EF 5 ENUM with Navigation - enums

Question

I'm trying to use Enum support with EF 5 and dot.NET 4.5.
The situation I have is the following.
POCO:
public partial class tbl_pp_Message
{
public tbl_pp_Message()
{
this.tbl_pp_MessageDistribution = new List<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution>();
}
public int MessageId { get; set; }
public string Subject { get; set; }
public string From { get; set; }
public string Body { get; set; }
public int PriorityId { get; set; }
public System.DateTime CreateDate { get; set; }
public int CreateById { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("PriorityId")]
public virtual tbl_pp_MessagePriority tbl_pp_MessagePriority { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution> tbl_pp_MessageDistribution { get; set; }
}
public partial class tbl_pp_MessagePriority
{
public tbl_pp_MessagePriority()
{
this.tbl_pp_Message = new List<tbl_pp_Message>();
}
public int MessagePriorityId { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public Nullable<int> DisplayOrder { get; set; }
public bool ShowAlert { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_Message> tbl_pp_Message { get; set; }
}
With the code listed above NOT using an ENUM the world is happy.
When I try to add an Enum the POCO will look like this.
[Flags]
public enum MessagePriorityEnum : int
{
NONE = 0,
Urgent = 1,
Normal = 2,
Low = 3
}
public partial class tbl_pp_Message
{
public tbl_pp_Message()
{
this.tbl_pp_MessageDistribution = new List<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution>();
}
public int MessageId { get; set; }
public string Subject { get; set; }
public string From { get; set; }
public string Body { get; set; }
public MessagePriorityEnum PriorityId { get; set; }
public System.DateTime CreateDate { get; set; }
public int CreateById { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("PriorityId")]
public virtual tbl_pp_MessagePriority tbl_pp_MessagePriority { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution> tbl_pp_MessageDistribution { get; set; }
}
This will not work during a save because it doesn't like the ForeignKey attribute. This error will be thrown during a save.
Schema specified is not valid. Errors:
(129,6) : error 0112: The types of all properties in the Dependent Role of a referential constraint must be the same as the corresponding property types in the Principal Role. The type of property 'PriorityId' on entity 'tbl_pp_Message' does not match the type of property 'MessagePriorityId' on entity 'tbl_pp_MessagePriority' in the referential constraint 'tbl_pp_MessagePriority_tbl_pp_Message'.
If the navigation for tbl_pp_MessagePriority is removed from tbl_pp_Message POCO. And the navigation removed from tbl_pp_MessagePriority POCO back to tbl_pp_Message then it works.
With out the navigation removed it will generate a SQL statement like this.
insert [dbo].[tbl_pp_Message]
([Subject],
[From],
[Body],
[PriorityId],
[CreateDate],
[CreateById],
[tbl_pp_MessagePriority_MessagePriorityId])
values ('Test ENUM EF Code First 5.0' /* #0 */,
'Daniel.Bivens' /* #1 */,
'Test 01 Enum Body - The Magic Unicorn Edition' /* #2 */,
2 /* #3 */,
'2013-05-23T10:52:09' /* #4 */,
5 /* #5 */,
null)
select [MessageId]
from [dbo].[tbl_pp_Message]
where ##ROWCOUNT > 0
and [MessageId] = scope_identity()
It would be ok if the tbl_pp_MessagePriority_MessagePriorityId was not added to the insert.
What can be done to keep the navigaion in EF code first while using ENUM support? Is there a DataAnnotation or a Mapping API?
Please post any suggestions you may have. This project is not using an EDMX/T4 template.
Working POCO:
public partial class tbl_pp_Message
{
//public tbl_pp_Message()
//{
// this.tbl_pp_MessageDistribution = new List<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution>();
//}
public int MessageId { get; set; }
public string Subject { get; set; }
public string From { get; set; }
public string Body { get; set; }
public MessagePriorityEnum PriorityId { get; set; }
public System.DateTime CreateDate { get; set; }
public int CreateById { get; set; }
//[ForeignKey("PriorityId")]
//public virtual tbl_pp_MessagePriority tbl_pp_MessagePriority { get; set; }
//public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution> tbl_pp_MessageDistribution { get; set; }
}
public partial class tbl_pp_MessagePriority
{
//public tbl_pp_MessagePriority()
//{
// this.tbl_pp_Message = new List<tbl_pp_Message>();
//}
public int MessagePriorityId { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public Nullable<int> DisplayOrder { get; set; }
public bool ShowAlert { get; set; }
//public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_Message> tbl_pp_Message { get; set; }
}
The working POCO would be ok if no navigation was needed.

Answer 1

The thing I was missing was setting the look-up table primary key to the same ENUM type instead of an int.
Working POCO with ENUM and navigation.
public partial class tbl_pp_Message
{
public tbl_pp_Message()
{
this.tbl_pp_MessageAction = new List<tbl_pp_MessageAction>();
this.tbl_pp_MessageAttachment = new List<tbl_pp_MessageAttachment>();
this.tbl_pp_MessageDistribution = new List<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution>();
}
public int MessageId { get; set; }
public string Subject { get; set; }
public string From { get; set; }
public string Body { get; set; }
public MessageTypeEnum TypeId { get; set; }
public System.DateTime CreateDate { get; set; }
public int CreateById { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("TypeId")]
public virtual tbl_pp_MessageType tbl_pp_MessageType { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_MessageAction> tbl_pp_MessageAction { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_MessageAttachment> tbl_pp_MessageAttachment { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_MessageDistribution> tbl_pp_MessageDistribution { get; set; }
}
public partial class tbl_pp_MessageType
{
public tbl_pp_MessageType()
{
this.tbl_pp_Message = new List<tbl_pp_Message>();
}
[Key]
public MessageTypeEnum MessageTypeId { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public Nullable<int> DisplayOrder { get; set; }
public bool ShowAlert { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<tbl_pp_Message> tbl_pp_Message { get; set; }
}