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Getting multiple cascades paths error while updating the database using Entity Framework [duplicate]

I've been wrestling with this for a while and can't quite figure out what's happening. I have a Card entity which contains Sides (usually 2) - and both Cards and Sides have a Stage. I'm using EF Codefirst migrations and the migrations are failing with this error:
Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint 'FK_dbo.Sides_dbo.Cards_CardId' on
table 'Sides' may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON
DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY
constraints.
Here's my Card entity:
public class Card
{
public Card()
{
Sides = new Collection<Side>();
Stage = Stage.ONE;
}
[Key]
[Required]
public virtual int CardId { get; set; }
[Required]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
[Required]
[ForeignKey("CardId")]
public virtual ICollection<Side> Sides { get; set; }
}
Here's my Side entity:
public class Side
{
public Side()
{
Stage = Stage.ONE;
}
[Key]
[Required]
public virtual int SideId { get; set; }
[Required]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
[Required]
public int CardId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("CardId")]
public virtual Card Card { get; set; }
}
And here's my Stage entity:
public class Stage
{
// Zero
public static readonly Stage ONE = new Stage(new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0), "ONE");
// Ten seconds
public static readonly Stage TWO = new Stage(new TimeSpan(0, 0, 10), "TWO");
public static IEnumerable<Stage> Values
{
get
{
yield return ONE;
yield return TWO;
}
}
public int StageId { get; set; }
private readonly TimeSpan span;
public string Title { get; set; }
Stage(TimeSpan span, string title)
{
this.span = span;
this.Title = title;
}
public TimeSpan Span { get { return span; } }
}
What's odd is that if I add the following to my Stage class:
public int? SideId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("SideId")]
public virtual Side Side { get; set; }
The migration runs successfully. If I open up SSMS and look at the tables, I can see that Stage_StageId has been added to Cards (as expected/desired), however Sides contains no reference to Stage (not expected).
If I then add
[Required]
[ForeignKey("StageId")]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
public int StageId { get; set; }
To my Side class, I see StageId column added to my Side table.
This is working, but now throughout my application, any reference to Stage contains a SideId, which is in some cases totally irrelevant. I'd like to just give my Card and Side entities a Stage property based on the above Stage class without polluting the stage class with reference properties if possible... what am I doing wrong?

Because Stage is required, all one-to-many relationships where Stage is involved will have cascading delete enabled by default. It means, if you delete a Stage entity
the delete will cascade directly to Side
the delete will cascade directly to Card and because Card and Side have a required one-to-many relationship with cascading delete enabled by default again it will then cascade from Card to Side
So, you have two cascading delete paths from Stage to Side - which causes the exception.
You must either make the Stage optional in at least one of the entities (i.e. remove the [Required] attribute from the Stage properties) or disable cascading delete with Fluent API (not possible with data annotations):
modelBuilder.Entity<Card>()
.HasRequired(c => c.Stage)
.WithMany()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);
modelBuilder.Entity<Side>()
.HasRequired(s => s.Stage)
.WithMany()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);

I had a table that had a circular relationship with others and I was getting the same error. Turns out it is about the foreign key which was not nullable. If the key is not nullable the related object must be deleted, and circular relations don't allow that. So use nullable foreign key.
[ForeignKey("StageId")]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
public int? StageId { get; set; }

Anybody wondering how to do it in EF core:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
foreach (var relationship in modelBuilder.Model.GetEntityTypes().SelectMany(e => e.GetForeignKeys()))
{
relationship.DeleteBehavior = DeleteBehavior.Restrict;
}
..... rest of the code.....

