从 .NET Framework 版本 4 开始，您可以在实体类型上公开外键属性，并且可以通过外键定义关系。 默认情况下，实体数据模型 向导中的**“在模型中加入外键列”**选项处于选中状态。 如果选中此选项，生成的实体对象具有映射到外键列的标量属性。
使用外键属性可以创建或修改关系，而不查询主体对象。 在加入外键属性后，您仍可以通过更新依赖对象上对主体对象的引用，或将依赖对象添加到主体对象上的集合中来修改关系。 通过导航属性访问实体上的引用与集合是一种常用的方式。 有关更多信息，请参见导航属性。
实体框架 尝试让引用、集合与外键属性保持同步。 如果更新某个依赖对象的外键属性，则应同步该对象上的引用和主体对象上的集合。 为实现此同步，必须将实体附加到对象上下文并通过实体框架 跟踪实体。 有关更多信息，请参见标识解析、状态管理和更改跟踪（实体框架）和定义和管理关系（实体框架）。
本主题中的示例基于 School 模型。 这些示例中的实体类型由实体数据模型 工具生成。 生成的类型由实体框架进行跟踪。 如果您使用的是 POCO 类型，请参见跟踪 POCO 实体中的更改（实体框架）。
下面的示例演示如何更改两个现有对象之间的关系。
Dim studentId As Integer = 6
Dim enrollmentID As Integer = 2
Using context = New SchoolEntities()
' Get StudentGrade.
Dim grade = (From g In context.StudentGrades
Where g.EnrollmentID = enrollmentID
Select g).First()
' Change the relationship.
grade.StudentID = studentId
' You can access Person reference object on the grade object
' without loading the reference explicitly when
' the lazy loading option is set to true.
Console.WriteLine(grade.Person.PersonID)
' Save the changes.
context.SaveChanges()
End Using
int studentId = 6;
int enrollmentID = 2;
using (var context = new SchoolEntities())
{
// Get StudentGrade.
var grade = (from g in context.StudentGrades
where g.EnrollmentID == enrollmentID
select g).First();
// Change the relationship.
grade.StudentID = studentId;
// You can access Person reference object on the grade object
// without loading the reference explicitly when
// the lazy loading option is set to true.
Console.WriteLine(grade.Person.PersonID);
// Save the changes.
context.SaveChanges();
}
下面的示例演示如何通过设置外键属性来设置新的依赖对象与现有主体对象之间的关系。
' The following example creates a new StudentGrade object and associates
' the StudentGrade with the Course and Person by
' setting the foreign key properties.
Using context As New SchoolEntities()
' The database will generate the EnrollmentID.
' To create the association between the Course and StudentGrade,
' and the Student and the StudentGrade, set the foreign key property
' to the ID of the principal.
Dim newStudentGrade = New StudentGrade With
{
.EnrollmentID = 0,
.Grade = CDec(4.0),
.CourseID = 4022,
.StudentID = 17
}
' Adding the new object to the context will synchronize
' the references with the foreign keys on the newStudentGrade object.
context.StudentGrades.AddObject(newStudentGrade)
' You can access Course and Student objects on the newStudentGrade object
' without loading the references explicitly because
' the lazy loading option is set to true in the constructor of SchoolEntities.
Console.WriteLine("Student ID {0}:", newStudentGrade.Person.PersonID)
Console.WriteLine("Course ID {0}:", newStudentGrade.Course.CourseID)
context.SaveChanges()
End Using
// The following example creates a new StudentGrade object and associates
// the StudentGrade with the Course and Person by
// setting the foreign key properties.
using (SchoolEntities context = new SchoolEntities())
{
StudentGrade newStudentGrade = new StudentGrade
{
// The database will generate the EnrollmentID.
EnrollmentID = 0,
Grade = 4.0M,
// To create the association between the Course and StudentGrade,
// and the Student and the StudentGrade, set the foreign key property
// to the ID of the principal.
