Why my EF collection are not lazy? - lazy-loading

Question

I'm using EF 4.1 Code first. I have a model of user and a model of setting.
Each time the repository returns a user the Setting is also loaded. I've marked the Setting as virtual all my access modifiers are public LazyLoadingEnabled and ProxyCreationEnabled are enabled by default.
What am I missing?
public class User : BaseEntity
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
public string Password { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Setting> Settings { get; set; }
}
public class Setting
{
public int UserID { get; set; }
public int SettingID { get; set; }
public string Value { get; set; }
}
The User might have several setting, so there is a one to many relationship with a foreign key in setting.
The user configuration is
public class UserConfiguration : EntityTypeConfiguration<User>
{
public UserConfiguration()
{
HasKey(u => u.ID);
HasMany(u => u.Settings).WithOptional().HasForeignKey(u => u.UserID);
}
}
and the Setting configuration is:
public class SettingsConfiguration : EntityTypeConfiguration<Setting>
{
public SettingsConfiguration()
{
ToTable("UserSettings");
HasKey(s => new { s.UserID, s.SettingID });
}
}

Answer 1

Lazy loading means the opposite of what you think it means.
With lazy loading (virtual property and defaults)
Settings is not retrieved immediately when querying User
Settings is retrieved when it's accessed for the first time. The DbContext must be open at that time for this to happen; otherwise you'll get an exception
Without lazy loading (non-virtual property and/or explicitly disabled)
Settings is not retrieved immediately when querying User
Settings will never be retrieved automatically; it will return null (which, in my opinion, is a terrible design decision: null is a wrong value and you shouldn't be able to get it)
In both cases, you can load Settings eagerly by using .Include(x => x.Settings), or when needed, by calling context.Entry(user).Collection(x => x.Settings).Load()