Cant' get EF6 to load related entities

Question

I am creating a web application in C# using VS2012 to track contact attempts made to customers. I am saving the contact attempt, with 2 ref tables for contact attempt type, and contact attempt outcome, since these will always be fixed values. The problem I'm having is when I retrieve the App_ContactAttempt from the DB, it will bring back the App_ContactAttempt entity without the attached Ref_ContactOutcome and Ref_ContactType entities. I have lazy loading enabled and proxy creation enabled in the context file, and all ref table properties are set to virtual. But when I get an App_ContactAttempt from the db, there are not ref tables attached. Anyone got any ideas what I can do? If you need more information I can provide it.

UPDATE Right, I have a service setup to get the App_ContactAttempt, which looks like this:

    public App_ContactAttempt GetContactAttempt(int contactAttemptId)
    {
        using (var logger = new MethodLogger(contactAttemptId))
        {
            var contactAttempt = new App_ContactAttempt();
            try
            {
                contactAttempt = _unitOfWork.ContactAttempts.Get(contactAttemptId);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                logger.LogException(e.InnerException);
            }
            return contactAttempt;
        }
    }

When I use this service, I get back App_ContactAttempt when I call the service, but Ref_ContactType and Ref_ContactOutcome are null. But when I call to the db from within the controller using the db context like so:

    var db = new ParsDatabaseContext();

    var contactAttemptTest1 = _clientService.GetContactAttempt(contactAttempt.ContactAttemptId);

    var contactAttemptTest2 = db.App_ContactAttempt.Where(x => x.ContactAttemptId == contactAttempt.ContactAttemptId);

The contactAttemptTest1 returns the App_ContactAttempt with Ref_ContactType and Ref_ContactOutcome both being null. However, contactAttemptTest2 returns App_ContactAttempt with Ref_ContactType and Ref_ContactOutcome both being populated. Hope this helps narrow down my issue, because I haven't a clue..

UPDATE 2 Here are the context and classes if they help at all:

Context.cs

public partial class ParsDatabaseContext : DbContext
{
    public ParsDatabaseContext()
        : base("name=ParsDatabaseContext")
    {
        this.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
        this.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled = true;
    }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        throw new UnintentionalCodeFirstException();
    }

    public DbSet<App_Client> App_Client { get; set; }
    public DbSet<App_ContactAttempt> App_ContactAttempt { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Ref_ContactOutcome> Ref_ContactOutcome { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Ref_ContactType> Ref_ContactType { get; set; }

    public virtual ObjectResult<GetClient_Result> GetClient(Nullable<int> clientID)
    {
        var clientIDParameter = clientID.HasValue ?
            new ObjectParameter("ClientID", clientID) :
            new ObjectParameter("ClientID", typeof(int));

        return ((IObjectContextAdapter)this).ObjectContext.ExecuteFunction<GetClient_Result>("GetClient", clientIDParameter);
    }
}

App_ContactAttempt.cs

public partial class App_ContactAttempt
{
    public int ContactAttemptId { get; set; }
    public int ClientId { get; set; }
    public Nullable<System.DateTime> ContactDate { get; set; }
    public Nullable<int> ContactType { get; set; }
    public Nullable<int> ContactOutcome { get; set; }
    public string Notes { get; set; }

    public virtual Ref_ContactOutcome Ref_ContactOutcome { get; set; }
    public virtual Ref_ContactType Ref_ContactType { get; set; }
}

Ref_ContactOutcome.cs

public partial class Ref_ContactOutcome
{
    public Ref_ContactOutcome()
    {
        this.App_ContactAttempt = new HashSet<App_ContactAttempt>();
    }

    public int ContactOutcomeId { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<App_ContactAttempt> App_ContactAttempt { get; set; }
}

Ref_ContactType.cs

public partial class Ref_ContactType
{
    public Ref_ContactType()
    {
        this.App_ContactAttempt = new HashSet<App_ContactAttempt>();
    }

    public int ContactTypeId { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<App_ContactAttempt> App_ContactAttempt { get; set; }
}

Answer 1

The problem is that lazy loading works only if the DBContext used to create the proxy class is available. In your case is the proxy detached because the DBContext used to crate the proxy object contactAttempt of type App_ContactAttempt has already been disposed.

Also make sure that:

dbContext.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled = true;

And you can check if the object is proxy

public static bool IsProxy(object type)
{
    return type != null && ObjectContext.GetObjectType(type.GetType()) != type.GetType();
}

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee835846%28v=vs.100%29.aspx

See this answer to check if your proxy entity is attached to a DBContext.

You can attach existing detached entity to another existing context and make it lazy-loading again:

db.App_ContactAttempts.Attach(contactAttemptTest1);

If you have an entity that you know already exists in the database but which is not currently being tracked by the context then you can tell the context to track the entity using the Attach method on DbSet. The entity will be in the Unchanged state in the context.

See here.

So in your example:

using (var db = new ParsDatabaseContext())
{
   var contactAttemptTest1 = _clientService.GetContactAttempt(contactAttempt.ContactAttemptId);     
   db.App_ContactAttempts.Attach(contactAttemptTest1);    
   Debug.Print(contactAttemptTest1.Ref_ContactType.Description);
}

should work.

Answer 2

Use includes.

For example:

var contactAttemps = db.App_ContactAttempts
                       .Includes("Ref_ContactOutcome")
                       .Includes("Ref_ContactTypes")
                       .ToList();

Answer 3

Are you returning the entity itself or a DTO (data transfer object)?

if you are returning a DTO, ensure the mapping is properly done.

Post your entity object.