SQL Server

System.Data.SqlClient is missing in a .NET Core project

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When you create a new project in .NET Core, and you try to use a class from ADO.NET, such as SqlConnection, you’ll get missing reference errors. For example, your code might look something like this, and it’ll have red-squiggly lines under SqlConnection: In the past, you’d simply add a reference to System.Data.SqlClient, like this: To … Read more

SqlException: Cannot insert explicit value for identity column

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When you have a table with an identity column, and you try to specify the value for identity column when inserting a record, you’ll get the following exception: Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table ‘Movies’ when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF. This error means you have an identity column in … Read more

EF Core – SELECT queries involving multiple tables

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When you have tables that are related, you’ll often need to get data from both tables at once, or filter records from one table based on values in another table. In this article, I’ll show examples of executing queries like this where more than one table is involved. You can do most queries using LINQ. … Read more

EF Core – Basic SELECT queries

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In this article, I’ll show examples of how to execute basic SELECT queries when using EF Core. You can execute queries using LINQ or by writing raw SQL. I’ll use SQL Profiler to show the queries generated by LINQ. Note: I’ll be using .AsNoTracking().ToListAsync() in all cases. You’ll need to decide if that’s the right … Read more

EF Core – How to add a computed column

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To add a computed column in EF Core, override DbContext.OnModelCreating() and specify the computed column using ModelBuilder, like this: In this article, I’ll show a full example of adding a computed column and then show how to specify that the computed column should be persisted. Example of adding a computed column Let’s say we have … Read more

EF Core – How to create a composite primary key

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A composite primary key is a primary key that contains more than one column. In EF Core, to create a primary key with one column, you would use the [Key] attribute. To create a composite primary key with multiple columns, you have to override DbContext.OnModelCreating() and then specify all of the columns included in the … Read more

EF Core – How to add indexes

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In this article, I’ll show how to add indexes using EF Core. If you’re not sure about why you would need indexes, take a look at this article explaining how indexes greatly improve query performance. Add an index with a single column The simplest way to add an index is to by adding the [Index] … Read more

EF Core – Add a foreign key

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In this article, I’ll show how to add a foreign key using EF Core. Then I’ll show how foreign keys affect inserts and deletes. How to add a foreign key A Show has one or more Episodes. In this section, I’ll show how to link these two tables together to enforce the 1-to-many relationship. In … Read more

EF Core – Apply migrations programmatically

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DbContext.Database has a few methods you can call to manage migrations programmatically. To apply any pending migrations: If the database doesn’t exist, MigrateAsync() will create it and then apply the migrations. To check if there are any pending migrations: To check which migrations have been applied: To apply a specific migration: This migrates up or … Read more

EF Core – Database schema changes

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Anytime you change the definition of the database – from renaming a column to creating a table – it’s referred to as a database schema change. With EF Core, you deal with database schema changes by using migrations. When you first create the database, you create a migration that contains the initial definition of the … Read more