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One-Many and One-One relationships using LINQ to SQL

By Shivprasad koirala , 5 Jul 2009
3.94 (15 votes)

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One-many and one-one relationships using LINQ to SQL. Type Licence Article CPOL 30 Jun 2009 47,983 693 49 times

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Table of contents
Introduction Previous LINQ, Silverlight, WCF, WPF, and WWF articles Simplest LINQ to SQL example Encapsulated LINQ classes with Set and Get One-Many and One-One relationships Source code

VS.NET2003 VS2005 VS2008 C# ASP.NET SQL , +

Introduction
In this article, we will start with a basic LINQ to SQL example and then see how we can implement onemany and one-one relationships using E n t i t y r e f and E n t i t y S e t . I have attached a source code which demonstrates this in a practical manner. Catch my videos for WCF, WPF, WWF, LINQ, Silverlight, Design Patterns, UML, and a lot on http://www.questpond.com.

Previous LINQ, Silverlight, WCF, WPF, and WWF articles

Below are some of my old articles which you would want to refer to in case you are not acquainted with .NET 3.5 basic concepts. 1. This article talks about a complete three tier implementation using LINQ: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/SaltAndPepper.aspx 2. WCF FAQ series covering simple to advanced concepts: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/WCF.aspx 3. WPF and Silverlight FAQ series covering layout, animation, and bindings: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/WPFSilverLight.aspx 4. Windows workflow FAQ series covering state machines and sequential workflow in detail: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WF/WWF.aspx

Simplest LINQ to SQL example

Lets first start with a simple LINQ to SQL example and then we will try to understand how we can establish relationships in LINQ entities.

Step 1: Define Entity classes using LINQ

When we design a project using a tiered approach like 3-tier or N-tier, we need to create business classes and objects. For instance, below is a simple class mapped to a country table. You can see how the class properties are mapped to one fashion with the table. These types of classes are termed as entity classes.

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In LINQ, we need to first define these entity classes using attribute mappings. You need to import the S y s t e m . D a t a . L i n q . M a p p i n g namespace to get attributes for mapping. Below is a code snippet which shows how the T a b l e attribute maps the class with the database table name Customer and how the C o l u m n attributes help mapping properties with table columns.
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[ T a b l e ( N a m e=" C u s t o m e r " ) ] p u b l i cc l a s sc l s C u s t o m e r E n t i t y W i t h P r o p e r t i e s { p r i v a t ei n t_ C u s t o m e r I d ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ C u s t o m e r C o d e ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ C u s t o m e r N a m e ; [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gC u s t o m e r C o d e { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r C o d e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r C o d e ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gC u s t o m e r N a m e { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r N a m e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r N a m e ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" i n t " ,I s P r i m a r y K e y=t r u e ) ] p u b l i ci n tC u s t o m e r I d { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r I d ; } }

Below is a more sophisticated pictorial view of the entity classes mapping with the customer table structure:

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Step 2: Using the DataContext to bind the table data with the entity objects
The second step is to use the D a t a C o n t e x t object of LINQ to fill your entity objects. D a t a C o n t e x tacts like a mediator between database objects and your LINQ entity mapped classes.

The first thing is to create an object of D a t a C o n t e x t and create an active connection using the SQL connection string.
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D a t a C o n t e x to b j C o n t e x t=n e wD a t a C o n t e x t ( s t r C o n n e c t i o n S t r i n g ) ;

The second thing is to get the entity collection using the T a b l edata type. This is done using the G e t T a b l e function of the D a t a C o n t e x t .
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T a b l e < c l s C u s t o m e r E n t i t y >o b j T a b l e=o b j C o n t e x t . G e t T a b l e < c l s C u s t o m e r E n t i t y > ( ) ;

Once we get all the data in table collection, its time to browse through the table collection and display the records.
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f o r e a c h( c l s C u s t o m e r E n t i t yo b j C u s t o m e ri no b j T a b l e ) { R e s p o n s e . W r i t e ( o b j C u s t o m e r . C u s t o m e r N a m e+" < b r > " ) ; }

You can get the above source code from the download attached with this article.

