Code Snippet: Execute the AssociationNavigator Method Instance of an External Content Type for an Association Without a Foreign Key

Article
07/24/2014

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

In this article
Description
Prerequisites
To use this example

Description

The following code example shows how to programmatically execute an AssociationNavigator method instance for a foreign key less association by using the BDC Runtime object model on the server.

Prerequisites

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 on the server.
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and Microsoft Visual Studio on the client computer.
At least one external content type registered in the BDC Metadata Store.

To use this example

Start Visual Studio and create a C# Console application project. Select .NET Framework 3.5 when you create the project.
From the View menu, click Property Pages to bring up the project properties.
In the Build tab, for the Platform target, select Any CPU.
Close the project properties window.
In Solution Explorer, under References, remove all project references except for System and System.Core.
Add the following references to the project:
1. Microsoft.BusinessData
2. Microsoft.SharePoint
3. Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData
Replace the autogenerated code in Program.cs with the code listed at the end of this procedure.
Replace the values of entity name, LobSystem name, and LobSystemInstance name with valid values.
Save the project.
Compile and run the project.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.BusinessData.Runtime;
using Microsoft.BusinessData.MetadataModel;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SharedService;

namespace SDKSamples
{
    class Associate
    {
        //FKLessAssociationNavigator.
        public static void FKLessAssociationNavigatorSample()
        {
            BdcService service = 
                SPFarm.Local.Services.GetValue<BdcService>(String.Empty);
            IMetadataCatalog catalog = 
                service.GetDatabaseBackedMetadataCatalog(
                SPServiceContext.Current);

            // Get entities.
            IEntity salesReasonEntity = catalog.GetEntity(
                "AdventureWorks", "SalesReason");
            IEntity salesOrderEntity = catalog.GetEntity(
                "AdventureWorks", "SalesOrder");

            //Get LOB System instance.
            ILobSystemInstance lobSystemInstance = 
                salesOrderEntity.GetLobSystem().GetLobSystemInstances()
                ["AdventureWorks"];

            // Get the source entity instance with ID 5 
            // to use to navigate the association.
            IEntityInstance salesReasonInstance = 
                salesReasonEntity.FindSpecific(new Identity(5), 
                "Read Item", lobSystemInstance, OperationMode.Online);

            // Get the association.
            IAssociation association = 
                (IAssociation)salesOrderEntity.GetMethodInstance(
                "Sales Order by Reason", 
                MethodInstanceType.AssociationNavigator);

            // Create a collection with the entity instance.
            EntityInstanceCollection sourceInstances = 
                new EntityInstanceCollection(1);
            sourceInstances.Add(salesReasonInstance);

            IEntityInstanceEnumerator associatedInstances = null;
            try
            {
                // Navigate the association.
                associatedInstances = 
                    salesOrderEntity.FindAssociated(
                    sourceInstances, association, 
                    lobSystemInstance, OperationMode.Online);

                // List all sales orders for customer 1.
                Debug.WriteLine(
                    "Listing customer's 1 sales orders ID and dates:");
                while (associatedInstances.MoveNext())
                {
                    Debug.WriteLine(
                        String.Format(
                        "Id: {0}, OrderDate: {1}", 
                        associatedInstances.Current["SalesOrderID"], 
                        associatedInstances.Current["OrderDate"]));
                }
            }
            finally
            {
                // Ensure the enumerator is closed.
                if (associatedInstances != null)
                {
                    associatedInstances.Close();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Code Snippet: Execute the AssociationNavigator Method Instance of an External Content Type for an Association Without a Foreign Key

Description

Prerequisites

To use this example

See Also

Reference

Additional resources