EF Core - navigational property in index - c#

I have the following two classes
public class Tip
{
public string Home { get; set; }
public string Away { get; set; }
public string Prediction { get; set; }
public Tipster Tipster { get; set; }
... other properties
}
public class Tipster
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Username { get; set; }
public string Platform { get; set; }
}
Now, I want to make unique index in theTip table. According to the EF Core documentation, there is no Data Annotations syntax, so I am using the fluent one:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Tip>()
.HasIndex(entity => new { entity.Tipster, entity.Home, entity.Away, entity.Prediction })
.HasName("IX_UniqueTip")
.IsUnique();
}
Now, when I update the database I get the following error
C:..>dotnet ef database update System.InvalidOperationException:
Cannot call Property for the property 'Tipster' on entity type 'Tip'
because it is configured as a navigation property. Property can only
be used to configure scalar properties.
It seems that EF didn't liked the fact that I am using referential property in the index. How can I fix that ?

You can't use navigation property in index defining expression. Instead, you should use the corresponding FK property.
The problem in your case is that you don't have explicit FK property in your model Tip. By convention EF Core will create int? TipsterId shadow property. So theoretically you should be able to use EF.Property method to access it:
.HasIndex(e => new { TipsterId = EF.Property<int>(e, "TipsterId"), e.Home, e.Away, e.Prediction })
Unfortunately this doesn't work currently (EF Core 2.0.1). So you have to resort to HasIndex overload with params string[] propertyNames:
.HasIndex("TipsterId", nameof(Tip.Home), nameof(Tip.Away), nameof(Tip.Prediction))

You must define the property TipsterId explicitly cause the Navigation property define it as shadow, so you cannot use it on custom index or alternate key
public class Tip
{
public string Home { get; set; }
public string Away { get; set; }
public string Prediction { get; set; }
public int TipsterId { get; set; }
public Tipster Tipster { get; set; }
... other properties
}
Now you can
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Tip>()
.HasIndex(entity => new { entity.TipsterId, entity.Home, entity.Away, entity.Prediction })
.HasName("IX_UniqueTip")
.IsUnique();
}

They way you defined your entities EF will put the referential column into the tipster table, since it looks like a 1-n relationship. Meaning a tipster can place several tips, but each tip is only placed by a single tipster.
That means on the database level there is nothing to index. No column, no key - nothing.
To fix this you might ask yourself what you really want to achieve with an index in the first place. An index is supposed to make queries using the columns of the index faster and avoid a full table scan.

Related

Error Adding Controller because of Model Relationships

I get an error message when trying to add a controller (presumably) because of incorrectly defined relationships. I cannot find what my issue is.
I have two simple models: Scenario and Condition. A Scenario can consist of multiple Conditions, but a Condition will only be associated with a single Scenario. (My DbContext is MySQL, not SQL Server).
Error: There was an error running the selected code generator: 'The relationship from 'Condition' to Scenario.Conditions with foreign key properties {'ScenarioId: int'} cannot target the primary key {'Id': int} because it is not compatible. Configure a principal key or a set of compatible foreign key properties for this relationship.'
(I had no problem creating the ScenariosController, and returning data from the API. Where I expected the array of Conditions to be, there were only null values. Also, the error occurred while trying to add the ConditionsController.)
public class Scenario
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public ICollection<Condition> Conditions { get; set; }
}
public class Condition
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int ScenarioId { get; set; }
public string Type { get; set; }
public string Preference { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("ScenarioId")]
public Scenario Scenario { get; set; }
}
public class EvaluatorContext : DbContext
{
public EvaluatorContext(DbContextOptions<EvaluatorContext> options)
: base(options)
{
}
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Condition>()
.HasOne(s => s.Scenario)
.WithMany()
.HasPrincipalKey(s => s.Id);
modelBuilder.Entity<Scenario>()
.HasMany(s => s.Conditions)
.WithOne()
.HasForeignKey(c => c.ScenarioId);
}
public DbSet<Scenario> Scenario { get; set; }
public DbSet<Condition> Condition { get; set; }
}
I want to be able to add a ConditionsController using the Code Generator without encountering an error message and to be able to return a Scenario object with the list of associated Conditions, and vice versa.
I believe the issue with not being able to add a controller with the code generator was due to some issue with how I was defining relationships with Fluent API in the OnModelCreatingMethod(). I got rid of those and the error went away. As it turns out, they are not mandatory in order to make a controller actually run.
I also had another issue... the .Includes() statement did not work to actually load related entities. The answer for that issue, at least in may case, is here:
ASP.NET Core API only returning first result of list

