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EF Include Child Collection returning Nulls in list

I am having an issue with EF returning NULL values within a child list. Here is my model that I am trying to get:
public class CompoundIngredient : Ingredient
{
public List<MeasuredIngredient> MeasuredIngredients { get; set; }
public string UserId { get; set; }
public CompoundIngredient()
{
MeasuredIngredients = new List<MeasuredIngredient>();
IsPublic = true;
}
}
However, when I do this:
return await _dataContext.CompoundIngredients
.Include(a => a.MeasuredIngredients)
.ThenInclude(a => a.MeasurementType)
.Include(a => a.MeasuredIngredients)
.ThenInclude(a => a.Ingredient)
.ThenInclude(a => a.IngredientType)
.FirstOrDefaultAsync(c => c.DisplayValue == name);
I get back a collection of 4 items. 2 items are populated and 2 are NULL.
Here is the data in the DB
As you can see from the picture there are 4 entries in the table, 2 of which belong to CompoundIngredientId 6 which is the ID of the ingredient who matches the Name value.
Why am I getting 4 results back, 2 of which are null?
EDIT:
So here are the models
public class CompoundIngredient : Ingredient
{
public List<MeasuredIngredient> MeasuredIngredients { get; set; }
public string UserId { get; set; }
public CompoundIngredient()
{
MeasuredIngredients = new List<MeasuredIngredient>();
IsPublic = true;
}
}
public class Ingredient
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string DisplayValue { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public bool IsPublic { get; set; }
public IngredientType IngredientType { get; set; }
public int IngredientTypeId { get; set; }
public int CompanyId { get; set; }
public string UserName { get; set; }
public string CreatedBy { get; set; }
public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
public string LastModifiedBy { get; set; }
public DateTime LastModifiedDate { get; set; }
}
public class MeasuredIngredient
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public decimal Amount { get; set; }
public int MeasurementTypeId { get; set; }
public MeasurementType MeasurementType { get; set; }
public int IngredientId { get; set; }
public Ingredient Ingredient { get; set; }
public int? UseId { get; set; }
public Use Use { get; set; }
}
public class Recipe
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string UserId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public bool IsPublic { get; set; }
public int RecipeCategoryId { get; set; }
public RecipeCategory RecipeCategory { get; set; }
public int SocialMediaId { get; set; }
public SocialMedia SocialMedia { get; set; }
public virtual List<TimeTemp> TimeTemps { get; set; }
public virtual List<RecipeFuel> RecipeFuels{ get;set; }
public List<MeasuredIngredient> MeasuredIngredients { get; set; }
public List<RecipeStep> RecipeSteps { get; set; }
public string CreatedBy { get; set; }
public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
public string LastModifiedBy { get; set; }
public DateTime LastModifiedDate { get; set; }
public Recipe()
{
MeasuredIngredients = new List<MeasuredIngredient>();
RecipeSteps = new List<RecipeStep>();
SocialMedia = new SocialMedia();
RecipeFuels = new List<RecipeFuel>();
TimeTemps = new List<TimeTemp>();
IsPublic = true;
}
}
As you can see Measured Ingredient isnt exclusive to CompoundIngredient. Recipe also has a List on it as well.
as far as configurations i dont have much
public class MeasuredIngredientConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<MeasuredIngredient>
{
public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<MeasuredIngredient> builder)
{
builder.Property(p => p.UseId).IsRequired(false);
}
}
public class IngredientConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<Ingredient>
{
public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<Ingredient> builder)
{
builder.Property(p => p.IsPublic).HasDefaultValue(true);
}
}
public class RecipeConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<Recipe>
{
public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<Recipe> builder)
{
builder.Property(p => p.IsPublic).HasDefaultValue(true);
}
}
here are the tables in the DB with FKs