I was getting this error for lots of entities when I was migrating down from an EF7 model to an EF6 version. I didn't want to have to go through each entity one at a time, so I used:
builder.Conventions.Remove<ManyToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
builder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();

You can set cascadeDelete to false or true (in your migration Up() method). Depends upon your requirement.
AddForeignKey("dbo.Stories", "StatusId", "dbo.Status", "StatusID", cascadeDelete: false);

In .NET Core I changed the onDelete option to ReferencialAction.NoAction
constraints: table =>
{
table.PrimaryKey("PK_Schedule", x => x.Id);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_Schedule_Teams_HomeId",
column: x => x.HomeId,
principalTable: "Teams",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.NoAction);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_Schedule_Teams_VisitorId",
column: x => x.VisitorId,
principalTable: "Teams",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.NoAction);
});

I had this issue also, I solved it instantly with this answer from a similar thread
In my case, I didn't want to delete the dependent record on key deletion. If this is the case in your situation just simply change the Boolean value in the migration to false:
AddForeignKey("dbo.Stories", "StatusId", "dbo.Status", "StatusID", cascadeDelete: false);
Chances are, if you are creating relationships which throw this compiler error but DO want to maintain cascade delete; you have an issue with your relationships.

I fixed this. When you add the migration, in the Up() method there will be a line like this:
.ForeignKey("dbo.Members", t => t.MemberId, cascadeDelete:True)
If you just delete the cascadeDelete from the end it will work.

Just for documentation purpose, to someone that comes on the future, this thing can be solved as simple as this, and with this method, you could do a method that disabled one time, and you could access your method normally
Add this method to the context database class:
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder) {
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
}

In .NET Core I played with all upper answers - but without any success.
I made changes a lot in DB structure and every time added new migration attempting to update-database, but received the same error.
Then I started to remove-migration one by one until Package Manager Console threw me exception:
The migration '20170827183131_***' has already been applied to the database
After that, I added new migration (add-migration) and update-database successfully
So my suggestion would be: clear out all your temp migrations, until your current DB state.

public partial class recommended_books : DbMigration
{
public override void Up()
{
CreateTable(
"dbo.RecommendedBook",
c => new
{
RecommendedBookID = c.Int(nullable: false, identity: true),
CourseID = c.Int(nullable: false),
DepartmentID = c.Int(nullable: false),
Title = c.String(),
Author = c.String(),
PublicationDate = c.DateTime(nullable: false),
})
.PrimaryKey(t => t.RecommendedBookID)
.ForeignKey("dbo.Course", t => t.CourseID, cascadeDelete: false) // was true on migration
.ForeignKey("dbo.Department", t => t.DepartmentID, cascadeDelete: false) // was true on migration
.Index(t => t.CourseID)
.Index(t => t.DepartmentID);
}
public override void Down()
{
DropForeignKey("dbo.RecommendedBook", "DepartmentID", "dbo.Department");
DropForeignKey("dbo.RecommendedBook", "CourseID", "dbo.Course");
DropIndex("dbo.RecommendedBook", new[] { "DepartmentID" });
DropIndex("dbo.RecommendedBook", new[] { "CourseID" });
DropTable("dbo.RecommendedBook");
}
}
When your migration fails you are given a couple of options:
'Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint 'FK_dbo.RecommendedBook_dbo.Department_DepartmentID' on table 'RecommendedBook' may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints.
Could not create constraint or index. See previous errors.'
Here is an example of using the 'modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints' by setting 'cascadeDelete' to false in the migration file and then run 'update-database'.

Make your Foreign key attributes nullable. That will work.

This sounds weird and I don't know why, but in my case that was happening because my ConnectionString was using "." in "data source" attribute. Once I changed it to "localhost" it workded like a charm. No other change was needed.

The existing answers are great I just wanted to add that I ran into this error because of a different reason. I wanted to create an Initial EF migration on an existing DB but I didn't use the -IgnoreChanges flag and applied the Update-Database command on an empty Database (also on the existing fails).
Instead I had to run this command when the current db structure is the current one:
Add-Migration Initial -IgnoreChanges
There is likely a real problem in the db structure but save the world one step at a time...

