Entity framework navigation property is null - entity-framework

Question

I have two models using Entity Framework.
public class Player
{
public int PlayerId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Sex { get; set; }
public string Plays { get; set; }
public string FavouriteSurface { get; set; }
}
public class SinglesMatch
{
public int SinglesMatchId { get; set; }
public int Player1Id { get; set; }
public int Player2Id { get; set; }
public int PlayerIdWinner { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
public string Venue { get; set; }
public string Score { get; set; }
public List<Player> Players { get; set; }
}
I am using the below code to attempt to display the Name of the player, based on the PlayerId in the SinglesMatch model matching the PlayerID from the Player model.
#foreach (var item in #Model)
{
<ul id="Players" class="bg-success"></ul>
<br/>
<h3>Date - #Html.DisplayFor(#modelItem => item.Date)</h3>
<li>Venue - #Html.DisplayFor(#modelItem => item.Venue)</li>
<li>Player 1 - #Html.DisplayFor(#modelItem => item.Players.First(p => p.PlayerId == item.Player1Id).Name)</li>
<li>Player 2 - #Html.DisplayFor(#modelItem => item.Players.First(p => p.PlayerId == item.Player2Id).Name)</li>
<li>Score- #Html.DisplayFor(#modelItem => item.Score)</li>
}
Upon debugging, the navigation property is always showing as null when the model is retrieved from my repository.
Am I using the navigation property in the correct fashion ? is there a problem with my query ?
Edit to include DbContext:
public TennisTrackerContext() : base("name=TennisTrackerContext")
{
}
public DbSet<Player> Players { get; set; }
public DbSet<PlayerRecord> PlayerRecords { get; set; }
public DbSet<SinglesMatch> SinglesMatches { get; set; }
public DbSet<DoublesMatch> DoublesMatches { get; set; }
public DbSet<Venue> Venues { get; set; }
}
}

Answer 1

You need to add a bridge table. Sql will create this automatically but you won't have access to the variables unless you create it in c#.
public class Player
{
public int PlayerId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Sex { get; set; }
public string Plays { get; set; }
public string FavouriteSurface { get; set; }
List<PlayerInMatch> Matches { get; set; }
public Player()
{
Matches = new List<PlayerInMatch>();
}
}
public class PlayerInMatch
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int PlayerId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("PlayerId")]
public Player Player { get; set; }
public int SinglesMatchId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("SinglesMatchId")]
public SinglesMatch SinglesMatch { get; set; }
}
public class SinglesMatch
{
public int SinglesMatchId { get; set; }
public int PlayerIdWinner { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
public string Venue { get; set; }
public string Score { get; set; }
public List<PlayerInMatch> Players { get; set; }
public SinglesMatch()
{
Players = new List<PlayerInMatch>();
}
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var match = new SinglesMatch();
match.Players.Select(c => c.Player.Name);
}

Answer 2

You need to make your navigation property virtual to enable lazy/eager loading:
public class SinglesMatch
{
public int SinglesMatchId { get; set; }
public int Player1Id { get; set; }
public int Player2Id { get; set; }
public int PlayerIdWinner { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
public string Venue { get; set; }
public string Score { get; set; }
public virtual List<Player> Players { get; set; }
}
Also, did you define the relationship between SinglesMatch and Singles in fluent api?
EDIT: I see you don't have any relations mapped through annotations or fluent api whatsoever, I suggest you take a look at this:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/jj591617.aspx