How to: Define Entity Relationships (WCF Data Services)
Important
WCF Data Services has been deprecated and will no longer be available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. WCF Data Services supported earlier versions of the Microsoft OData (V1-V3) protocol only and has not been under active development. OData V1-V3 has been superseded by OData V4, which is an industry standard published by OASIS and ratified by ISO. OData V4 is supported through the OData V4 compliant core libraries available at Microsoft.OData.Core. Support documentation is available at OData.Net, and the OData V4 service libraries are available at Microsoft.AspNetCore.OData.
RESTier is the successor to WCF Data Services. RESTier helps you bootstrap a standardized, queryable, HTTP-based REST interface in minutes. Like WCF Data Services before it, Restier provides simple and straightforward ways to shape queries and intercept submissions before and after they hit the database. And like Web API + OData, you still have the flexibility to add your own custom queries and actions with techniques you're already familiar with.
When you add a new entity in WCF Data Services, any relationships between the new entity and related entities are not automatically defined. You can create and change relationships between entity instances and have the client library reflect those changes in the data service. For more information, see Updating the Data Service.
The example in this topic uses the Northwind sample data service and autogenerated client data service classes. This service and the client data classes are created when you complete the WCF Data Services quickstart.
Example
The following example creates a new object instance and then calls the AddRelatedObject method on the DataServiceContext to create the item in the context along with the link to the related order. An HTTP POST message is sent to the data service when the SaveChanges method is called.
int productId = 25;
string customerId = "ALFKI";
Order_Detail newItem = null;
// Create the DataServiceContext using the service URI.
NorthwindEntities context = new NorthwindEntities(svcUri);
try
{
// Get the specific product.
var selectedProduct = (from product in context.Products
where product.ProductID == productId
select product).Single();
// Get the specific customer.
var cust = (from customer in context.Customers.Expand("Orders")
where customer.CustomerID == customerId
select customer).Single();
// Get the first order.
Order order = cust.Orders.FirstOrDefault();
// Create a new order detail for the specific product.
newItem = Order_Detail.CreateOrder_Detail(
order.OrderID, selectedProduct.ProductID, 10, 5, 0);
// Add the new item with a link to the related order.
context.AddRelatedObject(order, "Order_Details", newItem);
// Add the new order detail to the collection, and
// set the reference to the product.
order.Order_Details.Add(newItem);
newItem.Order = order;
newItem.Product = selectedProduct;
// Send the changes to the data service.
DataServiceResponse response = context.SaveChanges();
// Enumerate the returned responses.
foreach (ChangeOperationResponse change in response)
{
// Get the descriptor for the entity.
EntityDescriptor descriptor = change.Descriptor as EntityDescriptor;
if (descriptor != null)
{
if (descriptor.Entity.GetType() == typeof(Order_Detail))
{
Order_Detail addedItem = descriptor.Entity as Order_Detail;
if (addedItem != null)
{
Console.WriteLine("New {0} item added to order {1}.",
addedItem.Product.ProductName, addedItem.OrderID.ToString());
}
}
}
}
}
catch (DataServiceQueryException ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException(
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex);
}
// Handle any errors that may occur during insert, such as
// a constraint violation.
catch (DataServiceRequestException ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException(
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex);
}
Dim productId = 25
Dim customerId = "ALFKI"
Dim newItem As Order_Detail = Nothing
' Create the DataServiceContext using the service URI.
Dim context = New NorthwindEntities(svcUri)
Try
' Get the specific product.
Dim selectedProduct = (From product In context.Products _
Where product.ProductID = productId _
Select product).Single()
' Get the specific customer.
Dim cust = (From customer In context.Customers.Expand("Orders") _
Where customer.CustomerID = customerId _
Select customer).Single()
' Get the first order.
Dim order = cust.Orders.FirstOrDefault()
' Create a new order detail for the specific product.
newItem = Order_Detail.CreateOrder_Detail( _
order.OrderID, selectedProduct.ProductID, 10, 5, 0)
' Add the new item with a link to the related order.
context.AddRelatedObject(order, "Order_Details", newItem)
' Add the new order detail to the collection, and
' set the reference to the product.
order.Order_Details.Add(newItem)
newItem.Order = order
newItem.Product = selectedProduct
' Send the changes to the data service.
Dim response As DataServiceResponse = context.SaveChanges()
' Enumerate the returned responses.
For Each change As ChangeOperationResponse In response
' Get the descriptor for the entity.
