How to: Navigate Relationships with Navigate Operator (EntityClient)

This topic provides an example of how to execute a command against an Entity Data Model by using EntityCommand, and how to retrieve the RefType results by using EntityDataReader.

To run the code in this example

1. Add the AdventureWorks Sales Model to your project and configure your project to use the Entity Framework. To do this, do one of the following:

   • If you have the Entity Dada Model tools installed, complete the procedure in How to: Use the Entity Data Model Wizard (Entity Framework).

   • Otherwise, complete the procedures in How to: Manually Configure an Entity Framework Project and How to: Manually Define an Entity Data Model (Entity Framework).

2. In the code page for your application, add the following using statements (Imports in Visual Basic):.

   Imports System
   Imports System.Collections.Generic
   Imports System.Collections
   Imports System.Data.Common
   Imports System.Data
   Imports System.Data.SqlClient
   Imports System.Data.EntityClient
   Imports System.Data.Metadata.Edm
   Imports System.IO
   ' Add AdventureWorksModel prepended with the root namespace for the project.
   'Imports ProjectName.AdventureWorksModel
   

   using System;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using System.Collections;
   using System.Data.Common;
   using System.Data;
   using System.IO;
   using System.Data.SqlClient;
   using System.Data.EntityClient;
   using AdventureWorksModel;
   using System.Data.Metadata.Edm;
   

Example

The following example shows how to navigate relationships in Entity SQL by using the NAVIGATE (Entity SQL) operator. The Navigate operator takes the following parameters: an instance of an entity, the relationship-type, the end of the relationship, and the beginning of the relationship. The simplier version of the Navigate operator takes an instance of an entity and the relationship-type. The following example shows how to use the simplier version of the Navigate operator.

Using connection As EntityConnection = New EntityConnection("name=AdventureWorksEntities")
    connection.Open()

    Try
        ' Create an EntityCommand and pass the connection object 
        ' and Entity SQL query to its constructor.
        Using cmd As EntityCommand = connection.CreateCommand()
            ' Create an Entity SQL query.
            Dim esqlQuery As String = "SELECT address.AddressID, (SELECT VALUE DEREF(soh) FROM " & _
                "NAVIGATE(address, AdventureWorksModel.FK_SalesOrderHeader_Address_BillToAddressID) " & _
                "AS soh) FROM AdventureWorksEntities.Address AS address"

            cmd.CommandText = esqlQuery
            ' Execute the command.
            Using reader As DbDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess)
                ' Start reading.
                Do While reader.Read
                    Console.WriteLine(reader.Item("AddressID"))
                Loop
            End Using
        End Using
    Catch ex As EntityException
        Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString())
    End Try
    connection.Close()
End Using

using (EntityConnection conn =
    new EntityConnection("name=AdventureWorksEntities"))
{
    conn.Open();
    try
    {
        // Create an EntityCommand.
        using (EntityCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand())
        {
            // Create an Entity SQL query.
            string esqlQuery =
                @"SELECT address.AddressID, (SELECT VALUE DEREF(soh) FROM 
              NAVIGATE(address, AdventureWorksModel.FK_SalesOrderHeader_Address_BillToAddressID) 
              AS soh) FROM AdventureWorksEntities.Address AS address";

            cmd.CommandText = esqlQuery;

            // Execute the command.
            using (DbDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess))
            {
                // Start reading.
                while (rdr.Read())
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(rdr["AddressID"]);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    catch (EntityException ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
    }
    conn.Close();
}

See Also

Concepts

Entity SQL Language

Other Resources

Working with EntityClient (Entity Framework Tasks)
How to: Execute an Entity SQL Query Using EntityCommand