I have another question about binding using C# and the entity framework.
Here, I’m looking to bind a navigation property to a listbox or a listview.
I saw on different posts that if I update the collection using code behind the list would not be notified because the collection does not handle notification (it’s always the same problem anyway).
People suggested to use an ObservableCollection for example, but, and here is my question, this comes down to basically duplicate the collection and hence, if I modify it, I’d have to handle in code-behind the fact that the change has also to be applied to the “original” navigation property right?
If that’s the case, I was thinking: why not create a custom property called, say, MyObservableNavigationProperty in a partial class. I could then interact only with this collection, catch the event when the collection is changed and apply the change to the “original” collection. Is that a nice way to do the trick? or am I getting all confused here….
I usually code my entities by hand. The flexability it provides is generally more useful than the time saved using the designer to generate some properties, especially since EF4 can generate proxies to do the important tracking/lazy loading bits.
That said, if you don’t have that option you could try using the ADO.NET Self-Tracking Entity Generator Template to generate your entities if possible. The collection’s it generates inherit from
ObservableCollection<T>.If that isn’t possible, then I think your partial class solution is the way to go.