In .NET 5 < and .NET Core 2.0 < you can use .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict) in OnModelCreating like #Nexus23 answer but you do not need to disable cascade for every model.
Example with join entity type configuration many-to-many:
internal class MyContext : DbContext
{
public MyContext(DbContextOptions<MyContext> options)
: base(options)
{
}
public DbSet<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public DbSet<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Post>()
.HasMany(p => p.Tags)
.WithMany(p => p.Posts)
.UsingEntity<PostTag>(
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Tag)
.WithMany(t => t.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.TagId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict),
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Post)
.WithMany(p => p.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.PostId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict),
j =>
{
j.Property(pt => pt.PublicationDate).HasDefaultValueSql("CURRENT_TIMESTAMP");
j.HasKey(t => new { t.PostId, t.TagId });
});
}
}
public class Post
{
public int PostId { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Content { get; set; }
public ICollection<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class Tag
{
public string TagId { get; set; }
public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class PostTag
{
public DateTime PublicationDate { get; set; }
public int PostId { get; set; }
public Post Post { get; set; }
public string TagId { get; set; }
public Tag Tag { get; set; }
}
Sources:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/modeling/relationships?tabs=fluent-api%2Cfluent-api-simple-key%2Csimple-key#join-entity-type-configuration
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.entityframeworkcore.deletebehavior?view=efcore-5.0
This does require you to remove the many to many relationship yourself or you will receive the following error when you remove a parent entity:
The association between entity types '' and '' has been severed, but
the relationship is either marked as required or is implicitly
required because the foreign key is not nullable. If the
dependent/child entity should be deleted when a required relationship
is severed, configure the relationship to use cascade deletes.
Consider using 'DbContextOptionsBuilder.EnableSensitiveDataLogging' to
see the key values
You can solve this by using DeleteBehavior.ClientCascade instead which will allow EF to perform cascade deletes on loaded entities.
internal class MyContext : DbContext
{
public MyContext(DbContextOptions<MyContext> options)
: base(options)
{
}
public DbSet<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public DbSet<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Post>()
.HasMany(p => p.Tags)
.WithMany(p => p.Posts)
.UsingEntity<PostTag>(
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Tag)
.WithMany(t => t.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.TagId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Cascade),
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Post)
.WithMany(p => p.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.PostId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientCascade),
j =>
{
j.Property(pt => pt.PublicationDate).HasDefaultValueSql("CURRENT_TIMESTAMP");
j.HasKey(t => new { t.PostId, t.TagId });
});
}
}
public class Post
{
public int PostId { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Content { get; set; }
public ICollection<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class Tag
{
public string TagId { get; set; }
public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class PostTag
{
public DateTime PublicationDate { get; set; }
public int PostId { get; set; }
public Post Post { get; set; }
public string TagId { get; set; }
public Tag Tag { get; set; }
}
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.entityframeworkcore.deletebehavior?view=efcore-5.0

None of the aforementioned solutions worked for me. What I had to do was use a nullable int (int?) on the foreign key that was not required (or not a not null column key) and then delete some of my migrations.
Start by deleting the migrations, then try the nullable int.
Problem was both a modification and model design. No code change was necessary.

The simple way is to, Edit your migration file (cascadeDelete: true) into (cascadeDelete: false) then after assign the Update-Database command in your Package Manager Console.if it's problem with your last migration then all right. Otherwise check your earlier migration history, copy those things, paste into your last migration file, after that do it the same thing. it perfectly works for me.

You could add this in your DataContext.cs, this works for me...
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<ManyToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
}

I ran into the same problem and stuck for a long. The following steps saved me.
Go through the constraints and change the onDelete ReferentialAction to NoAction from Cascade
constraints: table =>
{
table.PrimaryKey("PK_table1", x => x.Id);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_table1_table2_table2Id",
column: x => x.table2Id,
principalTable: "table2",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.NoAction);
});

How to design multiple one-to-many relationship between 2 tables with entity framework core [duplicate]

