7

I have a SQL table like this:

myDepartment

DepartmentID is parent of department. I've build a tree by this table(in ASP.net (C#) project):

tree

Records in tree above is:

Records

I need to get parents in this tree.

I can do it in SQL Server like this(for Example id=2, id is input argument):

with cte1
as
(
select id,name,DepartmentID, 0 AS level 
from Department 
where id =2
union all 
select Department.ID,Department.name,Department.DepartmentID, level+1  
from Department 
inner join cte1 on Department.ID=cte1.DepartmentID
)
select * from cte1

Output(id=2 (A))

Output

Output(id=4 (A1))

Two higher Level

I know EF does not support cte, but I need to get this result in EF.

It would be very helpful if someone could explain solution for this problem.

Reza Amini
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Ali Soltani
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7 Answers7

2

These posts are similar to your question.please see these:

writing-recursive-cte-using-entity-framework-fluent-syntax-or-inline-syntax
converting-sql-statement-that-contains-with-cte-to-linq

I think there is no way to write a single LINQ to SQL query that could get all However, LINQ supports a method to execute a query (strangly enough called DataContext.ExecuteQuery). Looks like you can use that to call a arbitrary piece of SQL and map it back to LINQ.

See this post: common-table-expression-in-entityframework

Community
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taha mousavi
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0

The easiest way I can think of is to map the relationship in EF and then retrieve all departments and then get the root parent from that list. All of them should be loaded in memory and EF will take care of the tree structure with the mapping. Alternatively you can enable lazy loading and just get the parent but then with each child or childset a query will be executed by EF during retrieval.

Model

public class Department
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int? DepartmentId { get; set; }
    public Department ParentDepartment { get; set; }
    public virtual ICollection<Department> ChildDepartments { get; set; }
}

Mapping (using fluent)

public DbSet<Department> Departments { get; set; }
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    // other mapping code

    modelBuilder.Entity<Department>()
      .HasOptional(x => x.ParentDepartment)
      .WithMany(x => x.ChildDepartments)
      .HasForeignKey(x => x.DepartmentId);

    // other mapping code
}

Eager retrieval of root parent

using (var context = new YourDbContext())
{
    var allDepartments = context.Departments.ToList(); // eagerly return everything
    var rootDepartment = allDepartments.Single(x => x.DepartmentId == null);
}

Retrieval of only root parent and then use lazy loading, note that the DbContext needs to be available for Lazy Loading to work and it must also be enabled on the DbContext

using (var context = new YourDbContext())
{
    var rootDepartment = context.Departments.Single(x => x.DepartmentId == null);
   // do other stuff, as soon as context is disposed you cant lazy load anymore
}
Igor
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  • Thanks for response but I have `Departments` in `edmx` and I can get `root(main)` in EF. I need pass `id` and get parents like **Output**. – Ali Soltani Oct 22 '16 at 12:33
0

Try one of these,

1-

int _ID = 2; // ID criteria
List<object> result = new List<object>(); // we will use this to split parent at child, it is object type because we need Level

 var departments = entites.Departments.Where(x => x.ID == _ID).SelectMany(t => entites.Departments.Where(f => f.ID == t.DepartmentID),
            (child, parent) => new { departmentID = child.DepartmentID, Name = child.Name, ID = child.ID, level = 0,
                Parent = new { DepartmentID = parent.DepartmentID, Name = parent.Name, ID = parent.ID, level = 1 }});
        // first we check our ID (we take A from where criteria), then with selectmany T represents the Department A, we need
        // department A's departmentID to find its parent, so another where criteria that checks ID == DepartmentID, so we got T and the new list 
        // basically child from first where parent from second where, and object created.

        // for showing the results
        foreach (var item in departments)
        {
            result.Add(new { DepartmentID = item.departmentID,ID = item.ID, level= item.level,Name = item.Name}); // child added to list
            result.Add(new { DepartmentID = item.Parent.DepartmentID, ID = item.Parent.ID, level = item.Parent.level, Name = item.Parent.Name }); // parent added to list
        }

Result; enter image description here

2-

List<object> childParent = new List<object>();
// basically get the child first
Departments child1 = entites.Departments.Where(x => x.ID == _ID).FirstOrDefault();
// find parent with child object
Departments parent1 = entites.Departments.Where(x => x.ID == child1.DepartmentID).FirstOrDefault();
// create child object with level
childParent.Add(new { child1.DepartmentID, child1.ID,child1.Name , level = 0});
// create parent object with level
childParent.Add(new { parent1.DepartmentID,parent1.ID,parent1.Name, level = 1 });

Result (not the same image, check column Header Text); enter image description here

Edit 1:

