How to store images using Entity Framework Code First CTP 5?

Question

I\'m just trying to figure out if there is a simple way to store and retrieve binary (file) data using EF Code First CTP 5? I would really like it to use the FILESTREAM type

Answer 1

Just declare your property as byte[] as Ladislav mentioned.

public class Product
{
    public int Id { get; private set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public byte[] ProductImage { get; set; }
}

That is pretty much it. If you don't map the property the convention is it maps to a varbinary(max). If you have an image column in the database already just add [Column(TypeName = "image")] on the ProductImage property or if you prefer code mapping add this to your OnModelCreating override in the context class:

modelBuilder.Entity().Property(p => p.ProductImage).HasColumnType("image");

The problem I have with it is that I have not found a way to make the property lazy as I don't necessarily want to load binary data every time I fetch a product. I not sure I recall correctly but NHibernate can do it out of the box.