CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#wcfentity-framework
MegaMark
MegaMark

Reputation: 610

Using Entity Framework classes in WCF service without recreating the model

I have a dll project that holds an edmx. In the same solution, I have a WCF Library project and within this project is an interface and a class to hold all OperationContracts. I've noticed that this works great with just one table in the model. Once I add another table to the edmx with a relationship to the first table, the service breaks. So, I've narrowed down that the errors I've been receiving are (in a general sense) due to the relationships between my EF types and more specifically the way the relationships are declared within each class... So basically I just went in and found the following in my Person class: 

public int PersonId { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public bool IsEmployee { get; set; }
public Nullable<int> OrganizationId { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Contact> Contacts { get; set; }

So this led me to (and I have no idea why) try to simple remove the virtual keyword on the relationship with Contact and POOF!!!! Like magic the service was up and running just as it was with the single Person table being the only class from the model. So my question is this... why?

Why when I remove the virtual keyword does the WCF service suddenly work? And what does this mean in regards to the relationship between Person and Contact?

I have a theory that the reason this happens is because now by removing the virtual keyword I have somehow broke the connection between Person and Contact in such a way that the service is no longer trying to pull in any more information than just the Person... and thus doesn't break?

I apologize for my naivety on this matter but would greatly appreciate a little clarity. Thanks in advance.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 904

Answers (1)

samjudson
samjudson

Reputation: 56853

The virtual keyword tells Entity Framework that it can (if you tell it too) use Lazy loading to load the elements in the collection when you query the collection.

So removing the virtual keyword means that Lazy loading will not work any more. But if you're fine with that then that's great.

Upvotes: 3

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