Encapsulated LINQ classes with Set and Get

In the previous example, we had exposed the entity class properties as public properties, which violates the basic rule of encapsulation. You can define setter and getter functions which encapsulate the private properties.
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[ T a b l e ( N a m e=" C u s t o m e r " ) ] p u b l i cc l a s sc l s C u s t o m e r E n t i t y W i t h P r o p e r t i e s { p r i v a t ei n t_ C u s t o m e r I d ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ C u s t o m e r C o d e ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ C u s t o m e r N a m e ; [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gC u s t o m e r C o d e { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r C o d e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r C o d e ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gC u s t o m e r N a m e

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{ s e t { } g e t { } }

One-Many and One-One relationships using LINQ to SQL - CodeProject

_ C u s t o m e r N a m e=v a l u e ;

r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r N a m e ;

[ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" i n t " ,I s P r i m a r y K e y=t r u e ) ] p u b l i ci n tC u s t o m e r I d { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r I d ; } }

One-Many and One-One relationships

LINQ helps you define relationships using E n t i t y S e tand E n t i t y R e f . To understand how we can define relationships using LINQ, lets consider the below example where we have a customer who can have many addresses and every address will have phone details. In other words, customer and address has a onemany relationship while address and phone has a one-one relationship.

To define a one-many relationship between the customer and address classes, we need to use the E n t i t y S e t attribute. To define a one-one relationship between the address and phone class, we need to use the E n t i t y R e f attribute.

Note : You need to define a primary key attribute for every entity class or else the mapping relationship will not work.

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Shown below is the class entity snippet for the customer class which shows how it has used E n t i t y S e tto define one-many relationship with the address class. Association is defined using the A s s o c i a t i o n attribute. The A s s o c i a t i o n attribute has three important properties: s t o r a g e ,t h i s k e y , and o t h e r k e y . s t o r a g e defines the name of the private variable where the address object is stored. Currently it is _ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s .T h i s K e y and O t h e r K e ydefine which property will define the linkage; for this instance, it is C u s t o m e r I d . In other words, both the C u s t o m e r class and the A d d r e s sclass will have a C u s t o m e r I d property in common. T h i s K e y defines the name of the property for the C u s t o m e r class while O t h e r K e y defines the property of the addresses class.
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[ T a b l e ( N a m e=" C u s t o m e r " ) ] p u b l i cc l a s sc l s C u s t o m e r W i t h A d d r e s s e s { p r i v a t eE n t i t y S e t < c l s A d d r e s s e s >_ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s ; [ A s s o c i a t i o n ( S t o r a g e=" _ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s " , T h i s K e y = " C u s t o m e r I d " ,O t h e r K e y=" C u s t o m e r I d " ) ] p u b l i cE n t i t y S e t < c l s A d d r e s s e s >A d d r e s s e s { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s ; } }

Below is the complete code snippet with other properties of the customer class:
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[ T a b l e ( N a m e=" C u s t o m e r " ) ] p u b l i cc l a s sc l s C u s t o m e r W i t h A d d r e s s e s { p r i v a t ei n t_ C u s t o m e r I d ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ C u s t o m e r C o d e ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ C u s t o m e r N a m e ; p r i v a t eE n t i t y S e t < c l s A d d r e s s e s >_ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s ; [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e = " i n t " , I s P r i m a r y K e y = t r u e ) ] p u b l i ci n tC u s t o m e r I d { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r I d ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gC u s t o m e r C o d e { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r C o d e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r C o d e ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gC u s t o m e r N a m e { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r N a m e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r N a m e ; } } [ A s s o c i a t i o n ( S t o r a g e=" _ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s " , T h i s K e y = " C u s t o m e r I d " ,O t h e r K e y=" C u s t o m e r I d " ) ] p u b l i cE n t i t y S e t < c l s A d d r e s s e s >A d d r e s s e s { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r A d d r e s s e s ; } }

To define the relationship between the address class and the phone class, we need to use the E n t i t y R e f

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syntax. So below is the code snippet which defines the relationship using E n t i t y R e f . All the other properties are same except that we need to define the variable using E n t i t y R e f .
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p u b l i cc l a s sc l s A d d r e s s e s { p r i v a t ei n t_ A d d r e s s I d ; p r i v a t eE n t i t y R e f < c l s P h o n e >_ P h o n e ; [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" i n t " ,I s P r i m a r y K e y=t r u e ) ] p u b l i ci n tA d d r e s s I d { s e t { _ A d d r e s s I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ A d d r e s s I d ; } } [ A s s o c i a t i o n ( S t o r a g e=" _ P h o n e " , T h i s K e y=" A d d r e s s I d " ,O t h e r K e y=" A d d r e s s I d " ) ] p u b l i cc l s P h o n eP h o n e { s e t { _ P h o n e . E n t i t y=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ P h o n e . E n t i t y ; } }

Below is a complete address class with other properties:

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p u b l i cc l a s sc l s A d d r e s s e s { p r i v a t ei n t_ C u s t o m e r i d ; p r i v a t ei n t_ A d d r e s s I d ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ A d d r e s s 1 ; p r i v a t eE n t i t y R e f < c l s P h o n e >_ P h o n e ; [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e = " i n t " ) ] p u b l i ci n tC u s t o m e r I d { s e t { _ C u s t o m e r i d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ C u s t o m e r i d ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" i n t " ,I s P r i m a r y K e y=t r u e ) ] p u b l i ci n tA d d r e s s I d { s e t { _ A d d r e s s I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ A d d r e s s I d ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r ( 5 0 ) " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gA d d r e s s 1 { s e t { _ A d d r e s s 1=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ A d d r e s s 1 ; } } [ A s s o c i a t i o n ( S t o r a g e=" _ P h o n e " , T h i s K e y=" A d d r e s s I d " ,O t h e r K e y=" A d d r e s s I d " ) ] p u b l i cc l s P h o n eP h o n e { s e t { _ P h o n e . E n t i t y=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ P h o n e . E n t i t y ; } } }

The phone class which is aggregated with the address class:

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[ T a b l e ( N a m e=" P h o n e " ) ] p u b l i cc l a s sc l s P h o n e { p r i v a t ei n t_ P h o n e I d ; p r i v a t ei n t_ A d d r e s s I d ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ M o b i l e P h o n e ; p r i v a t es t r i n g_ L a n d L i n e ; [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" i n t " ,I s P r i m a r y K e y=t r u e ) ] p u b l i ci n tP h o n e I d { s e t { _ P h o n e I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ P h o n e I d ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" i n t " ) ] p u b l i ci n tA d d r e s s I d { s e t { _ P h o n e I d=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ P h o n e I d ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gM o b i l e P h o n e { s e t { _ M o b i l e P h o n e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ M o b i l e P h o n e ; } } [ C o l u m n ( D b T y p e=" n v a r c h a r " ) ] p u b l i cs t r i n gL a n d L i n e { s e t { _ L a n d L i n e=v a l u e ; } g e t { r e t u r n_ L a n d L i n e ; } }

Now finally we need to consume this relationship in our ASPX client behind code: The first step is to create the data context object with the connection initialized:
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D a t a C o n t e x to b j C o n t e x t=n e wD a t a C o n t e x t ( s t r C o n n e c t i o n S t r i n g ) ;

The second step is firing the query. Please note that we are just firing the query for the customer class. The LINQ engine ensures that all child table data is extracted and placed as per the relationships defined in the entity classes.
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v a rM y Q u e r y=f r o mo b j C u s t o m e ri no b j C o n t e x t . G e t T a b l e < c l s C u s t o m e r W i t h A d d r e s s e s > ( ) s e l e c to b j C u s t o m e r ;

Finally, we loop through the customer, loop through the corresponding addresses object, and display phone details as per the phone object.
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f o r e a c h( c l s C u s t o m e r W i t h A d d r e s s e so b j C u s t o m e ri nM y Q u e r y ) { R e s p o n s e . W r i t e ( o b j C u s t o m e r . C u s t o m e r N a m e+" < b r > " ) ; f o r e a c h( c l s A d d r e s s e so b j A d d r e s si no b j C u s t o m e r . A d d r e s s e s ) { R e s p o n s e . W r i t e ( " = = = A d d r e s s : -"+o b j A d d r e s s . A d d r e s s 1+" < b r > " ) ; R e s p o n s e . W r i t e ( " = = = = = = = = M o b i l e : -"+o b j A d d r e s s . P h o n e . M o b i l e P h o n e+" < b r > " ) ; R e s p o n s e . W r i t e ( " = = = = = = = = L a n d L i n e : -"+ o b j A d d r e s s . P h o n e . L a n d L i n e+" < b r > " ) ; } }

The output looks as shown below. Every customer has multiple addresses and every address has a phone object.

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Source code
We have also attached a source which has the customer, address, and phone tables. The sample code demonstrates a simple LINQ example, LINQ example with properties, and relationship LINQ example with e n t i t y r e f and e n t i t y s e t .

License
This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

About the Author

Shivprasad koirala
Architect http://www.questpond.com India

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I am a Microsoft MVP for ASP/ASP.NET and currently a CEO of a small E-learning company in India. We are very much active in making training videos , writing books and corporate trainings. Do visit my site for .NET, C# , design pattern , WCF , Silverlight , LINQ , ASP.NET , ADO.NET , Sharepoint , UML , SQL Server training and Interview questions and answers

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Address and Phone can be one-to-many relationship My vote of 4 How to acheive same thing w/ a stored procedure How to acheive same thin w/ a stored procedure My vote of 5 Entity Relationship using XML mapping file ... Problem while getting the records passing parameters.. [modified] Hi Re: Hi Re: Hi
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