Entity Framework Core still picks up old column

I recently delete a column ConversationId from my tables. When I start to debug my service and try to save I am getting an error:
Invalid column name 'ConversationId'.
Code:
public class AstootContext : DbContext
{
public AstootContext(DbContextOptions<AstootContext> options)
: base(options)
{ }
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
}
public DbSet<ServiceRequest> ServiceRequests { get; set; }
}
And my entity looks like this:
public class ServiceRequest
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int SenderUserId { get; set; }
public int PriceTypeId { get; set; }
public decimal Price { get; set; }
public bool IsAccepted { get; set; }
public DateTime Created { get; set; }
public int MessageId { get; set; }
}
All references to ConversationId were removed from the code, I've rebuilt, yet I'm still getting this error and I don't understand why.
This is my SQL Server table as you can see there is no ConversationId:
Is there a secret cache that I need to delete or something I have to run to update this?
EF Core is code based ORM, with the most important here being the M - Mapper. It doesn't matter what the actual database structure is, the important is what EF *thinks** it is based on your code model (entity classes and their properties, combined with data annotations, fluent configuration and set of conventions).
So the problem should originate from code. Since you've removed the explicit property, it should be caused by shadow property. And as explained in the documentation link, shadow properties are usually introduced by convention from relationships:
Shadow properties can be created by convention when a relationship is discovered but no foreign key property is found in the dependent entity class. In this case, a shadow foreign key property will be introduced.
The documentation also explains the naming rules applied in different scenarios.
A shadow property called ConversationId can be introduced in a several ways, but according to the provided information, the most likely cause is to have an entity class called Conversation defining one-to-many relationship with ServiceRequest by having a collection type navigation property:
public class Conversation
{
public int Id { get; set; }
// ...
public ICollection<ServiceRequest> ServiceRequests { get; set; }
}
Which according to your comment was indeed the case.
For completeness, here are some other possible scenarios generating such property:
(1) No collection navigation property in Conversation, reference navigation property in ServiceRequest:
public class Conversation
{
public int Id { get; set; }
// ...
}
public class ServiceRequest
{
// ...
public Conversation Conversation { get; set; }
}
(2) No navigation properties in Conversation and ServiceRequest, fluent configuration:
modelBuilder.Entity<Conversation>()
.HasMany<ServiceRequest>();
or
modelBuilder.Entity<ServiceRequest>()
.HasOne<Conversation>();
or variations of the above.
(3) No relationship involved, shadow property created through fluent configuration:
modelBuilder.Entity<ServiceRequest>()
.Property<int>("ConversationId");

Helper / intermediate class has no columns in database (Entity Framework)

