How to COUNT rows within EntityFramework without loading contents?

Question

I\'m trying to determine how to count the matching rows on a table using the EntityFramework.

The problem is that each row might have many

Answer 1

As I understand it, the selected answer still loads all of the related tests. According to this msdn blog, there is a better way.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2011/01/31/using-dbcontext-in-ef-feature-ctp5-part-6-loading-related-entities.aspx

Specifically

using (var context = new UnicornsContext())

    var princess = context.Princesses.Find(1);

    // Count how many unicorns the princess owns 
    var unicornHaul = context.Entry(princess)
                      .Collection(p => p.Unicorns)
                      .Query()
                      .Count();
}