Entity Framework Core Many-to-Many Implementation - entity-framework

Question

So Many-to-Many did not make it into .NET Core 3.0 release, bummer...
I'm aware of how to implement m:m using a join entity as in this example: https://stackoverflow.com/a/53972658/980917
My question is about the model classes themselves. Consider Student & Class example:
Student - has ICollection<StudentClass>
StudentClass - joining entity
Class - has ICollection<StudentClass>
That is fine for data loading purposes. But in your business logic collection of StudentClasses is not useful as its just a joining entity with 2 IDs. When working with Student or Class you actually want an actual collection of Classes inside a Student and a collection of Students inside a Class. (ie: Student.Classes & Class.Students.
What's the current recommended approach / workaround to retrieve the many-to-many collections (not joining entity)?
Do we have to do a 2nd select based on on the joining entity or is there something more elegant?
A quick example or a link would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

What's the current recommended approach / workaround to retrieve the many-to-many collections (not joining entity)?
You can do easily with .Include extension method as follows:
Lets say your Student class as follows:
public class Student
{
public int Id {get; set;}
public string StudentName {get; set;}
public ICollection<StudentClass> StudentClasses {get; set;}
}
To retrieve all the students with their associated classes:
var studentsWithClasses = _context.Students.Include(s => s.StudentClasses).ToList();
To retrieve a single student with its classes:
var studentWithClasses = _context.Students.Where(s => s.Id = studentId).Include(s => s.StudentClasses).FirstOrDefault();