I've been wrestling with this for a while and can't quite figure out what's happening. I have a Card entity which contains Sides (usually 2) - and both Cards and Sides have a Stage. I'm using EF Codefirst migrations and the migrations are failing with this error:
Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint 'FK_dbo.Sides_dbo.Cards_CardId' on
table 'Sides' may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON
DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY
constraints.
Here's my Card entity:
public class Card
{
public Card()
{
Sides = new Collection<Side>();
Stage = Stage.ONE;
}
[Key]
[Required]
public virtual int CardId { get; set; }
[Required]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
[Required]
[ForeignKey("CardId")]
public virtual ICollection<Side> Sides { get; set; }
}
Here's my Side entity:
public class Side
{
public Side()
{
Stage = Stage.ONE;
}
[Key]
[Required]
public virtual int SideId { get; set; }
[Required]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
[Required]
public int CardId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("CardId")]
public virtual Card Card { get; set; }
}
And here's my Stage entity:
public class Stage
{
// Zero
public static readonly Stage ONE = new Stage(new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0), "ONE");
// Ten seconds
public static readonly Stage TWO = new Stage(new TimeSpan(0, 0, 10), "TWO");
public static IEnumerable<Stage> Values
{
get
{
yield return ONE;
yield return TWO;
}
}
public int StageId { get; set; }
private readonly TimeSpan span;
public string Title { get; set; }
Stage(TimeSpan span, string title)
{
this.span = span;
this.Title = title;
}
public TimeSpan Span { get { return span; } }
}
What's odd is that if I add the following to my Stage class:
public int? SideId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("SideId")]
public virtual Side Side { get; set; }
The migration runs successfully. If I open up SSMS and look at the tables, I can see that Stage_StageId has been added to Cards (as expected/desired), however Sides contains no reference to Stage (not expected).
If I then add
[Required]
[ForeignKey("StageId")]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
public int StageId { get; set; }
To my Side class, I see StageId column added to my Side table.
This is working, but now throughout my application, any reference to Stage contains a SideId, which is in some cases totally irrelevant. I'd like to just give my Card and Side entities a Stage property based on the above Stage class without polluting the stage class with reference properties if possible... what am I doing wrong?

Because Stage is required, all one-to-many relationships where Stage is involved will have cascading delete enabled by default. It means, if you delete a Stage entity
the delete will cascade directly to Side
the delete will cascade directly to Card and because Card and Side have a required one-to-many relationship with cascading delete enabled by default again it will then cascade from Card to Side
So, you have two cascading delete paths from Stage to Side - which causes the exception.
You must either make the Stage optional in at least one of the entities (i.e. remove the [Required] attribute from the Stage properties) or disable cascading delete with Fluent API (not possible with data annotations):
modelBuilder.Entity<Card>()
.HasRequired(c => c.Stage)
.WithMany()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);
modelBuilder.Entity<Side>()
.HasRequired(s => s.Stage)
.WithMany()
.WillCascadeOnDelete(false);

I had a table that had a circular relationship with others and I was getting the same error. Turns out it is about the foreign key which was not nullable. If the key is not nullable the related object must be deleted, and circular relations don't allow that. So use nullable foreign key.
[ForeignKey("StageId")]
public virtual Stage Stage { get; set; }
public int? StageId { get; set; }

Anybody wondering how to do it in EF core:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
foreach (var relationship in modelBuilder.Model.GetEntityTypes().SelectMany(e => e.GetForeignKeys()))
{
relationship.DeleteBehavior = DeleteBehavior.Restrict;
}
..... rest of the code.....

I was getting this error for lots of entities when I was migrating down from an EF7 model to an EF6 version. I didn't want to have to go through each entity one at a time, so I used:
builder.Conventions.Remove<ManyToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
builder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();

You can set cascadeDelete to false or true (in your migration Up() method). Depends upon your requirement.
AddForeignKey("dbo.Stories", "StatusId", "dbo.Status", "StatusID", cascadeDelete: false);

In .NET Core I changed the onDelete option to ReferencialAction.NoAction
constraints: table =>
{
table.PrimaryKey("PK_Schedule", x => x.Id);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_Schedule_Teams_HomeId",
column: x => x.HomeId,
principalTable: "Teams",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.NoAction);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_Schedule_Teams_VisitorId",
column: x => x.VisitorId,
principalTable: "Teams",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.NoAction);
});

I had this issue also, I solved it instantly with this answer from a similar thread
In my case, I didn't want to delete the dependent record on key deletion. If this is the case in your situation just simply change the Boolean value in the migration to false:
AddForeignKey("dbo.Stories", "StatusId", "dbo.Status", "StatusID", cascadeDelete: false);
Chances are, if you are creating relationships which throw this compiler error but DO want to maintain cascade delete; you have an issue with your relationships.

