class First
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
}
class Second
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
public int? First_Id { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("First_Id")]
public First First { get; set; }
}
public class SecondMapping : EntityTypeConfiguration<Second>
{
public SecondMapping ()
: base()
{
this.HasOptional(s => s.First)
.With ... ???
}
}
Second may have a reference to First. But First never has a reference to Second. Is it possible to apply this mapping with Entity Framework 4.1?
EDIT:
Previously, that was my solution:
this.HasOptional(s => s.First)
.WithOptionalDependent()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);
Second could contain one instance of First (dependent on some kind of Usage-Attribute). First doesn't contain any instance of Second.
One-to-one relation is possible only if foreign key is also primary key of dependent entity. So the correct mapping is:
class First
{
[Key]
public int Id { get; set; }
}
class Second
{
[Key, ForeignKey("First")]
public int Id { get; set; }
public First First { get; set; }
}
The reason is that to enforce one-to-one relation in the database foreign key must be unique in the Second
entity. But entity framework doesn't support unique keys - the only unique value for EF is primary key. This is limitation of EF.
There is workaround described on Morteza Manavi's blog. Workaround is based on mapping association as one-to-many and enforcing uniqueness in database by introducing unique constraints in custom database initializer.
If you're trying to achieve a 1-to-1 relationship, where there is at the most only one Second
entity associated to a First
entity, and where there is no reverse property try the following:
class First
{
[Key]
public Guid FirstId { get; set; }
}
class Second
{
[Key]
public Guid FirstId { get; set; }
public First First { get; set; }
}
class SecondMapping : EntityTypeConfiguration<Second>
{
public SecondMapping()
{
this.HasRequired(s => s.First);
}
}
You can however use a separate First_id
column to do this kind of association, but then you would be effectively creating a 1-to-N relationship. It can be 'forced' to be 1-to-1 via a UNIQUE constraint, but you won't be able to create a reverse property due to a limitation in EF (as Ladislav mentioned):
class SecondMapping : EntityTypeConfiguration<Second>
{
public SecondMapping()
{
this.HasRequired(s => s.First).WithMany().HasForeignKey("First_id");
}
}