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What's the correct way to reference tables using Code First with EF.Core for searching efficiently

Fairly new to EF.Core and I'm having some issues as my tables start getting more complex. Here's an example of what I have defined for my classes. Note ... there are many more columns and tables than what I have defined below. I've paired them down for brevity.
public class User
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public bool Active { get; set; }
}
Followed by
public class JournalEntry
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int UserId { get; set; }
public string Details { get; set; }
public DateTime DateEntered { get; set; }
public virtual User User { get; set; }
}
I want to be able to issue the following query and INCLUDE the User Table so that I can then populate a ViewModel with columns from the User Table without having to do another lookup and also to sort the data while retrieving it:
public IQueryable<JournalEntry> GetByUser(int userId)
{
return _DbContext.JournalEntries.Where(j => j.UserId == userId)
.Include(u => u.User)
.OrderBy(u=> u.User.FirstName)
.ThenBy(j => j.DateEntered);
}
My controller would then have something similar to the following:
public IActionResult List(int userId)
{
var journalEntries = new _dbRepository.GetByUser(userId);
var myViewModel = new MyViewModel();
myViewModel.UserName = ($"{journalEntries.User.FirstName} {journalEntries.User.LastName}");
myViewModel.Entries = journalEntries;
etc ....
return View(myViewModel);
}
I'm loading the user's first and last name in the View Model and whatever other attributes from the various tables that are referenced. The problem that I'm having is that I'm getting errors on the Migration creation "Foreign key constraint may cause cycle or multiple cascade paths." And of course, if I remove the line reading public virtual User User { get; set; } from the JournalEntry class then the problem goes away (as one would expect).
I believe that the way I'm doing the models is incorrect. What would be the recommended way that I should code these models? I've heard of "lazy loading". Is that what I should be moving towards?
Thanks a bunch.
--- Val

Your query returns an IQueryable<JournalEntry> not a JournalEntry.
Change the code to get the user details from the first object:
var myViewModel.UserName = ($"{journalEntries.First().User.FirstName} {journalEntries.First().User.LastName}");
In the line above I'm calling First() on your journal entries collection and that would have a User. Then I can access FirstName and LastName.
Also, don't bother with LazyLoading since you are learning. It could cause select n+1 issues if used incorrectly

Merge properties from mapping table to single class

I have a website that is using EF Core 3.1 to access its data. The primary table it uses is [Story] Each user can store some metadata about each story [StoryUserMapping]. What I would like to do is when I read in a Story object, for EF to automatically load in the metadata (if it exists) for that story.
Classes:
public class Story
{
[Key]
public int StoryId { get; set; }
public long Words { get; set; }
...
}
public class StoryUserMapping
{
public string UserId { get; set; }
public int StoryId { get; set; }
public bool ToRead { get; set; }
public bool Read { get; set; }
public bool WontRead { get; set; }
public bool NotInterested { get; set; }
public byte Rating { get; set; }
}
public class User
{
[Key]
public string UserId { get; set; }
...
}
StoryUserMapping has composite key ([UserId], [StoryId]).
What I would like to see is:
public class Story
{
[Key]
public int StoryId { get; set; }
public bool ToRead { get; set; } //From user mapping table for currently logged in user
public bool Read { get; set; } //From user mapping table for currently logged in user
public bool WontRead { get; set; } //From user mapping table for currently logged in user
public bool NotInterested { get; set; } //From user mapping table for currently logged in user
public byte Rating { get; set; } //From user mapping table for currently logged in user
...
}
Is there a way to do this in EF Core? My current system is to load the StoryUserMapping object as a property of the Story object, then have Non-Mapped property accessors on the Story object that read into the StoryUserMapping object if it exists. This generally feels like something EF probably handles more elegantly.
Use Cases
Setup: I have 1 million stories, 1000 users, Worst-case scenario I have a StoryUserMapping for each: 1 billion records.
Use case 1: I want to see all of the stories that I (logged in user) have marked as "to read" with more than 100,000 words
Use case 2: I want to see all stories where I have NOT marked them NotInterested or WontRead
I am not concerned with querying multiple StoryUserMappings per story, e.g. I will not be asking the question: What stories have been marked as read by more than n users. I would rather not restrict against this if that changes in future, but if I need to that would be fine.

