Question

I am stuck trying to get my model populated given the domain table structure.

I have a main table that stores Vendors and each Vendor can select one-to-many categories from a master category lookup table. The vendor selections are stored in another table that only stores the VendorID and CategoryID to link between them.

I can write the query (below) to include the category table but then I can only display the categoryID and not the category names.

        public VendorProfile GetVendor(String id)
    {
        Guid pid = Guid.Parse(id);
        var view = _db.VendorProfiles.Include("VendorCategories").Single(v => v.ProfileID == pid);
        return view;
    }

I attempted to include the lookup table in the query (below) but this is generating a runtime error.

        public VendorProfile GetVendor(String id)
    {
        Guid pid = Guid.Parse(id);
        var view = _db.VendorProfiles.Include("VendorCategories").Include("ProductServiceCategory").Single(v => v.ProfileID == pid);
        return view;
    }

A specified Include path is not valid. The EntityType ‘VendorProfilesIntranet.VendorProfile’ does not declare a navigation property with the name ‘ProductServiceCategory’.

The Category table does have the navigation property. I don’t know how to add this same navigation property to the main table since it does not have any FK to the lookup table.

UPDATE:

@Gert This notation does work!

_db.VendorProfiles.Include("VendorCategories.ProductServiceCategory").Single(v => v.ProfileID == pid);

However, what I get displayed now is only the category items that were selected. I wish to get the entire list of catgories and have the ones checked that were selected. I am using a scrolling CheckboxList.

       <div class="scroll_checkboxes">
        <ul>
        @foreach (var c in Model.VendorCategories)
        {
           <li>
               <input type="checkbox" name="categories" value="@c.ID" /> @c.ProductServiceCategory.CategoryName
           </li>
        }
        </ul>
        @Html.ValidationMessage("Please check at least one Product/Service category")
    </div>

UPDATE2:

There might be a better solution but for anyone stuck with similar situation, this worked

        <div class="scroll_checkboxes">
        <ul>
        @foreach (var c in ViewBag.Categories)
        {
           <li>
               @foreach(var vc in Model.VendorCategories)
               {
                   if(c.Id == vc.CategoryID)
                   {
                        <input type="checkbox" name="categories" checked="checked" value="@c.Id" /> @vc.ProductServiceCategory.CategoryName
                       <br />
                   }
                   else
                   {
                        <input type="checkbox" name="categories" value="@c.Id" /> @vc.ProductServiceCategory.CategoryName
                        <br />
                   }
               }
           </li>
        }
        </ul>
        @Html.ValidationMessage("Please check at least one Product/Service category")
    </div>

Answer 1

You can do

_db.VendorProfiles.Include("VendorCategories.ProductServiceCategory")

to include both the VendorCategories and their ProductServiceCategorys in the result set.

By the way, if you use DbExtensions.Include you have intellisense to help you find the right include paths.