Map Table Column to Enum and Lookup Table to Enum

Question

I am using Entity Framework 6, just release, and need to:

1 - Map a table column to an Enum;

2 - Map a lookup table (has two columns: Id and Name) to an Enum.

Is this possible in Entity Framework 6?

Thank you, Miguel

Answer 1

You typically don't map table to an enum type. You just define an enum type based on what you have in your lookup table and use it without including these tables in the model. For instance for the Northwind.Categories table:

ID  Name            Description
1   Beverages       Soft drinks, coffees, teas, beers, and ales
2   Condiments      Sweet and savory sauces, relishes, spreads, and seasonings
3   Confections     Desserts, candies, and sweet breads
4   Dairy Products  Cheeses
5   Grains/Cereals  Breads, crackers, pasta, and cereal
6   Meat/Poultry    Prepared meats
7   Produce         Dried fruit and bean curd
8   Seafood         Seaweed and fish

You would create the following enum type

public enum Categories
{
    Beverages = 1,
    Condiments = 2,
    Confections = 3,
    Dairy_Products = 4,
    Grains_Cereals = 5,
    Meat_Poultry = 6,
    Produce = 7,
    Seafood = 8,
}

(make sure that enum values correspond to the values in your database) and you would use it in your app without including the Categories table - i.e. you would use this enum type as the type of the properties that are foreign keys to the Categories table in the database. Alternatively - e.g. if you need descriptions - you would create an entity corresponding to the Categories table and use the enum (as defined above) as the key property type. Then again you would use the enum type for all properties that in the database are foreign keys to the Categories table.