I fixed this. When you add the migration, in the Up() method there will be a line like this:
.ForeignKey("dbo.Members", t => t.MemberId, cascadeDelete:True)
If you just delete the cascadeDelete from the end it will work.

Just for documentation purpose, to someone that comes on the future, this thing can be solved as simple as this, and with this method, you could do a method that disabled one time, and you could access your method normally
Add this method to the context database class:
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder) {
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
}

In .NET Core I played with all upper answers - but without any success.
I made changes a lot in DB structure and every time added new migration attempting to update-database, but received the same error.
Then I started to remove-migration one by one until Package Manager Console threw me exception:
The migration '20170827183131_***' has already been applied to the database
After that, I added new migration (add-migration) and update-database successfully
So my suggestion would be: clear out all your temp migrations, until your current DB state.

public partial class recommended_books : DbMigration
{
public override void Up()
{
CreateTable(
"dbo.RecommendedBook",
c => new
{
RecommendedBookID = c.Int(nullable: false, identity: true),
CourseID = c.Int(nullable: false),
DepartmentID = c.Int(nullable: false),
Title = c.String(),
Author = c.String(),
PublicationDate = c.DateTime(nullable: false),
})
.PrimaryKey(t => t.RecommendedBookID)
.ForeignKey("dbo.Course", t => t.CourseID, cascadeDelete: false) // was true on migration
.ForeignKey("dbo.Department", t => t.DepartmentID, cascadeDelete: false) // was true on migration
.Index(t => t.CourseID)
.Index(t => t.DepartmentID);
}
public override void Down()
{
DropForeignKey("dbo.RecommendedBook", "DepartmentID", "dbo.Department");
DropForeignKey("dbo.RecommendedBook", "CourseID", "dbo.Course");
DropIndex("dbo.RecommendedBook", new[] { "DepartmentID" });
DropIndex("dbo.RecommendedBook", new[] { "CourseID" });
DropTable("dbo.RecommendedBook");
}
}
When your migration fails you are given a couple of options:
'Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint 'FK_dbo.RecommendedBook_dbo.Department_DepartmentID' on table 'RecommendedBook' may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints.
Could not create constraint or index. See previous errors.'
Here is an example of using the 'modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints' by setting 'cascadeDelete' to false in the migration file and then run 'update-database'.

Make your Foreign key attributes nullable. That will work.

This sounds weird and I don't know why, but in my case that was happening because my ConnectionString was using "." in "data source" attribute. Once I changed it to "localhost" it workded like a charm. No other change was needed.

The existing answers are great I just wanted to add that I ran into this error because of a different reason. I wanted to create an Initial EF migration on an existing DB but I didn't use the -IgnoreChanges flag and applied the Update-Database command on an empty Database (also on the existing fails).
Instead I had to run this command when the current db structure is the current one:
Add-Migration Initial -IgnoreChanges
There is likely a real problem in the db structure but save the world one step at a time...