CourseID = 4022,
StudentID = 17,
};
// Adding the new object to the context will synchronize
// the references with the foreign keys on the newStudentGrade object.
context.StudentGrades.AddObject(newStudentGrade);
// You can access Course and Student objects on the newStudentGrade object
// without loading the references explicitly because
// the lazy loading option is set to true in the constructor of SchoolEntities.
Console.WriteLine("Student ID {0}:", newStudentGrade.Person.PersonID);
Console.WriteLine("Course ID {0}:", newStudentGrade.Course.CourseID);
context.SaveChanges();
}
下面的示例演示如何设置新的依赖对象与新的主体对象之间的关系。
Using context = New SchoolEntities()
' The database will generate PersonID.
' The object context will get the ID
' After the SaveChanges is called.
Dim newStudent = New Person With
{
.PersonID = 0,
.LastName = "Li",
.FirstName = "Yan"
}
' The database will generate EnrollmentID.
' The object context will get the ID
' After the SaveChanges is called.
Dim newStudentGrade = New StudentGrade With
{
.EnrollmentID = 0,
.Grade = CDec(4.0),
.StudentID = 50
}
' Add newStudent to object context.
' The newStudent's state will change from Detached to Added.
context.People.AddObject(newStudent)
' To associate the new objects you can do one of the following:
' Add the new dependent object to the principal object: newStudent.StudentGrades.Add(newStudentGrade).
' Assign the reference (principal) object to the navigation property of the
' dependent object: newStudentGrade.Person = newStudent.
' Both of these methods will synchronize the navigation properties on both ends of the relationship.
' Adding the newStudentGrade to newStudent will change newStudentGrade's status
' from Detached to Added.
newStudent.StudentGrades.Add(newStudentGrade)
' Navigation properties in both directions will work immediately.
Console.WriteLine("Access StudentGrades navigation property to get the count: ", _
newStudent.StudentGrades.Count)
Console.WriteLine("Access Person navigation property: {0} ", _
newStudentGrade.Person.FirstName)
context.SaveChanges()
End Using
using (var context = new SchoolEntities())
{
Person newStudent = new Person
{
// The database will generate PersonID.
// The object context will get the ID
// After the SaveChanges is called.
PersonID = 0,
LastName = "Li",
FirstName = "Yan"
};
StudentGrade newStudentGrade = new StudentGrade
{
// The database will generate EnrollmentID.
// The object context will get the ID
// After the SaveChanges is called.
EnrollmentID = 0,
Grade = 4.0M,
StudentID = 50
};
// Add newStudent to object context.
// The newStudent's state will change from Detached to Added.
context.People.AddObject(newStudent);
// To associate the new objects you can do one of the following:
// Add the new dependent object to the principal object: newStudent.StudentGrades.Add(newStudentGrade).
// Assign the reference (principal) object to the navigation property of the
// dependent object: newStudentGrade.Person = newStudent.
// Both of these methods will synchronize the navigation properties on both ends of the relationship.
// Adding the newStudentGrade to newStudent will change newStudentGrade's status
// from Detached to Added.
newStudent.StudentGrades.Add(newStudentGrade);
// Navigation properties in both directions will work immediately.
Console.WriteLine("Access StudentGrades navigation property to get the count: ",
newStudent.StudentGrades.Count);
Console.WriteLine("Access Person navigation property: {0} ", newStudentGrade.Person.FirstName);
context.SaveChanges();
}
通过外键关联，您仍可以使用引用来设置关系，就像在 Entity Framework 4 之前的版本中设置关系一样。
' The following example creates a new StudentGrade and associates
' the StudentGrade with the Course and Person by
' setting the navigation properties to the Course and Person objects that were returned
' by the query.
' You do not need to call AddObject() in order to add the grade object
' to the context, because when you assign the reference
' to the navigation property the objects on both ends get synchronized by the Entity Framework.
