How to do Cascading Include in LiteDB

Question

here is example on how to store cross-referenced entities in LiteDB. LiteDB stores the cross-referenced entities perfectly fine, but problem comes when I am trying to find/load entities back. My goal is NOT ONLY the requested entity but also referenced ones. There is quick tutorial section "DbRef for cross references" on LiteDB webpage how one can realize it. LiteDB has "Include" option (which is called before "FindAll") which says which referenced entities must be loaded as well. I am trying to achieve it in this code example but with no results, i.e, the code raises Exception("D_Ref") meaning "D_Ref" reference is not loaded:

namespace _01_simple {
using System;
using LiteDB;

public class A {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
    public B B_Ref { set; get; }
}
public class B {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
    public C C_Ref { set; get; }
}
public class C {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
    public D D_Ref { set; get; }
}
public class D {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
}

class Program {
    static void Main(string[] args) {
        test_01();
    }

    static string NameInDb<T>() {
        var name = typeof(T).Name + "s";
        return name;
    }

    static void test_01() {
        if (System.IO.File.Exists(@"MyData.db"))
            System.IO.File.Delete(@"MyData.db");

        using (var db = new LiteDatabase(@"MyData.db")) {
            var As = db.GetCollection<A>(NameInDb<A>());
            var Bs = db.GetCollection<B>(NameInDb<B>());
            var Cs = db.GetCollection<C>(NameInDb<C>());
            var Ds = db.GetCollection<D>(NameInDb<D>());

            LiteDB.BsonMapper.Global.Entity<A>().DbRef(x => x.B_Ref, NameInDb<B>());
            LiteDB.BsonMapper.Global.Entity<B>().DbRef(x => x.C_Ref, NameInDb<C>());
            LiteDB.BsonMapper.Global.Entity<C>().DbRef(x => x.D_Ref, NameInDb<D>());

            var d = new D { Name = "I am D." };
            var c = new C { Name = "I am C.", D_Ref = d };
            var b = new B { Name = "I am B.", C_Ref = c };
            var a = new A { Name = "I am A.", B_Ref = b };

            Ds.Insert(d);
            Cs.Insert(c);
            Bs.Insert(b);
            As.Insert(a);
        }

        using (var db = new LiteDatabase(@"MyData.db")) {
            var As = db.GetCollection<A>(NameInDb<A>());

            var all_a = As
                .Include(x => x.B_Ref)
                .FindAll();
            foreach (var a in all_a) {
                if (a.B_Ref == null)
                    throw new Exception("B_Ref");
                if (a.B_Ref.C_Ref == null)
                    throw new Exception("C_Ref");
                if (a.B_Ref.C_Ref.D_Ref == null)
                    throw new Exception("D_Ref");
            }
        }
    }
}}

Answer 1

after small research I've resolved the issue simply by adding extra "Include" parameterize by "x => x.B_Ref.C_Ref" lambda where x.B_Ref.C_Ref is a path in hierarchy of references:

var all_a = As
    .Include(x => x.B_Ref)
    .Include(x => x.B_Ref.C_Ref)
    .FindAll();

Here is complete example

namespace _01_simple {
using System;
using LiteDB;

public class A {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
    public B B_Ref { set; get; }
}
public class B {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
    public C C_Ref { set; get; }
}
public class C {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
    public D D_Ref { set; get; }
}
public class D {
    public int Id { set; get; }
    public string Name { set; get; }
}

class Program {
    static void Main(string[] args) {
        test_01();
    }

    static string NameInDb<T>() {
        var name = typeof(T).Name + "s";
        return name;
    }

    static void test_01() {
        if (System.IO.File.Exists(@"MyData.db"))
            System.IO.File.Delete(@"MyData.db");

        using (var db = new LiteDatabase(@"MyData.db")) {
            var As = db.GetCollection<A>(NameInDb<A>());
            var Bs = db.GetCollection<B>(NameInDb<B>());
            var Cs = db.GetCollection<C>(NameInDb<C>());
            var Ds = db.GetCollection<D>(NameInDb<D>());

            LiteDB.BsonMapper.Global.Entity<A>().DbRef(x => x.B_Ref, NameInDb<B>());
            LiteDB.BsonMapper.Global.Entity<B>().DbRef(x => x.C_Ref, NameInDb<C>());
            LiteDB.BsonMapper.Global.Entity<C>().DbRef(x => x.D_Ref, NameInDb<D>());

            var d = new D { Name = "I am D." };
            var c = new C { Name = "I am C.", D_Ref = d };
            var b = new B { Name = "I am B.", C_Ref = c };
            var a = new A { Name = "I am A.", B_Ref = b };

            Ds.Insert(d);
            Cs.Insert(c);
            Bs.Insert(b);
            As.Insert(a);
        }

        using (var db = new LiteDatabase(@"MyData.db")) {
            var As = db.GetCollection<A>(NameInDb<A>());

            var all_a = As
                .Include(x => x.B_Ref)
                .Include(x => x.B_Ref.C_Ref)
                .Include(x => x.B_Ref.C_Ref.D_Ref)
                .FindAll();
            foreach (var a in all_a) {
                if (a.B_Ref == null)
                    throw new Exception("B_Ref");
                if (a.B_Ref.C_Ref == null)
                    throw new Exception("C_Ref");
                if (a.B_Ref.C_Ref.D_Ref == null)
                    throw new Exception("D_Ref");
            }
        }
    }
}}

I hope it saves someone's time.

Update: LiteDB author says there is no support for Cascading Include. But it is planned in the next version (see issue). Consider, once, let say, B_Ref is a Lite of B, then there is no mechanism to force deeper Include.