Convenient method for explicit lazy loading in Entity Framework Core (or Entity Framework 6)

Last week I was explaining explicit lazy loading on Entity Framework Core and quite understandably the question came about shortening/encapsulating the code, because you might need to use it a lot in some cases. It’s possible and luckily the method can also benefit from overload resolution in C# to handle reference and collection navigation properties transparently.

It’s pretty simple, just putting things together with correct signatures and calls. I decided to declare it on DbContext for convenience sake (although It could be also implemented for ChangeTracker or on some common interface for entities, if you have one).

static class Ext { public static void LoadRelated<TEntity, TReference>(this DbContext context, TEntity entity, Expression<Func<TEntity, TReference>> selector) where TEntity : class where TReference : class { var reference = context.Entry(entity).Reference(selector); if (!reference.IsLoaded) reference.Load(); } public static void LoadRelated<TEntity, TReference>(this DbContext context, TEntity entity, Expression<Func<TEntity, IEnumerable<TReference>>> selector) where TEntity : class where TReference : class { var collection = context.Entry(entity).Collection(selector); if (!collection.IsLoaded) collection.Load(); } public static void LoadRelated<TEntity, TReference>(this DbContext context, TEntity entity, Expression<Func<TEntity, ICollection<TReference>>> selector) where TEntity : class where TReference : class { LoadRelated(context, entity, Expression.Lambda<Func<TEntity, IEnumerable<TReference>>>(selector.Body, selector.Parameters)); } }

Also because the API surface (and behavior) in this area is same betwen Entity Framework 6 and Entity Framework Core, this code is going to work for both. 😎