EF Code First - Include(x => x.Properties.Entity) a 1 : Many association

Question

Given a EF-Code First CTP5 entity layout like:

public class Person { ... } 

which has a collection of:

public class Address { ... }

which has a single association of:

public class Mailbox { ... }

I want to do:

PersonQuery.Include(x => x.Addresses).Include("Addresses.Mailbox")

WITHOUT using a magic string. I want to do it using a lambda expression.

I am aware what I typed above will compile and will bring back all Persons matching the search criteria with their addresses and each addresses' mailbox eager loaded, but it's in a string which irritates me.

How do I do it without a string?

Thanks Stack!

Answer 1

For that you can use the Select method:

PersonQuery.Include(x => x.Addresses.Select(a => a.Mailbox)); 

You can find other examples in here and here.

Answer 2

For any one thats still looking for a solution to this, the Lambda includes is part of EF 4+ and it is in the System.Data.Entity namespace; examples here

http://romiller.com/2010/07/14/ef-ctp4-tips-tricks-include-with-lambda/