Question

i have 2 entities each with a relating c# class. I set up a navigation property on table A to contain a reference to many items in table B. When i make a new table A class object i need to be able to create the collection of table B objects in table A. How do i set up the navigation property in the table A c# class?

DATAMODEL:
http://bluewolftech.com/mike/mike/datamodel.jpg

Answer 1

Navigation properties are simple in EF. The example below shows how a navigation property would look:

public class Foo
{
    public int FooId { get; set; }
    public string SomeProperty { get; set; }

    public virtual IEnumerable<Bar> Bars { get; set; }
}

Where Foo represents tableA and Bar represents tableB. They key word for the navigation property is virtual which enables lazy-loading by default. This is assuming you’re using EF4.1 Code First.

EDIT

Off the top of my head, this should be a good starting template for you:

public class PointOfInterestContext : DbContext
{
    public IDbSet<PointOfInterest> PointOfInterest { get; set; }
    public IDbSet<POITag> POITag { get; set; }
    public IDbSet<Tag> Tag { get; set; }

    public override OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        // custom mappings go here
        base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder)
    }
}

public class PointOfInterest
{
    // properties
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    // etc...

    // navigation properties
    public virtual IEnumerable<POITag> POITags { get; set; }    
}

public class POITag
{
    // properties
    public int Id { get; set;}
    public int PointOfInterestId { get; set; }
    public int TagId { get; set; }

    // navigation properties
    public virtual PointOfInterest PointOfInterest { get; set; }
    public virtual Tag Tag { get; set; }
}

public class Tag
{
    // properties
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string TagName { get; set; }
    // etc...

    // navigation properties
    public virtual IEnumerable<POITags> POITags { get; set; }    
}

Then you would implement the other logic in your business objects. The entities are supposed to be lightweight and at most should have data attributes. I prefer to use the fluent mappings through the OnModelCreating though.

Here are a few good references:
MSDN – EF 4.1 Code First
Code First Tutorial