I highly suspect the issue will stem from CompoundIngredient inheriting from Ingredient using TPH inheritance (One table with a Discriminator) then being referenced by MeasuredIngredient, and this relationship not being set up quite right. Which version of EF Core is this?
Overall the relationship between these entities/tables feels "odd". You have an ingredient, then a "compound" ingredient that is made up of one or more MeasuredIngredient. (which does not extend ingredient) A Measured ingredient contains one Ingredient, and optionally one CompoundIngredient.
Given a compound ingredient represents just a collection of measured ingredients, this just feels a bit off. It sounds like you want a recipe to contain a list of ingredients where each is associated with a measurement (The MeasuredIngredient) but that "ingredient" may be a combination of other ingredients (with associated measurements) where you may want to possibly avoid duplicating data.
I built a simple test with the core relationships in EF Core 5 and I was able to get the expected results. The important detail here was ensuring the relationship between the 3 classes (and possibly other related classes) is configured correctly. For example, cutting down the object model down to the core I came up with:
public class Ingredient
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class CompoundIngredient : Ingredient
{
public virtual ICollection<MeasuredIngredient> MeasuredIngredients { get; set; } = new List<MeasuredIngredient>();
}
public class MeasuredIngredient
{
public int Id { get; set; }
publi int IngredientId { get; set; }
public virtual Ingredient Ingredient { get; set; }
}
Creating test records with the relationships you showed and running EF Core 5 I wasn't able to reproduce the issue, but I honestly did not feel comfortable with leaving EF to sort out the discriminator and relationships.
The bits I didn't like were:
CompoundIngredient extends Ingredient while containing a Many relationship to MeasuredIngredient where there is no corresponding "One" relationship on MeasuredIngredient, but it does have a "One" relationship with Ingredient.
The discriminator here is implied, not configured.
What I am more comfortable with was:
public class Ingredient
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class CompoundIngredient : Ingredient
{
public virtual ICollection<MeasuredIngredient> MeasuredIngredients { get; set; } = new List<MeasuredIngredient>();
}
public class MeasuredIngredient
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public virtual Ingredient Ingredient { get; set; }
public virtual CompoundIngredient CompoundIngredient { get; set; }
}
Then explicitly mapping the relationships to ensure there is no confusion on FKs:
public class MeasuredIngredientConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<MeasuredIngredient>
{
public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<MeasuredIngredient> builder)
{
builder.Property(p => p.UseId).IsRequired(false);
builder.HasOne(p => p.Ingredient)
.WithMany()
.IsRequired()
.HasForeignKey("IngredientId");
builder.HasOne(p => p.CompoundIngredient)
.WithMany(p => p.MeasuredIngredients)
.IsRequired(false)
.HasForeignKey("CompoundIngredientId");
}
}
public class IngredientConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<Ingredient>
{
public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<Ingredient> builder)
{
builder.Property(p => p.IsPublic).HasDefaultValue(true);
builder.HasDiscriminator<string>("Discriminator")
.HasValue<Ingredient>("I")
.HasValue<CompoundIngredient>("C"); // Whichever discriminator values you want to use.
}
}
I generally do not have FKs exposed in entities for navigation properties, opting for shadow properties. This should work just as well with the FK fields mapped.
Now I had excluded this configuration and this example did work with EF Core 5. I was also trying to force a misconfiguration around possibly the CompoundIngredientId and IngredientId in the measured ingredient, but outside of generating specific configuration errors around missing assumed FKs I wasn't able to reproduce your issue. It could also be behaviour specific to the version of EF Core you are using.
You could try adding the explicit mapping to see if that solves or otherwise changes your results. Getting null entries in your collection smells like EF is trying to parse the CompoundIngredient -> MeasuredIngredient, but it is getting other measured Ingredients with the same Ingredient reference (1-2) but not the matching compound ingredient ID. It's definitely a weird one.
Otherwise I would look to temporarily eliminate all other references such as Recipe, measurement type, etc. down to the simplest possible example and data set that reproduces the problem. This becomes easier to investigate options to identify where/what is getting mixed up.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to get to the bottom of the issue.