First off, I'm new to the Entity Framework and am migrating an existing project from a database framework that I wrote myself so I have a fair amount of flexibility in the solution I choose.
From what I've researched so far everything appears to be set up correctly. However, when my database is constructed, the table for a helper class I wrote has no columns in it (outside of its primary key). The most simplified version of the classes are included below with their relationships defined in the fluent API.
Classes
public class Concept
{
public long ID { get; set; }
[Index(IsUnique = true), MaxLength(255)]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class Tag
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public virtual Content Subject { get; set; }
public virtual Concept Concept { get; set; }
}
public class Helper
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public virtual Content Subject { get; set; }
public virtual List<Tag> Instances { get; set; }
// Helper functionality
}
public class Content
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public virtual Helper Helper { get; set; }
public Content() { Helper = new Helper() { Subject = this }; }
}
Context
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Tag>()
.HasRequired(t => t.Concept);
modelBuilder.Entity<Tag>()
.HasRequired(t => t.Subject);
modelBuilder.Entity<Helper>()
.HasRequired(t => t.Subject)
.WithRequiredDependent(c => c.Helper);
modelBuilder.Entity<Helper>()
.HasMany(t => t.Instances);
modelBuilder.Entity<Content>()
.HasRequired(c => c.Helper)
.WithRequiredPrincipal();
base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
}
Program.cs
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Content content = null;
using (var context = new Context())
{
content = context.Content.Find(1);
if (content == null)
{
content = new Content();
context.Content.Add(content);
context.Helper.Add(content.Helper);
context.SaveChanges();
}
}
}
It's also worth mentioning that when the data is saved, the Helper is assigned an ID but on loading the parent class (Content) the second time around, the Helper is not lazy loaded as I would expect from the 'virtual' keyword. I suspect that this is caused by the same issue causing the absence of data in the table.
I have tried both the data annotation and fluent API approaches that EF provides but it seems that there is something fundamental that I am misunderstanding. I would like to retain this helper class as it helps organize the code far better.
As I have spent a fair amount of time researching these relationships / APIs, and scouring Google / SO without found anything to solve this issue in particular any help would be greatly appreciated!
Updated: Solution
Thanks to a question in the comments, I realized that I was expecting to see the keys of a many-to-many relationship in the tables for the entity types themselves (i.e. in the Helpers table). However, in a many-to-many relationship, the keys will always be placed in a separate table (concatenation of type names) which was not being previously created.
By adding '.WithMany();' to the Helper section of the OnModelCreating function as below
modelBuilder.Entity<Helper>()
.HasMany(t => t.Instances)
.WithMany();
the many-to-many relationship became properly defined and the HelperTags table generated as expected. This is due to the fact that the many-to-many relationship is one way (Helpers always refer to Tags, Tags never refer to Helpers). This is also why the 'WithMany' does not have any arguments (since no Helper properties exist in the Tag class). Fixing this simple oversight solved the problem!
You are probably working harder than you need to in the on ModelCreate. You should probably redesign your classes use Identifiers, like this:
public class Tag
{
public long Id { get; set; }
public long SubjectId { get; set; }
public long ConceptId { get; set; }
public virtual Content Subject { get; set; }
public virtual Concept Concept { get; set; }
}
You need to keep the ID names the EXACT same as the object names + Id and EF will magically link everything up. If you don't want them required then make the id nullable (C# 6 == long? SubjectId).
Also, I have changed the ID -> Id; I have no idea if this matters. At one point I remember having to do that to get things working (it was YEARS ago) and I have been doing it that way ever since.
Consider reading:
Entity Framework Code First Conventions
relationship Convention
In addition to navigation properties, we recommend that you include
foreign key properties on the types that represent dependent objects.
Any property with the same data type as the principal primary key
property and with a name that follows one of the following formats
represents a foreign key for the relationship:
<navigation property name><principal primary key property name>
<principal class name><primary key property name>
<principal primary key property name>
If multiple matches are found then precedence is given in the order
listed above.
Foreign key detection is not case sensitive.
Sample Code from MSDN:
In the following example the navigation properties and a foreign key are used to define the relationship between the Department and Course classes.
public class Department
{
// Primary key
public int DepartmentID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
// Navigation property
public virtual ICollection<Course> Courses { get; set; }
}
public class Course
{
// Primary key
public int CourseID { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public int Credits { get; set; }
// Foreign key
public int DepartmentID { get; set; }
// Navigation properties
public virtual Department Department { get; set; }
}

Why EF navigation property return null?

