A specified Include path is not valid. The EntityType '*Propiedad' does not declare a navigation property with the name 'Nombre'

Question

I am trying to implement unit of work and the generic repository pattern as explained here:

http://www.asp.net/mvc/overview/older-versions/getting-started-with-ef-5-using-mvc-4/implementing-the-repository-and-unit-of-work-patterns-in-an-asp-net-mvc-application

My entity Propiedad is like this:

 public class Propiedad
    {
        [Key]
        public int Id { get; set; }

        public virtual Entidad Entidad { get; set; }

        public string Codigo { get; set; }
        public string Nombre { get; set; }
        public string TipoDeDatos { get; set; }
    }

The line where its failing its actually the Index action

public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View(unitOfWork.PropiedadRepository.Get(includeProperties:"Nombre, Codigo, TipoDeDatos").ToList());
    }

The Generic Repository class:

public class GenericRepository<TEntity> where TEntity : class
    {
        internal AppDataContext context;
        internal DbSet<TEntity> dbSet;

        public GenericRepository(AppDataContext context)
        {
            this.context = context;
            this.dbSet = context.Set<TEntity>();
        }

        public virtual IEnumerable<TEntity> Get(
            Expression<Func<TEntity, bool>> filter = null,
            Func<IQueryable<TEntity>, IOrderedQueryable<TEntity>> orderBy = null,
            string includeProperties = "")
        {
            IQueryable<TEntity> query = dbSet;

            if (filter != null)
            {
                query = query.Where(filter);
            }

            foreach (var includeProperty in includeProperties.Split
                (new char[] { ',' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries))
            {
                query = query.Include(includeProperty);
            }

            if (orderBy != null)
            {
                return orderBy(query).ToList();
            }
            else
            {
                return query.ToList();
            }
        }

        public virtual TEntity GetByID(object id)
        {
            return dbSet.Find(id);
        }

        public virtual void Insert(TEntity entity)
        {
            dbSet.Add(entity);
        }

        public virtual void Delete(object id)
        {
            TEntity entityToDelete = dbSet.Find(id);
            Delete(entityToDelete);
        }

        public virtual void Delete(TEntity entityToDelete)
        {
            if (context.Entry(entityToDelete).State == EntityState.Detached)
            {
                dbSet.Attach(entityToDelete);
            }
            dbSet.Remove(entityToDelete);
        }

        public virtual void Update(TEntity entityToUpdate)
        {
            dbSet.Attach(entityToUpdate);
            context.Entry(entityToUpdate).State = EntityState.Modified;
        }
    }

and the unit of work class

public class UnitOfWork : IDisposable
    {
        private AppDataContext context = new AppDataContext();
        private GenericRepository<Empresa> empresaRepository;
        private GenericRepository<Propiedad> propiedadRepository;
        private GenericRepository<Entidad> entidadRepository;

        public GenericRepository<Empresa> EmpresaRepository
        {
            get
            {

                if (this.empresaRepository == null)
                {
                    this.empresaRepository = new GenericRepository<Empresa>(context);
                }
                return empresaRepository;
            }
        }

        public GenericRepository<Propiedad> PropiedadRepository
        {
            get
            {

                if (this.propiedadRepository == null)
                {
                    this.propiedadRepository = new GenericRepository<Propiedad>(context);
                }
                return propiedadRepository;
            }
        }

        public GenericRepository<Entidad> EntidadRepository
        {
            get
            {

                if (this.entidadRepository == null)
                {
                    this.entidadRepository = new GenericRepository<Entidad>(context);
                }
                return entidadRepository;
            }
        }
        public void Save()
        {
            context.SaveChanges();
        }

        private bool disposed = false;

        protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            if (!this.disposed)
            {
                if (disposing)
                {
                    context.Dispose();
                }
            }
            this.disposed = true;
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            Dispose(true);
            GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
        }
    }

However I get this error: A specified Include path is not valid. The EntityType '*Propiedad' does not declare a navigation property with the name 'Nombre'.

But the Propiedad entity has a property called Nombre, so I dont get it why its failing.

Answer 1

Include is made to eagerly load navigation properties, meaning any property that is, in fact, another related entity. Since Nombre is a string, you do not need to include it: it is part of the entity that is returned from the database call. If Nombre were of a class representing a database entity, then you could include it.