generate a list of products of a category - asp.net

Question

I am developing a shop application and I need to show products of each category. The problem is each product is created from a product template which is stored in a table and each template is related to a category. here is the product model:
namespace fardashahr.Models
{
[Table("Product")]
public class ProductModel
{
public ProductModel()
{
if (Specs == null)
{
Specs = new Dictionary<string, SpecItemsModel>();
}
}
[Key, DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
[Required]
public int ProductTemplateId { get; set; }
[Required]
public bool IsPublished { get; set; }
[Required]
public bool InStock { get; set; }
[Range(95, 110)]
public float SyncRate { get; set; }
public DateTime? ProductionDate { get; set; }
[Required]
public DateTime RegisterationDate { get; set; }
public string ImageName { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<string> GalleryImages { get; set; }
[NotMapped]
public Dictionary<string, SpecItemsModel> Specs { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("ProductTemplateId")]
public virtual ProductTemplateModel ProductTemplate { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("ManufacturerId")]
public virtual CodingItemModel Manufacturer { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("BrandId")]
public virtual CodingItemModel Brand { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("ModelId")]
public virtual CodingItemModel Model { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("SeriesId")]
public virtual CodingItemModel Series { get; set; }
}
}
and here is the the ProductTemplate:
namespace fardashahr.Models
{
[Table("ProductTemplate")]
public class ProductTemplateModel
{
[Key, DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
[StringLength(500)]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Required]
public int CategoryId { get; set; }
[StringLength(500)]
public string Description { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("CategoryId")]
public virtual CategoryModel Category{ get; set; }
}
}
and the controller is:
namespace fardashahr.Controllers
{
public class ProductsController : Controller
{
// GET: Products
public ActionResult Index()
{
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
}
public ActionResult Category(string name)
{
//declare a list of products
List<ProductModel> productList;
using(MainModel db = new MainModel())
{
//get category id
CategoryModel category = db.Categories.Where(x => x.CategorytUrl == name).FirstOrDefault();
int catId = category.Id;
//initialize the list
productList = db.Products.Where(x => x. == catId).ToList();
}
}
}
}
finaly, what I want to know is how to initialize a list of products.

Answer 1

In your models, you added virtual keyword which indicates that navigation property will be automatically loaded without the need of LINQ lambda .include() expression.
Hence you can immediately access the navigation property and load the list like this;
productList = db.Products.Where(x => x.ProductTemplate.CategoryId == catId).ToList();
string categoryNameOfFirstProduct = productList.FirstOrDefault().ProductTemplate.Category.Name;
string categoryNameOfFirstProduct = productList.FirstOrDefault().ProductTemplate.Category.CategorytUrl;