Entity Framework entity splitting one to many

Question

We are trying to use EF as a Business Entity Mapping model. Instead of generating 1 table per class we would like to flatten out the tables (entity splitting) and generate a business object for the class, letting Entity Framework handle the CRUD.

In addition we have an existing database and cannot modify the schema. We have tried both code-first and database first solutions, but we are unable to get to our stated goal.

What we have:

 public class Call
 {
    public int CallId {get;set;}
    public DateTime callTime {get;set;}
    public int PhoneTypeId {get; set;}

    public virtual PhoneType PhoneType {get; set;}
}

public class PhoneType 
{
     public int PhoneTypeId {get ;set;}
     public string TypeOfPhone {get ;set;}
}

What we want:

public class CallDetails
{    
    public int CallId {get;set;}
    public DateTime callTime {get;set;}
    public string TypeOfPhone {get; set;}
}

Edit

We are on ef 5 but can go up to ef 6.

Edit

To state the question clearer, I am looking for a way to flatten out multiple tables into 1 single entity, then have EF automagically update the multiple tables when that one edit is saved back to the data context

Edit

Is there a way of mapping 1 entity to second, if the first entity has the primary key of the second and the second entity doesnt have any key relating back to the first?

Answer 1

If you don't like how EF builds the class for you, create your own just as you want it. (I wrote the following assuming you have C# 6)

public class CallDetails
{
    public Call entityCall { get; set;}
    public int CallId => entityCall.CallId;
    public DateTime callTime {
            get{ return entityCall.callTime;}
            set{ entityCall.callTime = value;}
        }
    public string TypeOfPhone => entityCall.PhoneType.TypeOfPhone;
}

Then when you use it

var details = new CallDetails(){ entityCall = db.Calls.Find(id) };

You can access the values in the structure that you set up.That being said, I'd suggest using EF's classes. Doing it this way can cause a headache when it comes to editing values in the database.