entity-framework-4.1

In Entity Framework 4.1 when creating a POCO, should the class be coded to initialise the Many relationships or is there some reason to allow the Entity Framework to have control over these properties? public class Portfolio { private ICollection<Visit> _visits; public virtual ICollection<Visit> Visits { get { if (_visits == null) { _visits = new List<Visit>(); } return _visits; } set { _visits = value; } } } Or public class Portfolio { public virtual ICollection<Visit> Visits { get; set; } } Is there a better pattern still? The first version is correct. It will allow you to initialize

I've got a entity type like this: public class Invoice{ public int Id { get; set; } public InvoiceNumberSequence Sequence { get; set; } public decimal Amount { get; set; } } The InvoiceNumberSequence looks like this: public class InvoiceNumberSequence { public string Prefix { get; set; } public int Number { get; set; } public string GetSequence() { return Prefix + Number; } } My problem is that I have an existing database that I cannot change and I'm trying to map tables/columns to my domain model. Here's how the table looks: [SYSTEMINVOICES] INVOICE_ID int INV_TOTAL decimal INVOICE_SEQ

public abstract class Animal , IValidatableObject { public string Id {get;set;} public string Name {get;set;} public virtual IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext) { if (this.Name == "animal") { yield return new ValidationResult("Invalid Name From base", new[] { "Name" }); } } } public class Dog: Animal, IValidatableObject { public string Owner {get;set;} public override IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext) { /* Here call base validate */ if (this.Name == "dog") { yield return new ValidationResult("Invalid Name From

I have two tables that look like this: dbo.ReviewType ReviewTypeId INT PRIMARY KEY ShortName CHAR(1) - Unique Index Description dbo.Review ReviewId INT PRIMARY KEY ReviewType_ShortName CHAR(1) - FK to ReviewType ... A Review always has a ReviewType. A ReviewType can be associated with many reviews. I'm having trouble mapping this in Entity Framework using the Code First Fluent API. It seems like it does not like me using a foreign key that doesn't map to the Primary Key. I'm using a foreign key to a Unique Constraint/Index instead of to the Primary Key. How can I map this properly in Entity

I'm posting this more because I'd like to learn more, because my work-around has been to basically avoid using LINQ to Entities! It would nice if I could use it though. So if anyone can enlighten me.. I'm working on an ASP.Net MVC 3 application (my first one) using code-first Entity Framework as my data model. It's going to be an online shop and I am working on the 'Admin' controller where, as an admin, you will be able to edit products etc. When it comes to adding a new product, you must specify a category, which means a dropdown list of categories. I started off by just returning an

I am having a really hard time updating and deleting many to many relationships with EF Code-first. I have a fairly simple Model: public class Issue { [Key] public int IssueId { get; set; } public int Number { get; set; } public string Title { get; set; } public DateTime Date { get; set; } public virtual ICollection<Creator> Creators { get; set; } } public class Creator { [Key] public int CreatorId { get; set; } public string FirstName { get; set; } public string MiddleName { get; set; } public string LastName { get; set; } public virtual ICollection<Issue> Issues { get; set; } } public class

I have a table with DateCreated and DateUpdated columns and using Entity Framework to insert/update values to the database. I need the DateCreated column to get the SQL Server's GetDate() value on insertion only. DateUpdated column value should always get updated with current GetDate() value on insertion and update both. For the DateCreated column, I've set StoreGeneratedPattern="Computed" and on SQL Server table I've set default value of the column to be GetDate(), which works nicely as expected. For the DateUpdated column I could not find a way to get the GetDate() value automatically set