Turns out the issue is not with EF… after looking further into it EF is returning the proper counts and relations. The issue is higher up during the deserialization of the json being returned from the API. I created a new question for this
JsonSerializer.DeserializeAsync<> Creating Null Items in Collections

How to bridge a table on itself using EF Core Code-First

This is a operation i have done many times in the past using database-first approach. I'm now trying it with code-first using EF Core and i'm failing horribly.
I have the following model:
public class DataMapping
{
[Key]
[Column(Order = 1)]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public long Id { get; set; }
public string Model { get; set; }
public string Property { get; set; }
public bool IgnoreProperty { get; set; }
[NotMapped] //<-- I had to add this as the migration was complaining that it did not know what the relation was
public List<DataMappingRelation> DataMappingRelations { get; set; }
public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; } = DateTime.UtcNow;
public DateTime? DateModified { get; set; }
}
and a Bridge model that basically creates a relations between two DataMapping items in the same table:
public class DataMappingRelation
{
[Key]
[Column(Order = 1)]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public long Id { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("DataMappingId")]
public long? DataMapping1Id { get; set; }
public DataMapping DataMapping1 { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("DataMappingId")]
public long? DataMapping2Id { get; set; }
public DataMapping DataMapping2 { get; set; }
}
However this call does not work:
return _context.DataMappings.Where(x => x.Model == type.FullName)
.Include(x=>x.DataMappingRelations)
.ToList();
It does not like the Include and throws a null ref exception.
All i basically need to do here is for a given "DataMapping" get all the related DataMapping items based on the relations in the "DataMappingRelations" table.
Yes i have looked at this answer but again, it is an example of two seperate tables, not a single table bridging on itself.
I suspect i have done all of this wrong. How can i get this to work? All the examples i have found are bridging two seperate tables. this would be bridging the same table.

Its many-to-many with self but your whole configuration looks messy.
So first, your DataMapping model class should contain two list navigation properties for two foreign keys in the DataMappingRelation as follows:
public class DataMapping
{
......
public List<DataMappingRelation> DataMapping1Relations { get; set; }
public List<DataMappingRelation> DataMapping2Relations { get; set; }
.........
}
Now remove [ForeignKey("DataMappingId")] attribute from both DataMapping1 and DataMapping2 foreign keys as follows:
public class DataMappingRelation
{
[Key]
[Column(Order = 1)]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public long Id { get; set; }
public long? DataMapping1Id { get; set; }
public DataMapping DataMapping1 { get; set; }
public long? DataMapping2Id { get; set; }
public DataMapping DataMapping2 { get; set; }
}
Then the Fluent API configuration should be as follows:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
modelBuilder.Entity<DataMappingRelation>()
.HasOne(dmr => dmr.DataMapping1)
.WithMany(dm => dm.DataMapping1Relations)
.HasForeignKey(dmr => dmr.DataMapping1Id)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict);
modelBuilder.Entity<DataMappingRelation>()
.HasOne(dmr => dmr.DataMapping2)
.WithMany(dm => dm.DataMapping2Relations)
.HasForeignKey(dmr => dmr.DataMapping2Id)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict);
}

Is This Data Model Meeting My Requirements?

