How to: Navigate Relationships with the Navigate Operator

This topic shows how to execute a command against a conceptual model by using an EntityCommand object, and how to retrieve the RefType results by using an EntityDataReader.

To run the code in this example

1. Add the AdventureWorks Sales Model to your project and configure your project to use the Entity Framework. For more information, see How to: Use the Entity Data Model Wizard.

2. In the code page for your application, add the following using statements (Imports in Visual Basic):

   Imports System
   Imports System.Collections.Generic
   Imports System.Collections
   Imports System.Data.Common
   Imports System.Data
   Imports System.IO
   Imports System.Data.SqlClient
   Imports System.Data.EntityClient
   Imports System.Data.Metadata.Edm
   

   using System;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using System.Collections;
   using System.Data.Common;
   using System.Data;
   using System.IO;
   using System.Data.SqlClient;
   using System.Data.EntityClient;
   using System.Data.Metadata.Edm;
   

Example

The following example shows how to navigate relationships in Entity SQL by using the NAVIGATE operator. The Navigate operator takes the following parameters: an instance of an entity, the relationship type, the end of the relationship, and the beginning of the relationship. Optionally, you can pass only an instance of an entity and the relationship type to the Navigate operator.

Using conn As New EntityConnection("name=AdventureWorksEntities")
    conn.Open()
    ' Create an EntityCommand. 
    Using cmd As EntityCommand = conn.CreateCommand()
        ' Create an Entity SQL query. 
        Dim esqlQuery As String = "SELECT address.AddressID, (SELECT VALUE DEREF(soh) FROM " & _
            " NAVIGATE(address, AdventureWorksModel.FK_SalesOrderHeader_Address_BillToAddressID) " & _
            " AS soh) FROM AdventureWorksEntities.Addresses AS address"


        cmd.CommandText = esqlQuery

        ' Execute the command. 
        Using rdr As DbDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess)
            ' Start reading. 
            While rdr.Read()
                Console.WriteLine(rdr("AddressID"))
            End While
        End Using
    End Using
    conn.Close()
End Using

using (EntityConnection conn =
    new EntityConnection("name=AdventureWorksEntities"))
{
    conn.Open();
    // Create an EntityCommand.
    using (EntityCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand())
    {
        // Create an Entity SQL query.
        string esqlQuery =
            @"SELECT address.AddressID, (SELECT VALUE DEREF(soh) FROM 
          NAVIGATE(address, AdventureWorksModel.FK_SalesOrderHeader_Address_BillToAddressID) 
          AS soh) FROM AdventureWorksEntities.Addresses AS address";

        
        cmd.CommandText = esqlQuery;

        // Execute the command.
        using (DbDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess))
        {
            // Start reading.
            while (rdr.Read())
            {
                Console.WriteLine(rdr["AddressID"]);
            }
        }
    }
    conn.Close();
}

See Also

Concepts

EntityClient Provider for the Entity Framework
Entity SQL Language