CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net-mvcasp.net-mvc-3entity-frameworkef-code-first
XBigTK13X
XBigTK13X

Reputation: 2755

Using entity framework, LINQ expression returns null values for columns that are populated in the DB

I am attempting to build an ASP.NET MVC 4 web app, which is similar to a very basic e-mail system, using Entity Framework's code first approach. To demonstrate the problem I am having, consider the following C# classes.

public class Message
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public User From { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public User To { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public string Subject { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public string Content { get; set; }
    [Required]
    [DataType(DataType.DateTime)]
    public DateTime CreatedAt { get; set; }
    public bool IsRead { get; set; }
    public bool IsTrash { get; set; }
    public bool IsSpam { get; set; }
}
public class User
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Password { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Role> Roles { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
}

After seeding the database, the first message column appears like so:

Id  Subject Content CreatedAt   IsRead  IsTrash IsSpam  From_Id To_Id
1   Howdy   Lorem   2012-02-10  0       0       0       2       1

And two users, with the IDs listed above, exist in the Users table.

If I run the following LINQ, it shows that both From and To for that message are null but all other fields are correctly populated:

dbContext.Messages.Single(o=>o.Id==1);

What am I doing wrong that would lead to those two fields being null? Is it possibly a flaw in the organization of my classes?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 843

Answers (1)

Huske
Huske

Reputation: 9296

The thing is that From and To belong to are complex type and you should declare them as virtual so that they can be loaded correctly.

Upvotes: 2

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