Convert EntityReference to Entity

Question

Does anyone know how can Convert EntityReference to Entity.

protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext execution         


        

Answer 1

An EntityReference is just the logicalName, name, and id of the entity. So to get an Entity, you just need to create the entity using the properties of the EntityReference.

Here is an Extension Method that performs that for you:

public static Entity GetEntity(this EntityReference e)
{
    return new Entity(e.LogicalName) { Id = e.Id };
}

Don't forget that none of the other attributes of the entity will be populated. If you want the attributes you'll need to query for them:

public static Entity GetEntity(this IOrganizationService service, EntityReference e)
{
    return service.Retrieve(e.LogicalName, e.Id, new ColumnSet(true));
}

And if you like @Konrad's Field answer, make it a params array and it is nicer to call

public static Entity GetEntity(this IOrganizationService service, EntityReference e, 
   params String[] fields)
{
    return service.Retrieve(e.LogicalName, e.Id, new ColumnSet(fields));
}