EF Include and ThenInclude - entity-framework

Question

I have a few models I am trying to bind with Include which is not returning back all expected related data. The full chain is:
User (one) > Role (one) > Permissions (Many) > Entity (One) > EntityArea (One)
These are my models: (CompanyBase is a base class with a companyId in it)
public class User : _CompanyBase
{
public int UserID { get; set; }
public string FullName { get; set; }
public int RoleID { get; set; }
public Role Role { get; set; }
}
public class Role : _CompanyBase
{
[Key, Column(Order = 1), DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int RoleID { get; set; }
[Required]
[StringLength(100, MinimumLength = 3)]
public string Name { get; set; }
public ICollection<RolePermission> RolePermissions { get; set; }
public ICollection<User> Users { get; set; }
}
public class RolePermission : _CompanyBase
{
[Key, Column(Order = 1), DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int RolePermissionID { get; set; }
public Guid Id { get; set; }
[Required]
[StringLength(100, MinimumLength = 3)]
public string PermissionCode { get; set; }
public int RoleID { get; set; }
public Role Role { get; set; }
public int EntityID { get; set; }
public Entity Entity { get; set; }
}
public class Entity : _CompanyBase
{
[Key, Column(Order = 1), DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int EntityID { get; set; }
[Required]
[StringLength(100, MinimumLength = 3)]
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public int EntityAreaID { get; set; }
public EntityArea EntityArea { get; set; }
}
public class EntityArea :_CompanyBase
{
[Key, Column(Order = 1), DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int EntityAreaID { get; set; }
[Required]
[StringLength(50, MinimumLength = 3)]
public string Name { get; set; }
public ICollection<Entity> Entities { get; set; }
}
And I am trying to bind them with:
dbUser = db.Users
.AsNoTracking()
.Where(x => x.UserId == UserID)
.Include(m => m.Role)
.ThenInclude(m => m.RolePermissions)
.ThenInclude(m => m.Entity)
.ThenInclude(m => m.EntityArea)
.FirstOrDefault();
However, I do get the Role, I'm not getting anything further (Rolepermissions collection, Entity and Area). Is there something fundamentally I am doing wrong? This is a readonly query so hence notracking being used.
Thanks!

Answer 1

I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with your attempt. Have you checked if the specific user actually has any data in the connected tables?
Include() can sometimes generate a left join when you don't really need it, so I'd advise you to stay away from it when you can. I'd generally use a projection to specify the data I want to recieve. For your example this can be done with:
dbUser = db.Users
.AsNoTracking()
.Where(x => x.UserId == UserID)
.Select(x => new
{
Role = x.Role,
RolePermissions = x.RolePermissions,
Entity = x.Entity,
EntityArea = x.EntityArea
})
.FirstOrDefault();