Creating relationship between two tables using Entity Framework

Question

I am working on some CRUD methods for a web app. I am using Entity Framework with SQL Server 2008. In particular, I have two tables that are linked using a cross reference table. It's in the following format:

Table Tbl_Plan
- PlanId
- PlanNm
- Active
Table Tbl_Person
- PersonId
- PersonNm
- PersonData
Xref table Xref_PersonPlan
- PersonId
- PersonNm

Now, when I am creating a new plan I have been trying to link the two together. I'm not sure how. I know it has something to do with referencing the relationship or creating it.

The tables are set up correctly, because I can pull the data just fine once it's created (i.e. my sample entries in SQL Server) but creating the reference is where I am stumped. I tried the following:

using (Entities context = new Entities())
{
// TblPlan plan has already been instantiated
plan.TblPersons.Add(person);

context.AddToTblPlans(plan);

context.SaveChanges();

But obviously, the .Add() isn't what I'm looking for....help?

newdayrising · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-10 18:45:20Z

1

The short answer is that many-to-many relationships are not supported in LINQ to SQL the same way they are in Entity Framework and other ORMs, and you'll have to implement the desired behavior yourself.

Take a look at this article. It describes an approach that should work for you.

answered Aug 10, 2011 at 18:45

newdayrising

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1 Comment

Cody Over a year ago

I'm sorry, I am using the Entity Frameworks. I'm stupid - not LINQ to SQL.

Cody · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-10 19:05:14Z

0

Someone just pointed me in the right direction. I should have waited ten more minutes. I was missing the .AttachTo() - I needed to attach the reference to the context before adding, since it was throwing an InvalidArgumentException.

answered Aug 10, 2011 at 19:05

Cody

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