EF code-first: How to load related data (parent-child-grandchild)? - entity-framework

Question

I have this entity:
public class DynamicPage {
public int PageId { get; set; }
public int Order { get; set; }
public string MenuText { get; set; }
public string MenuHover { get; set; }
public int? ParentId { get; set; }
public virtual DynamicPage Parent { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<DynamicPage> Children { get; set; }
}
This entity may have 3 level: Parent -> Child -> Grandchild. How can I load the Parent (level 1) whit all associated children (level 2) and for each child, associated grandchild (level 3) if any? Thanks to help.

Answer 1

EF 4.1 feature and syntax:
var entity = context.Parents
.Include(p => p.Children.Select(c => c.GrandChildren))
.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Id == 1); // or whatever condition

Answer 2

If you want to make life easy on yourself, follow the EF Code First conventions of naming your table IDs simply Id (or, alternatively, name of table + Id, e.g., DyanmicPageId).
This should leave you with something like this:
public class DynamicPage
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int Order { get; set; }
public string MenuText { get; set; }
public string MenuHover { get; set; }
public int? ParentId { get; set; }
public virtual DynamicPage Parent { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<DynamicPage> Children { get; set; }
}
Then you need to set up the relationship between parents and children explicitly in an OnModelCreating method in your DbContext class.
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<DynamicPage>()
.HasMany(page => page.Children)
.WithRequired(child => child.Parent)
.HasForeignKey(child => child.ParentId);
}
You can then select children or grandchildren as needed:
var parent = dbContext.DynamicPages.Where(page => page.ParentId == null);
var children = parent.Children;
var grandchildren = parent.SelectMany(page => page.Children);
var allRelatedPages = parent.Union(children).Union(grandchildren);