Question

I am using Linq 2 Sql to knock out a quick bespoke CMS.

I have a table with an association to itself, so that any children menus are mapped to any parent menus within the same table, but I am having an issue inserting the first parent.

The table looks a little like this:

CMSMenu
     CMSMenuID
     ParentCMSMenuID    
     Name
     Link

With an association of

CMSMenu.CMSMenuID -> CMSMenu.ParentCMSMenuID

In a previous version of the database/code I would simply add some code like:

  itm = new CMSMenu();
  itm.ParentCMSMenuID = 0; 
  rep.CMSMenus.InsertOnSubmit(itm);

But as this database was created automatically with all the foreign keys, this code causes an exception:

The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY SAME TABLE
constraint “CMSMenu_CMSMenu”. The conflict occurred in database
“sp.ackahs”, table “dbo.CMSMenu”, column ‘CMSMenuID’. The statement
has been terminated.

How do I insert the top level menu (ie with no parent)?

As it does not have a parent so I cannot add:

itm.MyParentCMSMenu=*existing cmsmenu item*;

As I could with a child menu, nor can I add:

itm.MyParentCMSMenu=null;

Any thoughts welcome.

Thanks
Toby

Answer 1

Try setting MyParentCMSMenu to be a nullable column in the SQL.