Create yourself an aggregate view model object that you can use to display the data in your view, similar to what you've ended up with under the Story entity at the moment:
public class UserStoryViewModel
{
public int StoryId { get; set; }
public bool ToRead { get; set; }
public bool Read { get; set; }
public bool WontRead { get; set; }
public bool NotInterested { get; set; }
public byte Rating { get; set; }
...
}
This view model is concerned only about aggregating the data to display in the view. This way, you don't need to skew your existing entities to fit how you would display the data elsewhere.
Your database entity models should be as close to "dumb" objects as possible (apart from navigation properties) - they look very sensible as they are the moment.
In this case, remove the unnecessary [NotMapped] properties from your existing Story that you'd added previously.
In your controller/service, you can then query your data as per your use cases you mentioned. Once you've got the results of the query, you can then map your result(s) to your aggregate view model to use in the view.
Here's an example for the use case of getting all Storys for the current user:
public class UserStoryService
{
private readonly YourDbContext _dbContext;
public UserStoryService(YourDbContext dbContext)
{
_dbContext = dbContext;
}
public Task<IEnumerable<UserStoryViewModel>> GetAllForUser(string currentUserId)
{
// at this point you're not executing any queries, you're just creating a query to execute later
var allUserStoriesForUser = _dbContext.StoryUserMappings
.Where(mapping => mapping.UserId == currentUserId)
.Select(mapping => new
{
story = _dbContext.Stories.Single(story => story.StoryId == mapping.StoryId),
mapping
})
.Select(x => new UserStoryViewModel
{
// use the projected properties from previous to map to your UserStoryViewModel aggregate
...
});
// calling .ToList()/.ToListAsync() will then execute the query and return the results
return allUserStoriesForUser.ToListAsync();
}
}
You can then create a similar method to get only the current user's Storys that aren't marked NotInterested or WontRead.
It's virtually the same as before, but with the filter in the Where to ensure you don't retrieve the ones that are NotInterested or WontRead:
public Task<IEnumerable<UserStoryViewModel>> GetForUserThatMightRead(string currentUserId)
{
var storiesUserMightRead = _dbContext.StoryUserMappings
.Where(mapping => mapping.UserId == currentUserId && !mapping.NotInterested && !mapping.WontRead)
.Select(mapping => new
{
story = _dbContext.Stories.Single(story => story.StoryId == mapping.StoryId),
mapping
})
.Select(x => new UserStoryViewModel
{
// use the projected properties from previous to map to your UserStoryViewModel aggregate
...
});
return storiesUserMightRead.ToListAsync();
}
Then all you will need to do is to update your View's #model to use your new aggregate UserStoryViewModel instead of your entity.
It's always good practice to keep a good level of separation between what is "domain" or database code/entities from what will be used in your view.
I would recommend on having a good read up on this and keep practicing so you can get into the right habits and thinking as you go forward.
NOTE:
Whilst the above suggestions should work absolutely fine (I haven't tested locally, so you may need to improvise/fix, but you get the general gist) - I would also recommend a couple of other things to supplement the approach above.
I would look at introducing a navigation property on the UserStoryMapping entity (unless you already have this in; can't tell from your question's code). This will eliminate the step from above where we're .Selecting into an anonymous object and adding to the query to get the Storys from the database, by the mapping's StoryId. You'd be able to reference the stories belonging to the mapping simply by it being a child navigation property.
Then, you should also be able to look into some kind of mapping library, rather than mapping each individual property yourself for every call. Something like AutoMapper will do the trick (I'm sure other mappers are available). You could set up the mappings to do all the heavy lifting between your database entities and view models. There's a nifty .ProjectTo<T>() which will project your queried results to the desired type using those mappings you've specified.

How can I get data from different DbSet entities and combine into one object?

When using Entity Framework 6, how is the most efficient way to create an object or objects with additional data from other DbSet entities, when I have a DbContext or IQueryable<T>?
Here is some code:
If I have an Data class as follows:
public class Data
{
[Key]
public int id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public string data { get; set; }
public int parentId { get; set; }
public int otherDataId { get; set; }
}
And an OtherData class as follows:
public class OtherData
{
[Key]
public int id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public string data { get; set; }
}
In the Data class, the parentId is a foreign key reference to another Data object in the same DbSet, and the otherDataId is a foreign key reference to an OtherData object in a DbSet<OtherData>.
I would like to get all Data objects in the DbSet<Data>, with the additional DbSet data of the parent Data objects id and name and the OtherData object's id and name. I need this to be in one object to be sent from a webservice GET.
I am not sure on how to do this.
Do I need some code along the lines of:
var result = DbContext.Data.Select(x=> x...).Join(y=> y...) .. new { id = x.id... y.name.. }
Can I please have some help with this code?

You can use a join and project the result. In the below snippet CombinedData is a another class with 2 string fields Name and OtherName. You can also use a view but I think the Join is less work.
IQueryable<CombinedData> result = DbContext.Data.Join(
DbContext.Data.DbContext.OtherData,
outer => outer.OtherDataId,
inner => inner.Id),
(outer, inner) => new { Name = outer.Name, OtherName = inner.Name}
);

Depending on your overall architecture, this may be a good or a bad answer but often when faced with this in the past our teams would create a view in the database to combine the fields. Write your optimized query in the view and then treat it like any other table in your data layer.
You could accomplish the same end result using includes or joins or even writing out the expression in a cross-table query but in my opinion the view is the cleanest and most efficient method.