I'm creating a Razor Pages application that resembles a "hockey league". As I'm still grasping the concept of foreign/primary keys, I'm not quite sure if I'm setting up my data model correctly. After attempting to update my database after a migration I am getting the following error that has led me to believe I didn't set them up correctly:
Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint 'FK_Team_Division_DivisionID' on table 'Team' may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints.
Based on these three entities, am I clearly doing something wrong?
public class Team
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public int? CoachID { get; set; }
public int? DivisionID { get; set; }
public int? ConferenceID { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Team")]
public string TeamName { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Location")]
public string TeamLocation { get; set; }
public Coach Coach { get; set; }
public Division Division { get; set; }
public Conference Conference { get; set; }
public ICollection<Player> Players { get; set; }
}
public class Conference
{
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
public int ID { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Conference")]
public string ConferenceName { get; set; }
public ICollection<Division> Divisions { get; set; }
public ICollection<Team> Teams { get; set; }
}
public class Division
{
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
public int ID { get; set; }
public int ConferenceID { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Division")]
public string DivisionName { get; set; }
public Conference Conference { get; set; }
public ICollection<Team> Teams { get; set; }
}
My idea is that every Team will belong to a Conference and a Division. There can be many Teams in a Division, and many Divisions in a Conference.

The problem you're running into is that SQL server doesn't know how to handle a Delete of an item that has multiple parents. You'll need to help it out a bit. Choose a route that you want Team to be deleted on, for instance:
Conference --> Division --> Team
Then you must determine the routes that you don't want it to be deleted on, for instance:
Conference --> Team
Once you've decided which routes won't be used for deletion, you can specify it in the OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder) method for your context
modelBuilder.Entity<Conference>()
.HasRequired(x => x.Team)
.WithMany()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);
EDIT
Pretty sure I got that backwards above, try this:
modelBuilder.Entity<Team>()
.HasRequired(x => x.Conference)
.WithMany()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);

EF Core does not track entity correctly

Hi I have problem with EF Core insert entity. The problem is that I need to insert new entity with relation to another one which is already existing. I have created the relations with fluent API. I have done this for two times. First I am creating car and adding the last edited by field with Identity user and all works but when I am trying to do the same with another entity it crashes down with
My fluent APi code which works good:
builder.Entity<Car>()
.HasOne(x => x.Owner)
.WithMany(x => x.OwnerCars)
.HasForeignKey(x => x.OwnerId);
Here is car entity:
public class Car : CarBase
{
[Key]
public int CarId { get; set; }
public bool IsTrailer { get; set; }
public virtual TrailerType TrailerType { get; set; }
public virtual int? TrailerTypeId { get; set; }
public virtual ApplicationUser Owner { get; set; }
public virtual string OwnerId { get; set; }
}
and here is Application user entity
public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser
{
[MaxLength(100)]
public string Address { get; set; }
public DateTime CreatedDateTime { get; set; }
public DateTime LastEditationDateTime { get; set; }
public virtual ApplicationUser LastEditedBy { get; set; }
public bool IsDeleted { get; set; }
public virtual DateTime DeletedDateTime { get; set; }
public ICollection<DriverLicenseApplicationUser> DriverLicenses { get; set; }
public ICollection<RideApplicationUser> Rides { get; set; }
public ICollection<Car> OwnerCars { get; set; }
public ICollection<Car> EditedCars { get; set; }
public ICollection<Trailer> EditedTrailers { get; set; }
public ICollection<Customer> EditedCustomers { get; set; }
}
To add this entity I only call this function and all works.
public Car CreateCar(Car car)
{
_context.Cars.Add(car);
return car;
}
But when I want to save this way this another entity type it shows an error. All steps are same so I do not understand this. Here I am adding the code I use to do that.
builder.Entity<Trailer>()
.HasOne(x => x.TrailerType)
.WithMany(x => x.Trailers)
.HasForeignKey(x => x.TrailerTypeId);
Here is Trailer:
public class Trailer : CarBase
{
[Key]
public int TrailerId { get; set; }
//[Required]
public virtual TrailerType TrailerType { get; set; }
public virtual int TrailerTypeId { get; set; }
}
and here is traylerTyper:
public class TrailerType:Trackable
{
//[Key]
public int TrailerTypeId { get; set; }
[MaxLength(100)]
[Required]
public string Type { get; set; }
public string Note { get; set; }
public ICollection<Car> TrailerTypeCars { get; set; }
public ICollection<Trailer> Trailers{ get; set; }
}
and the method is the same as the one already mentioned
public Trailer CreateTrailer(Trailer trailer)
{
trailer.TrailerTypeId = trailer.TrailerType.TrailerTypeId;
//_context.Attach(trailer.TrailerType);
var result = _context.Trailers.Add(trailer);
return result.Entity;
}
When I uncomment the attach it works but I think that I dont have to attach this because I have got the relation based on IDs and the example mentioned first works great. It gives me no sense. So if anyone could give me advice it would be awsome.
Here is the error I am getting:
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'TrailerTypes' when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
It looks like the EF doesnt know that the traylertype entity already exists and is trying to insert the same entity again and the app crashes because it already exists and I am not allowing to insert IDs directly. As I said I have absolutely no idea why is this happening.

