Question

I’ve just started using EF code first, so I’m a total beginner in this topic.

I wanted to create relations between Teams and Matches:

1 match = 2 teams (home, guest) and result.

I thought it’s easy to create such a model, so I started coding:

public class Team
{
    [Key]
    public int TeamId { get; set;} 
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Match> Matches { get; set; }
}


public class Match
{
    [Key]
    public int MatchId { get; set; }

    [ForeignKey("HomeTeam"), Column(Order = 0)]
    public int HomeTeamId { get; set; }
    [ForeignKey("GuestTeam"), Column(Order = 1)]
    public int GuestTeamId { get; set; }

    public float HomePoints { get; set; }
    public float GuestPoints { get; set; }
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }

    public virtual Team HomeTeam { get; set; }
    public virtual Team GuestTeam { get; set; }
}

And I get an exception:

The referential relationship will result in a cyclical reference that is not allowed. [ Constraint name = Match_GuestTeam ]

How can I create such a model, with 2 foreign keys to the same table?

Answer 1

Try this:

public class Team
{
    public int TeamId { get; set;} 
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Match> HomeMatches { get; set; }
    public virtual ICollection<Match> AwayMatches { get; set; }
}

public class Match
{
    public int MatchId { get; set; }

    public int HomeTeamId { get; set; }
    public int GuestTeamId { get; set; }

    public float HomePoints { get; set; }
    public float GuestPoints { get; set; }
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }

    public virtual Team HomeTeam { get; set; }
    public virtual Team GuestTeam { get; set; }
}


public class Context : DbContext
{
    ...

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Entity<Match>()
                    .HasRequired(m => m.HomeTeam)
                    .WithMany(t => t.HomeMatches)
                    .HasForeignKey(m => m.HomeTeamId)
                    .WillCascadeOnDelete(false);

        modelBuilder.Entity<Match>()
                    .HasRequired(m => m.GuestTeam)
                    .WithMany(t => t.AwayMatches)
                    .HasForeignKey(m => m.GuestTeamId)
                    .WillCascadeOnDelete(false);
    }
}

Primary keys are mapped by default convention. Team must have two collection of matches. You can’t have single collection referenced by two FKs. Match is mapped without cascading delete because it doesn’t work in these self referencing many-to-many.