Using lazy loading in Entity Framework Core 8

The article shows how to opt into lazy loading in EF Core 8 so related data is not loaded until it is needed. It uses a Customer example with navigation properties and explains that, without eager loading or lazy loading, those properties stay null. It also notes that the debugger can make lazy-loaded data appear loaded before the application code accesses it.

Reading notes

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• EF Core 8 does not populate related navigation properties automatically unless eager loading or lazy loading is enabled.
• A Customer entity is used as the example, with CustomerRank and AddressCustomers as related properties.
• The ILazyLoader service from Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure can be injected into the entity through a private constructor.
• A navigation property can call LazyLoader.Load in its getter so the related value is loaded on access.
• If injecting behavior into entities feels unclean, the article shows using Fluent API in DbContext configuration instead.
• AutoInclude is used on Customer.AddressCustomers and Customer.CustomerRank in the shown modelBuilder configuration.
• The article also shows manual loading with DbContext.Entry, then Reference or Collection, followed by Load.
• Lazy loading still happens only when the navigation property is accessed.
• In Visual Studio debugging, data may look loaded because the debugger can read lazy-loaded fields too.
• In the example, the private field _customerRank is initially null and is loaded when CustomerRank is accessed.