Question

Context:
I am trying to use the same set of models for both XML deserialization and EF 4.1 persistance of data. I cannot change either the existing XSD or the database schema.

Problem:
The XML structure doesn’t line up with the table structure very well for a few models. Currently a database one-to-many relationship is defined in the (XML-based) models as a three level hierarchy of parent-child-child. This causes the error:

The expression ‘t => t.PhysicalDetails.PhysicalFeatures’
is not a valid property expression.

Participant

class Participant {
  public PhysicalDetailsType PhysicalDetails { get; set; }
}

PhysicalDetailsType

class PhysicalDetailsType {
  [XmlArray("PersonPhysicalFeature")]
  public List<PhysicalFeatureType> PhysicalFeatures { get; set; }
}

PhysicalFeatureType

class PhysicalFeatureType {
  public int CaseSk { get; set; }
  public int ParticipantSk { get; set; }
  public Participant participant { get; set; }
}

PhysicalFeatureType EF Mapping

class PhysicalFeatureMap : EntityTypeConfiguration<PhysicalFeatureType> {
  HasRequired(t => t.Participant)
    .WithMany(t => t.PhysicalDetails.PhysicalFeatures)
    .HasForeignKey(d => new { d.CaseSk, d.ParticipantSk});
}

Answer 1

All I’ve come up with so far is creating a proxy property that just hides the nesting:

Participant

class Participant {
  public PhysicalDetailsType PhysicalDetails { get; set; }
  public List<PhysicalFeatureType> PhysicalFeatures {
    get { return PhysicalDetails.PhysicalFeatures; }
    set { Physicaldetails.PhysicalFeatures = value; }
  }
}

Seems to be working so far.