Which is the best database schema for my navigation?

Answer 1

My initial impression after reading your post is that I would be very averse to let any one technology (in this case linq) heavily influence the database schema design to the extent you seem to be suggesting.

I think your schema should be pretty much the same, regardless of what technology you then chose to build your business/presentation layers.

I hope I haven't misunderstood you.

Answer 2

I agree that designing with Linq in mind is bass-ackwards. Joe Celko's book "Trees and Hierarchies in SQL For Smarties" has many good ideas for schemas to represent what you're trying to do. Linq ought to be able to deal with these just fine.

Answer 3

Check out this article. It talks about storing tree structures in the database, and gives some good sample code to get you started.

This article has nothing to do with LINQ, just gives you a great way to store a tree-structure in the database.

Hope this helps.