How to implement searching with Include in ASP.NET CORE

Question

I have two models in my project. first for Movie and second for Genre. There is a many-to-many relation between the two. So I created another model named MovieGenre. The problem is I don't know how to implement a search function in the controller for name of the Genre. To retrieve a movie with the specified genre name I mean.

Here is the three models

public class Movie
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public List<MovieGenre> MovieGenres { get; set; }
        public string Director { get; set; }
        public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; } = DateTime.Now;

    }

public class Genre
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public List<MovieGenre> MovieGenres { get; set; }
    }

public class MovieGenre
    {
        public int MovieId { get; set; }
        public int GenreId { get; set; }
        public Movie Movie { get; set; }
        public Genre Genre { get; set; }
    }

Does this answer your question? [Filtering on Include in EF Core](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43618096/filtering-on-include-in-ef-core) — burnsi, Mar 04 '22 at 09:56
I don't understand why you don't just create a List prop in Genre model, no need for MovieGenre model — big boy, Mar 04 '22 at 09:58

Svyatoslav Danyliv · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-04T14:52:42.900

3

This query has nothing with Include but how to implement filter

var result = ctx.Movie
    .Where(m => m.MovieGenres.Any(mg => mg.Genre.Name == genreName))
    .ToList();

If you are using EF Core 5+, consider to simplify your model. Intermediate entity can be omitted/hidden, check documentation:

public class Movie
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<Genre> Genres { get; set; }
    public string Director { get; set; }
    public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; } = DateTime.Now;
}

public class Genre
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<Movie> Movies { get; set; }
}

var result = ctx.Movie
    .Where(m => m.Genres.Any(g => g.Name == genreName))
    .ToList();

edited Nov 04 '22 at 14:52

answered Mar 04 '22 at 10:27

Svyatoslav Danyliv

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FYI: EF core support many-to-many relations w/o intermediate entity since version 5.0. – Oliver Mar 04 '22 at 10:34
So it doesn't need to create a separate join table! Thanks Man! – ahamad zooghi Mar 04 '22 at 13:49
@ahamadzooghi, actually join table will be created automatically, so you do not need to do that by yourself. – Svyatoslav Danyliv Mar 04 '22 at 13:50
@SvyatoslavDanyliv So what about Fluent API? Does it mean we don't need to write any code on Fluent API anymore? Is it all automated on EF CORE 5+? – ahamad zooghi Mar 04 '22 at 19:11

How to implement searching with Include in ASP.NET CORE

1 Answers1