I have two model
1)
public class Indicator
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public int MaxPoint { get; set; }
public string Comment { get; set; }
public DateTime DateChanged { get; set; }
public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; }
public virtual IList<CalculationType> CalculationTypes { get; set; }
public virtual IList<TestEntity> TestEntitys { get; set; }
public virtual IndicatorGroup IndicatorGroup { get; set; }
}
2)
public class CalculationType
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public string UnitName { get; set; }
public int Point { get; set; }
public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; }
public DateTime DateChanged { get; set; }
public virtual Indicator Indicator { get; set; }
public virtual IList<Сalculation> Calculations { get; set; }
}
I executing this code
var indicator = DataContext.Indicators.FirstOrDefault(i => i.ID == indicatorID);
var test = DataContext.CalculationTypes.FirstOrDefault();
first line return null on navigation property CalculationTypes
Second line return empty collection. Why?
UPDATE
snapshot database
project link https://github.com/wkololo4ever/Stankin
added Calculation
public class Сalculation
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public virtual CalculationType CalculationType { get; set; }
public virtual ApplicationUser Creator { get; set; }
}
1) Is Lazy Loading enabled? If not, you need to explicitly load your navigation properties with the '.Include' syntax.
2) Are you sure EF should be able to detect that relation? Did you use Code First or Database First?
Edit: 3) Are you sure there is data in your database and that the foreign key from Indicator to IndicatorGroup has a value for that specific record? I am saying this because the value "null" is valid if there is simply no data.
P.S. If you do not see a foreign key on Indicator called "IndicatorGroupId", there might be an "IndicatorId" on the table "IndicatorGroup", in which case - going from the names you provided - your database is misconfigured and you will need to use fluent syntax or data attributes to instruct EF on how to make the foreign keys.
Try this:
DbContext.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled = true;
DbContext.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
If DbContext.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled is set to false, DbContext will not load child objects for some parent object unless Include method is called on parent object. Setting DbContext.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled to true or false will have no impact on its behaviours.
If DbContext.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled is set to true, child objects will be loaded automatically, and DbContext.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled value will control when child objects are loaded.
I think this is problem:
Edit: 3) Are you sure there is data in your database and that the
foreign key from Indicator to IndicatorGroup has a value for that
specific record? I am saying this because the value "null" is valid if
there is simply no data.
P.S. If you do not see a foreign key on Indicator called
"IndicatorGroupId", there might be an "IndicatorId" on the table
"IndicatorGroup", in which case - going from the names you provided -
your database is misconfigured and you will need to use fluent syntax
or data attributes to instruct EF on how to make the foreign keys.
Try to this and make sure foreign key is corrected.
public class CalculationType
{
public long ID { get; set; }
public string UnitName { get; set; }
public int Point { get; set; }
public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; }
public DateTime DateChanged { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("IndicatorID")]
public string IndicatorId { get; set; } //this is the foreign key, i saw in your database is: Indicator_ID, avoid this, rename it to IndicatorID or IndicatorId
public virtual Indicator Indicator { get; set; }
public virtual IList<Сalculation> Calculations { get; set; }
}
Same behavior, but different root cause than selected answer:
Navigation property can also be null if you turned off myContext.Configuration.AutoDetectChangesEnabled
Very obvious, but this got me when I was implementing some performance improvments.
Check this out: Navigation Property With Code First . It mentions about why navigation property is null and the solutions of it.
By default, navigation properties are null, they are not loaded by
default. For loading navigation property, we use “include” method of
IQuearable and this type of loading is called Eager loading.
Eager loading: It is a process by which a query for one type of entity
loads the related entities as a part of query and it is achieved by
“include” method of IQueryable.
I experienced this issue, where navigation properites were not loaded, even when the Include statement was present.
The problem was caused by string-comparison differences between SQL Server and EF6 using .NET. I was using a VARCHAR(50) field as the primary key in my customers table and also, as a foreign key field in my audit_issues table. What I did not realize was that my keys in the customers table had two additional white space characters on the end; these characters were not present in my audit_issues table.
However, SQL Server will automatically pad whitespace for string comparisons. This applies for WHERE and JOIN clauses, as well as for checks on FOREIGN KEY constraints. I.e. the database was telling me string were equivalent and the constraint passed. Therefore I assumed that they actually were exactly equal. But that was false. DATALENGTH of one field = 10, while the DATALENGTH of the other = 8.
EF6 would correctly compose the SQL query to pull the foreign key related fields and I would see them both in the generated Sql query and in the results. However, EF6 would silently fail when loading the Navigation Properties because .NET does not consider those strings equal. Watch out for whitespace in string-type foreign key fields!.
This article helped me.
In sum :
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Proxies
In Startup.cs
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
...
services.AddDbContext<MyDbContext>(builder =>
{
builder.UseLazyLoadingProxies(); // <-- add this
}, ServiceLifetime.Singleton);
This is a variant of Keytrap's answer. Using .NET 6 and EF Core 6, I created a ContextPartials.cs for any custom configurations that I don't want EF's Scaffold command to overwrite:
Required Package:
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Proxies
Code (ContextPartials.cs):
// NOTE: I am not using the new file-scoped namespace on purpose
namespace DataAccess.Models.MyDatabase
{
// NOTE: This is a partial outside of the generated file from Scaffold-DbContext
public partial class MyDatabaseContext
{
// NOTE: This enables foreign key tables to become accessible
protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
=> optionsBuilder.UseLazyLoadingProxies();
}
}

EF CodeFirst - Adding ICollection Navigation Properties

I'm trying to figure out, how to implement navigation properties to my entities... But my navigation properties is always null:
I've set up two entities:
Entity 1 contains this lines:
public int Id { get; set; }
public ICollection<BestellterArtikel> BestellteArtikel { get; set; }
My second entity looks like this:
public int Id { get; set; }
public int BestellungId { get; set; }
public Bestellung BestellteArtikel { get; set; }
Further more I included this line to my overwritten OnModelCreating-Method:
modelBuilder.Entity<Bestellung>().HasMany(e => e.BestellteArtikel).WithRequired(e => e.Bestellung);
What have I done wrong? Have I forgotten something important? And does it has to be so complex? Do I have to add a line in my overwritten method for each property?
Here is my solution :
Entity 1:
public virtual ICollection<BestellterArtikel> BestellteArtikel { get; set; }
Entity 2:
public virtual Bestellung BestellteArtikel { get; set; }
Edited:
also you have to revise your mapping:
modelBuilder.Entity<Bestellung>().HasMany(e => e.BestellteArtikel).WithRequired(e => e.BestellteArtikel );
Instead of referring to BestellteArtikel property, you referred to type!
What do you mean by "always null"?
If you are talking about null values when you try to read them from DB,
then remember that you need to eagerly load the navigation properties when you query the context,
or use EF lazy-loading.
Read this for more information.

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