In .NET 5 < and .NET Core 2.0 < you can use .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict) in OnModelCreating like #Nexus23 answer but you do not need to disable cascade for every model.
Example with join entity type configuration many-to-many:
internal class MyContext : DbContext
{
public MyContext(DbContextOptions<MyContext> options)
: base(options)
{
}
public DbSet<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public DbSet<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Post>()
.HasMany(p => p.Tags)
.WithMany(p => p.Posts)
.UsingEntity<PostTag>(
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Tag)
.WithMany(t => t.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.TagId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict),
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Post)
.WithMany(p => p.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.PostId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict),
j =>
{
j.Property(pt => pt.PublicationDate).HasDefaultValueSql("CURRENT_TIMESTAMP");
j.HasKey(t => new { t.PostId, t.TagId });
});
}
}
public class Post
{
public int PostId { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Content { get; set; }
public ICollection<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class Tag
{
public string TagId { get; set; }
public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class PostTag
{
public DateTime PublicationDate { get; set; }
public int PostId { get; set; }
public Post Post { get; set; }
public string TagId { get; set; }
public Tag Tag { get; set; }
}
Sources:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/modeling/relationships?tabs=fluent-api%2Cfluent-api-simple-key%2Csimple-key#join-entity-type-configuration
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.entityframeworkcore.deletebehavior?view=efcore-5.0
This does require you to remove the many to many relationship yourself or you will receive the following error when you remove a parent entity:
The association between entity types '' and '' has been severed, but
the relationship is either marked as required or is implicitly
required because the foreign key is not nullable. If the
dependent/child entity should be deleted when a required relationship
is severed, configure the relationship to use cascade deletes.
Consider using 'DbContextOptionsBuilder.EnableSensitiveDataLogging' to
see the key values
You can solve this by using DeleteBehavior.ClientCascade instead which will allow EF to perform cascade deletes on loaded entities.
internal class MyContext : DbContext
{
public MyContext(DbContextOptions<MyContext> options)
: base(options)
{
}
public DbSet<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public DbSet<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Post>()
.HasMany(p => p.Tags)
.WithMany(p => p.Posts)
.UsingEntity<PostTag>(
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Tag)
.WithMany(t => t.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.TagId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Cascade),
j => j
.HasOne(pt => pt.Post)
.WithMany(p => p.PostTags)
.HasForeignKey(pt => pt.PostId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientCascade),
j =>
{
j.Property(pt => pt.PublicationDate).HasDefaultValueSql("CURRENT_TIMESTAMP");
j.HasKey(t => new { t.PostId, t.TagId });
});
}
}
public class Post
{
public int PostId { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Content { get; set; }
public ICollection<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class Tag
{
public string TagId { get; set; }
public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; }
public List<PostTag> PostTags { get; set; }
}
public class PostTag
{
public DateTime PublicationDate { get; set; }
public int PostId { get; set; }
public Post Post { get; set; }
public string TagId { get; set; }
public Tag Tag { get; set; }
}
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.entityframeworkcore.deletebehavior?view=efcore-5.0

None of the aforementioned solutions worked for me. What I had to do was use a nullable int (int?) on the foreign key that was not required (or not a not null column key) and then delete some of my migrations.
Start by deleting the migrations, then try the nullable int.
Problem was both a modification and model design. No code change was necessary.

The simple way is to, Edit your migration file (cascadeDelete: true) into (cascadeDelete: false) then after assign the Update-Database command in your Package Manager Console.if it's problem with your last migration then all right. Otherwise check your earlier migration history, copy those things, paste into your last migration file, after that do it the same thing. it perfectly works for me.

You could add this in your DataContext.cs, this works for me...
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<ManyToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
}

I ran into the same problem and stuck for a long. The following steps saved me.
Go through the constraints and change the onDelete ReferentialAction to NoAction from Cascade
constraints: table =>
{
table.PrimaryKey("PK_table1", x => x.Id);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_table1_table2_table2Id",
column: x => x.table2Id,
principalTable: "table2",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.NoAction);
});

Entity Framework Core - Foreign Key 1 (extra foreign key column)

I just upgraded to Entity Framework Core 2 and now I'm getting issues with an extra column existing and having a unique key even though it's not in my model and it's not defined anywhere else.
The index:
migrationBuilder.CreateTable(
name: "Vouchers",
columns: table => new
{
Id = table.Column<int>(nullable: false)
.Annotation("SqlServer:ValueGenerationStrategy", SqlServerValueGenerationStrategy.IdentityColumn),
Code = table.Column<Guid>(nullable: false),
IsClaimed = table.Column<bool>(nullable: false),
LastModified = table.Column<DateTime>(nullable: false),
NumberOfUnits = table.Column<int>(nullable: false),
TransactionId = table.Column<int>(nullable: false),
TransactionId1 = table.Column<int>(nullable: true) // why is this here?
},
constraints: table =>
{
table.PrimaryKey("PK_Vouchers", x => x.Id);
table.ForeignKey(
name: "FK_Vouchers_Transactions_TransactionId1",
column: x => x.TransactionId1,
principalTable: "Transactions",
principalColumn: "Id",
onDelete: ReferentialAction.Restrict);
});
TransactionId1 isn't in the model:
public class Voucher : IAutoLastModified
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public DateTime LastModified { get; set; }
public int TransactionId { get; set; }
public Transaction Transaction { get; set; }
public int NumberOfUnits { get; set; }
public Guid Code { get; set; }
public bool IsClaimed { get; set; }
}
Am I defining the Foreign Key wrongly?
modelBuilder.Entity<Voucher>().HasOne(x => x.Transaction).WithOne(x => x.Voucher).IsRequired(false);
My app fails because TransactionId1 is always going to be null and has a unique constraint that I can't remove.
Why did EF create an extra column for this table?

