The property <property name> cannot be deleted because it is participating in the association <association name>
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
The selected property is set as the Association Property for the association between the classes indicated in the error message. Properties cannot be deleted if they are participating in an association between data classes.
Set the Association Property to a different property of the data class to enable successful deletion of the desired property.
To correct this error
Select the association line on the O/R Designer that connects the data classes indicated in the error message.
Double-click the line to open the Association Editor dialog box.
Remove the property from the Association Properties.
Try to delete the property again.
See Also
LINQ to SQL Tools in Visual Studio How to: Create an association (relationship) between LINQ to SQL classes (O/R Designer) Walkthrough: Creating LINQ to SQL Classes (O-R Designer) LINQ to SQL