How to model a Many to many-relationship in code?

Question

Suppose I have 2 tables in a database. eg: Dog & Boss This is a many to many relationship, cause a boss can have more than 1 dog, and a dog can have more than 1 owner. I

Answer 1

public class Boss
{
   private string name;
   private List dogs;
   private int limit;

   public Boss(string name, int dogLimit)
   {
      this.name = name;
      this.dogs = new List();
      this.limit = dogLimit; 
   }

   public string Name { get { return this.name; } }

   public void AddDog(string nickname, Dog dog)
   {
      if (!this.dogs.Contains(nickname) && !this.dogs.Count == limit)
      {
         this.dogs.Add(nickname, dog);
         dog.AddBoss(this);
      } 
   }

   public void RemoveDog(string nickname)
   {
       this.dogs.Remove(nickname);
       dog.RemoveBoss(this);
   }

   public void Hashtable Dogs { get { return this.dogs; } }
}

public class Dog
{
   private string name;
   private List bosses;

   public Dog(string name)
   {
      this.name = name;
      this.bosses = new List();
   }

   public string Name { get { return this.name; } }

   public void AddBoss(Boss boss)
   {
      if (!this.bosses.Contains(boss))
      {
          this.bosses.Add(boss);
      }
   }

   public void RemoveBoss(Boss boss)
   {
      this.bosses.Remove(boss);
   }  

   public ReadOnlyCollection Bosses { get { return new ReadOnlyCollection(this.bosses); } }
}

The above maintains the relationship of Bosses can have multiple dogs (with a limit applied) and dogs having multiple bosses. It also means that when a boss is adding a dog, they can specify a nickname for the dog which is unique to that boss only. Which means other bosses can add the same dog, but with different nicknames.

As for the limit, I would probably have this as an App.Config value which you just read in before instantiating the boss object(s). So a small example would be:

var james = new Boss("James", ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["DogsPerBoss"]);
var joe = new Boss("Joe", ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["DogsPerBoss"]);

var benji = new Dog("Benji");
var pooch = new Dog("Pooch");

james.AddDog("Good boy", benji);
joe.AddDog("Doggy", benji);

james.AddDog("Rover", pooch);
joe.AddDog("Buddy", pooch);  // won't add as the preset limit has been reached.

You can obviously tweak this as you see fit, however, I think the fundamentals of what you are looking for are there.

• Boss can have multiple dogs with limit
• Dogs can have multiple bosses
• Bosses can have different nicknames for same dog.