3- Another way, by giving ID as input and assuming that ID column is unique, so there will be always 2 values at the array and by returning list, the index of items actually represent their levels. (won't add results because they are same :)).Btw you can also use Union instead of Concat.

var ress = list.Where(x=> x.ID ==2)
               .SelectMany(x=> list.Where(c=> c.ID == x.ID).Concat(list.Where(s => s.ID == x.DepartmentID))).ToList();

            DataTable dt = new DataTable();
            dt.Columns.Add("DepartmentID");
            dt.Columns.Add("ID");
            dt.Columns.Add("Name");
            dt.Columns.Add("Level");
            for (int i = 0; i < ress.Count(); i++)
            {
                dt.Rows.Add(ress[i].DepartmentID, ress[i].ID, ress[i].Name, i);
            }
            dataGridView1.DataSource = dt;

Edit 2

There is not cte in linq, basically using view,sp is the first choise but here is a solution, it might be a little push. Anyway it gives the result.

 List<Departments> childParent = new List<Departments>();
 // or basically get the child first
 Departments child1 = entites.Departments.Where(x => x.ID == 7).FirstOrDefault();
 // find parent with child object
 Departments parent1 = entites.Departments.Where(x => x.ID == child1.DepartmentID).FirstOrDefault();
 // create child object with level
 Departments dep = new Departments(); // I add to department class a string level field
 dep.DepartmentID = child1.DepartmentID;
 dep.ID = child1.ID;
 dep.Name = child1.Name;
 dep.level = 0; // first item
 childParent.Add(dep);
 // create parent object with level
 dep = new Departments();
 dep.DepartmentID = parent1.DepartmentID;
 dep.ID = parent1.ID;
 dep.Name = parent1.Name;
 dep.level = 1; // parent one
 childParent.Add(dep);

 while (childParent.Select(t => t.DepartmentID).Last() != null) // after added to list now we always check the last one if it's departmentID is null, if null we need to stop searching list for another parent
 {
       int? lastDepID = childParent.Last().DepartmentID; // get last departmentID 
       Departments tempDep = entites.Departments.Single(x => x.ID == lastDepID); // find as object
       tempDep.level = childParent.Last().level + 1; // increase last level
       childParent.Add(tempDep); // add to list          
 }

(Added another C1 to check 4th level)

enter image description here

Hope helps,

Berkay Yaylacı
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  • Thanks for answer. I tested your code. It works with a higher level (id=2) properly but with two or more levels doesn't work correctly (id=4 (A1) please see question again). – Ali Soltani Oct 29 '16 at 08:00
0

Below is the simple console project Program class code.

You can check with different IDs for the input parameter of the GetParentSet method.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      Program p = new Program();
      var result=  p.GetParentSet(6);
        foreach(var a in result)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} {1} {2}",a.ID,a.Name,a.DepartmentId));
        }
       Console.Read();
    }



    private List<Department> GetParentSet(int id)
    {
        List<Department> result = new List<Department>(); //Result set
        using (RamzDBEntities context = new RamzDBEntities())
        {
            var nodeList = context.Departments.Where(t=>t.ID<=id).ToList(); //Get All the the entries where ID is below or greater than the given to the list
            var item = nodeList.Where(a => a.ID == id).SingleOrDefault(); //Get the default item for the given ID
            result.Add(item); //Add it to the list. This will be the leaf of the tree

            int size = nodeList.Count(); //Get the nodes count
            for (int i = size;  i >= 1;i--)
            {
                var newItem=    nodeList.Where(j => j.ID == item.DepartmentId).SingleOrDefault(); //Get the immediate parent. This can be done by matching the leaf Department ID against the parent ID
                if (item!=null && !result.Contains(newItem)) //If the selcted immediate parent item is not null and it is not alreday in the list
                {
                    result.Add(newItem); //Add immediate parent item  to the list
                }
                if (newItem.ID == 1) //If the immediate parent item  ID is 1 that means we have reached the root of the tree and no need to iterate any more.
                    break;
                item = newItem; //If the immediate parent item ID is not 1 that means there are more iterations. Se the immediate parent as the leaf and continue the loop to find its parent

            }
        }
        return result; //return the result set
    }
}

Code itself is self-explanatory. However below is the explanation. Hope this will help!

  • First all the entries with ID below or equal to the given ID is assigned to a List
  • Then get the leaf of the tree and add it to the list named result. This is the first element of our result set
  • We iterate through the retrieved entries descending order. Get the immediate parent of the leaf by equating parent's ID to leaf's department ID
  • If this immediate parent is not null and its not already in the list add it to the list.
  • Make the immediate parent item as the leaf and continue the loop so that we can get the parent of the immediate parent.
  • continue this until we reach the root of the tree.
  • If the immediate parent ID is=1 that means we have reached the root of the tree and we can break the loop.
0

Since you generated the edmx, you have the code generated for your DbContext and for your Model Classes including Departments like on this screenshot.

