Entity Framework CodeFirst many to many relationship with additional information

Question

I have the following model :

class Contract
{
   string ContractID{get;set;}
   ICollection<Part> Parts{get;set;}
}

class Part
{
   string PartID{get;set;}
   ICollection<Contract> Contracts{get;set;}
}

the problem is that the relationship between Part and Contract also contains the following additional information :

class ContractParts
{ 
   Contract{get;set;}
   Part{get;set;}
   Date{get;set;} //additional info
   Price{get;set;} //additional info
}

How would I write the Entity Context for this ?

Answer 1

In such case you must model your entities this way:

public class Contract
{
   public virtual string ContractId { get; set; }
   public virtual ICollection<ContractPart> ContractParts { get; set; }
}

public class Part
{
   public virtual string PartId { get;set; }
   public virtual ICollection<ContractPart> ContractParts { get; set; }
}

public class ContractPart
{ 
   public virtual string  ContractId { get; set; }
   public virtual string PartId { get; set; }
   public virtual Contract Contract { get; set; }
   public virtual Part Part { get; set; }
   public virtual string Date { get; set; } //additional info
   public virtual decimal Price { get; set; } //additional info
}

In derived context you must define:

protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
   modelBuilder.Entity<ContractPart>()
               .HasKey(cp => new { cp.ContractId, cp.PartId });

   modelBuilder.Entity<Contract>()
               .HasMany(c => c.ContractParts)
               .WithRequired()
               .HasForeignKey(cp => cp.ContractId);

   modelBuilder.Entity<Part>()
               .HasMany(p => p.ContractParts)
               .WithRequired()
               .HasForeignKey(cp => cp.PartId);  
}

Answer 2

Perhaps a better way to do is this answer? Create code first, many to many, with additional fields in association table

It doesn't require fluent APIs and also sets up the PK on join table.