The problem is Lazy loading. Propetry from ViewModel is not completly same as property in Database and EF tracks whole graph of property in object and doesn´t recognize that it is the same object. The solution is to work only with IDs instead with whole objects.

How to set up a complex many to many relationship in entity framework 4 code first

I have a relatively complex relationship I need to set up between a User object and a lot of lookup tables. The user object is your run of the mill user model:
public class Youth : IAuditInfo
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public Guid YouthGuid { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public Address Address { get; set; }
public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
public DateTime ModifiedDate { get; set; }
public string ImageName { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("FkYouthId")]
public ICollection<User> Parents { get; set; }
public CubPack Pack { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<RequirementsLog> RequirementsLogs { get; set; }
public Youth()
{
Parents = new List<User>();
}
}
The lookup tables is where it gets complex and I can't figure out the path of least complexity in binding them together. For the lookups it is a series of tables starting with one 'master' table, that rolls down hierarchically to requirements and sub requirements, like this:
Master:
public class BearTrail
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<BearTrailRequiredBadge> BearTrailRequiredBadges { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<BearTrailElectiveBadge> BearTrailElectivedBadges { get; set; }
}
Required Badges:
public class BearTrailRequiredBadge
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Number { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<BearTrailRequiredBadgeSubRequirement> BearTrailRequiredBadgeSubRequirements { get; set; }
}
Required Badge sub requirement:
public class BearTrailRequiredBadgeSubRequirement
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Number { get; set; }
public string Text { get; set; }
public bool Required { get; set; }
}
This is one set of the lookups, there are about four nested classes like this, and some one off tables as well. Total lookup tables is about 16, give or take.
I was initially thinking if using my RequirementLog model to bind it:
public class RequirementsLog
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Youth> Youth { get; set; }
public BearTrail BearTrailRequirements { get; set; }
public TigerTrail TigerTrailRequirements { get; set; }
public WolfTrail WolfTrailRequirements { get; set; }
public WebelosTrail WebelosTrailRequirements { get; set; }
public WebelosArrowOfLight WebelosArrowOfLightRequirements { get; set; }
}
So there is a many to many between RequirementsLog and Youth. The table created out of RequirementsLog has one PK column (ID), and FK columns for each property. The many to many table created out of this (RequirementsLogYouths) has two PKs (RequirementsLogId, and YouthId).
Am I going about this the right way? The end goal is to have the 16 or so tables server as just lists of various requirements, and have another table(s) to track a particular youths progress through the requirements. I have a hard time visualizes some of this DBA stuff, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

In most cases, a requirements "log" be in a one (people) to many (the log).
Unless... One logged item is for many kids...
If so, the you need a third table, that maps many people to multiple logged events. That is, if this is truly a many to many. In general, that situation almost always begs for a third, intermediate mapping table. Read up a bit on many to many designs, and you'll quickly see it, and how simple it is.

protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
modelBuilder.Entity<Entity1>()
.HasMany(b => b.Entities2)
.WithMany(p => p.Entities1)
.Map(m =>
{
m.ToTable("Entitie1Entity2");
m.MapLeftKey("Entity1Id");
m.MapRightKey("Entity2Id");
});
}