You shouldn't modify them because they might (will) get overwritten by EF tools anyway on any model manipulation. Fortunately both classes are generated as partial so the creators thought about people wanting to customize it safely.

Example below is made for simplicity of implementation not for top performance. I assumed that the table containing Departments is not enormously big and the levels of nesting in hierarchy are not enormously deep.

  1. Create a new Class (*.cs file) in your project and extend your auto-generated Departments class by your custom method or property:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    
    namespace CustomEF.EFStuff
    {
    
    
        public partial class Departments
        {
            public  List<Departments> Hierarchy {
                get {
                    List<Departments> retVal = new List<Departments>();
                    retVal.Add(this);
                    using (YourAutoGeneratedContext ctx = new YourAutoGeneratedContext())
                    {
                        Departments tmp = this;
                        while(tmp.DepartmentID != null)
                        {
                            tmp = ctx.Departments.First(d => d.ID == tmp.DepartmentID);
                            retVal.Add(tmp);
                        }
                    }
                    return retVal;
    
                }
                private set { }
            }
        }
    }
    

    When you extend the partial class, make sure that you put it in the same namespace. In my case I named my project CustomEF and I've placed the edmx file in the EFStuff subfolder so the generator placed the auto generated class in the CustomEF.EFStuff namespace.

    The example above will allow you to get the hierarchy for any Departments object e.g.

    int level = 0;
    foreach(Departments d in someDepartmentObject.Hierarchy)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(d.ID.ToString() + ", " + d.DepartmentID.ToString() + ", " + d.Name +", " +(level++).ToString());
    }
    
  2. If you also need to get the hierarchy from some code where you have an ID but not the object, you can additionally create another class (*.cs file) where you'll extend the auto-generated context.

    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    
    namespace CustomEF.EFStuff
    {
    
    
        public partial class YourAutoGeneratedContext
        {
            public List<Departments> GetDepartmentHierarchy(int departmentId)
            {
                Departments mydep = this.Departments.FirstOrDefault(d => d.ID == departmentId);
                if (mydep == null)
                {
                    throw new System.Data.Entity.Core.ObjectNotFoundException("There is no department with ID = " + departmentId.ToString());
                }
                return mydep.Hierarchy;
            }
        }
    }
    

    Or in this case you might want to move the implementation to the Context class entirely, without extending the Departments class at all (and you wouldn't have to create an additional instance of your context, you'll have the this to use).

    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    
    namespace CustomEF.EFStuff
    {
    
    
        public partial class YourAutoGeneratedContext
        {
            public List<Departments> GetDepartmentHierarchy(int departmentId)
            {
                Departments tmp = this.Departments.FirstOrDefault(d => d.ID == departmentId);
                if (tmp == null)
                {
                    throw new System.Data.Entity.Core.ObjectNotFoundException("There is no department with ID = " + departmentId.ToString());
                }
                List<Departments> retVal = new List<Departments>();
                retVal.Add(tmp);
    
                while (tmp.DepartmentID != null)
                {
                    tmp = this.Departments.First(d => d.ID == tmp.DepartmentID);
                    retVal.Add(tmp);
                }
    
                return retVal;
            }
        }
    }
    

    As another unsophisticated use example:

    YourAutoGeneratedContext ctx = new YourAutoGeneratedContext();
    level = 0;
    foreach (Departments currentHier in ctx.GetDepartmentHierarchy(10))
    {
        Console.WriteLine(currentHier.ID.ToString() + ", " + currentHier.DepartmentID.ToString() + ", " + currentHier.Name + ", " + (level++).ToString());
    }
    

I don't know how much you can trust the data in the database. You might want to implement some checks including cross-referencing departments to prevent infinite loop.

Note that formally the term 'to extend a class' may apply to extension methods rather then to partial classes. I used this word from lack of better one. Extension methods would be something that you might want to use if, for some reason, you'd need your method/property returning EF native DbSet<> instead of the List<>. In such case you might want to take look at: https://shelakel.co.za/entity-framework-repository-pattern/

arundai
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Example in EF6 to get all parents up to root node.

public class Department
{
    [Key, DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public int? ParentId { get; set; }

    public virtual Department Parent { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Department> Children { get; set; }

    private IList<Department> allParentsList = new List<Department>();

    public IEnumerable<Department> AllParents()
    {
        var parent = Parent;
        while (!(parent is null))
        {
            allParentsList.Add(parent);
            parent = parent.Parent;
        }
        return allParentsList;
    }
}
Ogglas
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use include keyword.

_context.Invoices.Include(x => x.Users).Include(x => x.Food).ToList();