how to work with navigation properties in asp.net mvc web api

Question

I am working on asp.net mvc 4 web api with EF code first model. I have a class with navigation property like like,

public class Branch
{
[Key]
public int Id{get; set;}
public List<book> books{get; set;}
}

and my book class is like,

public class book
{
[Key]
public int id{get; set;}
public string Name{get; set;}
}

Now i need to get list of branches so i write like,

public IQuerable<branch> GetBranches(int branchid)
{
  return context.school.where(m=>m.id==branchid).ToList().AsQuerable();
}

now i want to assign some data to book property in branch class so did like,

context.school.ToList().ForEach(m=>m.books=GetBooks(branchid));

and now to get branch i have url like,

/api/branch/12

and is there any way to get particular book in a particular branch using url like

/api/branch/12/book/567

to return book number 567 in branch number 12. please guide me.

Answer 1

You can use this kind of url to pass book to BranchController:

/api/branch/12?book=567

Or you can create new route for your url

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "BranchBooksApi",
    routeTemplate: "api/branch/{id}/book/{bookId}",
    defaults: new { controller = "Branch" });

Both options will invoke method like

public book Get(int id, int bookId)
{
    //...
}

Also if you need to get book (it's not clear to me what you want - branch with single book, or just book from branch), then maybe BooksController is more appropriate place for this code.