' Note, that the Entity Framework will not synchronize the ends untill the SaveChanges method
' is called if your objects do not meet the change tracking requirements.
Using context = New SchoolEntities()
Dim courseID = 4022
Dim course = (From c In context.Courses
Where c.CourseID = courseID
Select c).First()
Dim personID = 17
Dim student = (From p In context.People
Where p.PersonID = personID
Select p).First()
' The database will generate the EnrollmentID.
' Use the navigation properties to create the association between the objects.
Dim newStudentGrade = New StudentGrade With
{
.EnrollmentID = 0,
.Grade = CDec(4.0),
.Course = course,
.Person = student
}
context.SaveChanges()
End Using
// The following example creates a new StudentGrade and associates
// the StudentGrade with the Course and Person by
// setting the navigation properties to the Course and Person objects that were returned
// by the query.
// You do not need to call AddObject() in order to add the grade object
// to the context, because when you assign the reference
// to the navigation property the objects on both ends get synchronized by the Entity Framework.
// Note, that the Entity Framework will not synchronize the ends untill the SaveChanges method
// is called if your objects do not meet the change tracking requirements.
using (var context = new SchoolEntities())
{
int courseID = 4022;
var course = (from c in context.Courses
where c.CourseID == courseID
select c).First();
int personID = 17;
var student = (from p in context.People
where p.PersonID == personID
select p).First();
StudentGrade grade = new StudentGrade
{
// The database will generate the EnrollmentID.
Grade = 4.0M,
// Use the navigation properties to create the association between the objects.
Course = course,
Person = student
};
context.SaveChanges();
}
下面的内容演示客户端与服务之间的简单通信，其中客户端向服务请求一个对象，然后客户端更新该对象并调用服务以将更改保存到数据库中。
该服务定义了两种方法：
Private Shared Function GetOriginalValue(ByVal ID As Integer) As StudentGrade
Dim originalItem As StudentGrade
Using context As New SchoolEntities()
originalItem = context.StudentGrades.Where(Function(g) g.EnrollmentID = ID).FirstOrDefault()
context.Detach(originalItem)
End Using
Return originalItem
End Function
Private Shared Sub SaveUpdates(ByVal updatedItem As StudentGrade)
Using context As New SchoolEntities()
' Query for the StudentGrade object with the specified ID.
Dim original = (From o In context.StudentGrades
Where o.EnrollmentID = updatedItem.EnrollmentID
Select o).First()
' Apply changes.
context.StudentGrades.ApplyCurrentValues(updatedItem)
' Save changes.
context.SaveChanges()
End Using
End Sub
static private StudentGrade GetOriginalValue(int ID)
{
StudentGrade originalItem;
using (SchoolEntities context
= new SchoolEntities())
{
originalItem =
context.StudentGrades.Where(g => g.EnrollmentID == ID).FirstOrDefault();
context.Detach(originalItem);
}
return originalItem;
}
static private void SaveUpdates(StudentGrade updatedItem)
{
using (SchoolEntities context
= new SchoolEntities())
{
// Query for the StudentGrade object with the specified ID.
var original = (from o in context.StudentGrades
where o.EnrollmentID == updatedItem.EnrollmentID
select o).First();
// Apply changes.
context.StudentGrades.ApplyCurrentValues(updatedItem);
// Save changes.
context.SaveChanges();
}
}
客户端更新外键属性的值并将更新的对象发送给服务：
' A client calls a service to get the original object.
Dim studentGrade As StudentGrade = GetOriginalValue(3)
' Change the relationships.
studentGrade.CourseID = 5
studentGrade.StudentID = 10
' The client calls a method on a service to save the updates.
// A client calls a service to get the original object.
StudentGrade studentGrade = GetOriginalValue(3);
// Change the relationships.
studentGrade.CourseID = 5;
studentGrade.StudentID = 10;
// The client calls a method on a service to save the updates.
SaveUpdates(studentGrade);