Troublesome LINQ query/join

Ok I'm not even sure where to begin on this. I have four main tables.
IPACS_Departments (one to many) -> IPACS_Functions (one to many) -> IPACS_Processes (one to many) -> IPACS_Procedures
I have an IPACS_Documents table with a primary key for docID.
I have 4 look up tables.
IPACS_DepartmentDocs -> IPACS_FunctionDocs -> IPACS_ProcesseDocs -> IPACS_ProcedureDocs
Each of those tables have a FK to the IPACS_Document table docID
They also have a FK to my first four tables mentioned on departmentID, functionID, processID, procedureID.
I need to somehow wire these together though a LINQ statement.
For my department view page. I need to show every single document that is in the current department.
For example we have a computer department. That has 2 functions within that department, that has 13 processes within those functions and 41 procedures within those processes.
So on my department view page I need to show all of the documents for that department and it's functions and it's processes and it's procedures.
On my department view page I have access to the departmentID.
Where I am 100% confused is how do I get all of the associated documents using these 9 different tables?
I hope that made sense because my brain is friend trying to think through this.

I'm not sure if I have your model down right, but I think it follows this pattern (assuming Entity Framework, with the descendant entities having mapping properties to allow the heirarchy to be walked):
public class Department
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Function> Functions { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<DepartmentDocument> DepartmentDocuments { get; set; }
}
public class DepartmentDocument
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("Department")]
public int DeptId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("Document")]
public int DocId { get; set; }
public virtual Department Department { get; set; }
public virtual Document Document { get; set; }
}
public class Document
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
public virtual DepartmentDocument DepartmentDocument { get; set; }
public virtual FunctionDocument FunctionDocument { get; set; }
}
Assuming a model like this, then you can write the following - I've only included traversing two levels, but the extras just need some extra lines with SelectMany() for the child elements:
public List<Document> GetDocumentsForDepartment(List<Department> departments)
{
var docs = new List<Document>();
foreach (var department in departments)
{
foreach (var ddoc in department.DepartmentDocuments)
{
docs.Add(ddoc.Document);
}
foreach (var fx in department.Functions)
{
foreach (var fdoc in fx.FunctionDocuments)
{
docs.Add(fdoc.Document);
}
}
}
return docs;
}
Which simplifies to:
public List<Document> GetDocumentsForDepartment2(List<Department> departments)
{
var docs = new List<Document>();
foreach (var department in departments)
{
docs.AddRange(department.DepartmentDocuments.Select(ddoc => ddoc.Document));
docs.AddRange(department.Functions.SelectMany(fx => fx.FunctionDocuments, (fx, fdoc) => fdoc.Document));
}
return docs;
}
This might be OK, the scheme uses more than one DB call (if you are using EF and not Linq to Objects). If that sucks, then maybe you need to put a view in the DB.
I couldn't think how to write this as a single linq query, so maybe this is just a starting point for further work.
This is a pretty simple follow-up to your earlier question though. When you're looking to aggregate child data, you need SelectMany().

Insert entity with related entity in TPH architecture

I need to insert an entity (Picture) that holds a related entity (Ad) based on TPH architecture:
Picture model:
public class Picture
{
// Primary properties
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class AdPicture : Picture
{
public Ad Ad { get; set; }
}
Ad model:
public class Ad
{
// Primary properties
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
}
public class AdCar : Ad
{
public int? CubicCapacity { get; set; }
public int? Power { get; set; }
}
I want to insert a new Picture in the AdCar, and I tried:
AdPicture picture = new AdPicture()
{
Ad = _adRepository.GetById(adId),
Filename = newFileName
};
_pictureService.CreateAdPicture(picture);
CreateAdPicture:
public void CreateAdPicture(AdPicture adPicture)
{
_adPictureRepository.Add(adPicture);
_adPictureRepository.Save();
}
But Entity Framework says
*Invalid column name 'AdCar_Id'.*
When I check the SQL command text, I can see
insert [dbo].[Pictures]([Name], [Filename], [URL], [Rank], [Discriminator], [PictureType_Id], [AdCar_Id], [Ad_Id])
values (null, #0, null, #1, #2, #3, #4, null)
It's putting AdCar_Id and Ad_Id, why? How can I insert the Picture related with the AdCar?

First up: You may need to define the key for the subclass explicitly to be Ad_Id as it is assuming the AdCar_Id (or vice-versa).
Something like this in your DbContext:
modelBuilder.Entity<AdPicture>()
.HasRequired(o => o.Ad)
.WithMany().Map(f => f.MapKey("Ad_Id"));
Second: Also, just to check - all of these classes have completely separate tables (TPH) and not tables with just the additional properties specified (TPH) I.e. an AdPicture does not have data in both a Picture and AdPicture table?
Having not done TPH (only TPT) I am unsure of if Entity Framework handles the subclass-ing differently, but I suspect it must. Someone else can hopefully answer that better if you are missing something there.

I found the problem:
I was defining the Navigation property "public IList Pictures { get; set; }" in the Ad Model that was creating an aditional field in the SQL Command "Ad_Id".
As soon as I removed it, the problem was solved and all the theory I had about TPH came togheter again :)
Thanks for your feedback.