; }
public string DlStateID { get; set; }
public string PrimaryRace { get; set; }
public string SecondaryRace { get; set; }
public string EmailAddress { get; set; }
public string MaritalStatus { get; set; }
public string InsertProgram { get; set; }
public string InsertUserID { get; set; }
public string UpdateProgram { get; set; }
public string UpdateUserID { get; set; }
public string LockID { get; set; }
public int PersonID { get; set; }
public int ClientID { get; set; }
public int ResidencyCountyID { get; set; }
public int ResponsibilityCountyID { get; set; }
public bool HispanicOriginFlag { get; set; }
public bool CitizenFlag { get; set; }
public bool VeteranFlag { get; set; }
public DateTime DeathDate { get; set; }
public DateTime InsertDateTime { get; set; }
public DateTime UpdateDateTime { get; set; }
// Put the default Constructor back in
public CurrentPerson(){}
// Custom Constructor that needs the PersonID
public CurrentPerson(int pID)
{
PersonID = pID;
// Methods to get rest of data here
}
}

yup, looks good.
you can, btw, set access on the get/set as well, to make it read/write only publicly
public DateTime DeathDate
{
get;
private set;
}

This is technically fine. They are all declared perfectly well.
However, often, with DB apps, you'll want to not use automatic properties, since property setters are often a great place to do some validation, as well as potentially marking properties/objects as "dirty" and requiring saving of some sort.

The auto property is always get and set, so that you have no control about properties set (to mark the instance as dirty, or whatever). Therefore, while this is an acceptable class as data entity only, I usually find that auto properties are only rarely really applicable.