Dim descriptor = TryCast(change.Descriptor, EntityDescriptor)
If Not descriptor Is Nothing Then
If TypeOf descriptor.Entity Is Order_Detail Then
Dim addedItem = TryCast(descriptor.Entity, Order_Detail)
If Not addedItem Is Nothing Then
Console.WriteLine("New {0} item added to order {1}.", _
addedItem.Product.ProductName, addedItem.OrderID.ToString())
End If
End If
End If
Next
Catch ex As DataServiceQueryException
Throw New ApplicationException( _
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex)
' Handle any errors that may occur during insert, such as
' a constraint violation.
Catch ex As DataServiceRequestException
Throw New ApplicationException( _
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex)
Example
The following example shows how to use the AddObject method to add an Order_Details object to a related Orders object with a reference to a specific Products object. The AddLink and SetLink methods define the relationships. In this example, the navigation properties on the Order_Details object are also explicitly set.
int productId = 25;
string customerId = "ALFKI";
Order_Detail newItem = null;
// Create the DataServiceContext using the service URI.
NorthwindEntities context = new NorthwindEntities(svcUri);
try
{
// Get the specific product.
var selectedProduct = (from product in context.Products
where product.ProductID == productId
select product).Single();
// Get the specific customer.
var cust = (from customer in context.Customers.Expand("Orders")
where customer.CustomerID == customerId
select customer).Single();
// Get the first order.
Order order = cust.Orders.FirstOrDefault();
// Create a new order detail for the specific product.
newItem = Order_Detail.CreateOrder_Detail(
order.OrderID, selectedProduct.ProductID, 10, 5, 0);
// Add the new order detail to the context.
context.AddToOrder_Details(newItem);
// Add links for the one-to-many relationships.
context.AddLink(order, "Order_Details", newItem);
context.AddLink(selectedProduct, "Order_Details", newItem);
// Add the new order detail to the collection, and
// set the reference to the product.
order.Order_Details.Add(newItem);
newItem.Product = selectedProduct;
// Send the changes to the data service.
DataServiceResponse response = context.SaveChanges();
// Enumerate the returned responses.
foreach (ChangeOperationResponse change in response)
{
// Get the descriptor for the entity.
EntityDescriptor descriptor = change.Descriptor as EntityDescriptor;
if (descriptor != null)
{
if (descriptor.Entity.GetType() == typeof(Order_Detail))
{
Order_Detail addedItem = descriptor.Entity as Order_Detail;
if (addedItem != null)
{
Console.WriteLine("New {0} item added to order {1}.",
addedItem.Product.ProductName, addedItem.OrderID.ToString());
}
}
}
}
}
catch (DataServiceQueryException ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException(
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex);
}
// Handle any errors that may occur during insert, such as
// a constraint violation.
catch (DataServiceRequestException ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException(
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex);
}
Dim productId = 25
Dim customerId = "ALFKI"
Dim newItem As Order_Detail = Nothing
' Create the DataServiceContext using the service URI.
Dim context = New NorthwindEntities(svcUri)
Try
' Get the specific product.
Dim selectedProduct = (From product In context.Products _
Where product.ProductID = productId _
Select product).Single()
' Get the specific customer.
Dim cust = (From customer In context.Customers.Expand("Orders") _
Where customer.CustomerID = customerId _
Select customer).Single()
' Get the first order.
Dim order = cust.Orders.FirstOrDefault()
' Create a new order detail for the specific product.
newItem = Order_Detail.CreateOrder_Detail( _
order.OrderID, selectedProduct.ProductID, 10, 5, 0)
' Add the new order detail to the context.
context.AddToOrder_Details(newItem)
' Add links for the one-to-many relationships.
context.AddLink(order, "Order_Details", newItem)
context.AddLink(selectedProduct, "Order_Details", newItem)
' Add the new order detail to the collection, and
' set the reference to the product.
order.Order_Details.Add(newItem)
newItem.Product = selectedProduct
' Send the insert to the data service.
Dim response As DataServiceResponse = context.SaveChanges()
' Enumerate the returned responses.
For Each change As ChangeOperationResponse In response
' Get the descriptor for the entity.
Dim descriptor = TryCast(change.Descriptor, EntityDescriptor)
If Not descriptor Is Nothing Then
Dim addedProduct = TryCast(descriptor.Entity, Product)
If Not addedProduct Is Nothing Then
Console.WriteLine("New product added with ID {0}.", _
addedProduct.ProductID)
End If
End If
Next
Catch ex As DataServiceQueryException
Throw New ApplicationException( _
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex)
' Handle any errors that may occur during insert, such as
' a constraint violation.
Catch ex As DataServiceRequestException
Throw New ApplicationException( _
"An error occurred when saving changes.", ex)