This might also happen if you define your models two way binded but forget to use it in fluent:
public class Customer
{
public Guid Id { get; set; }
public List<Order> Orders {get; set;}
}
public class Order
{
public Guid Id { get; set; }
public Guid CustomerId { get; set; }
public Guid Customer { get; set; }
}
// AppDbContext
builder.Entity<Order>()
.HasOne(x => x.Customer) // <-- EDIT: Also use it like this, not .HasOne<Customer>()
.WithMany() //WRONG -> should be .WithMany(x => x.Orders) OR modify the model to not define the collection at the customer entity
.HasForeignKey(x => x.CustomerId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.SetNull)
;

Okay so I figured out what the issue was (keeping the question here for anyone who makes the same mistake I did).
I marked the relationship as Optional but the column was an int instead of int? so EF decided to add it's own column behind the scenes.
After fixing this I had to recreate the database - migration did not complete successfully due to existing data.

I had this problem when the type of foreign key field in the child was not matching with the type of primary key field in the parent.
Example:
public class User // Parent
{
public long Id { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<UserLike> UserLikes { get; set; } // Child collection
}
public class UserLike // Child
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int UserId { get; set; } // Foreign key
public virtual User User { get; set; } // Navigation property
}
In the DbContext, I had:
modelBuilder.Entity<UserLike>(entity =>
{
entity.HasOne(x => x.User)
.WithMany(x => x.UserLikes)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientCascade);
}
Here, int UserId does not match with the type of primary key long Id in the parent. The solution is to make the UserId long:
public class UserLike // Child
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public long UserId { get; set; } // Foreign key
public virtual User User { get; set; } // Navigation property
}

You need to tell the model builder which column in your voucher table you want to use as the foreign key column. Otherwise Entity Framework will just create one for you.
To do this, add a HasForeignKey method to the fluent setup:
modelBuilder.Entity<Voucher>().HasOne(x => x.Transaction).WithOne(x => x.Voucher).HasForeignKey<Voucher>(x => x.TransactionId).IsRequired(false);
Note when setting up a one-to-one relationship, you need to define the entity the foreign key exists in as a generic constraint.

I have faced this issue in the past using Data first approach. I had to delete an existing column but after every update that column appears in the edmx schema structure which I had to manually delete to make it work. can you recreate the edmx instead of update.

I had the same issue and the fix for me was to add the DataAnnotation tag of [ForeignKey("")] above the navigation property to explicitly state which one to use.
public Guid TransactionId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("TransactionId ")]
public Transaction Transaction { get; set; }
Thanks

Cannot Split Table with EF 5 - Code First - with existing database

I am trying to split a legacy user table into two entities using a one to one mapping but keep getting migration errors stating that my database is out of sync, even though everything (i think is mapped) and i am trying to make a one-to-one relationship.
This is an existing database (although i am using code first as migrations will become important down the line) but i have not added any changes to the database (although i am unsure what exactly the one-to-one table split expects), i keep getting this:
The model backing the 'Context' context has changed since the database was created. Consider using Code First Migrations to update the database
I can update the database (either manually or via Migrations) but have no idea what is actually out of sync as no new fields have been added and the names match up.
BaseEntity:
public abstract class BaseEntity<T>
{
[Key]
public T Id { get; set; }
public DateTime CreatedOn { get; set; }
}
Membership Model:
public class Membership : BaseEntity<Guid>
{
public string UserName { get; set; }
public bool Approved { get; set; }
public bool Locked { get; set; }
public Profile Profile { get; set; }
}
Profile Model:
public class Profile : BaseEntity<Guid>
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
public string Telephone { get; set; }
public string Extension { get; set; }
public Membership Membership { get; set; }
}
Membership Mapping (this has the 1 to 1 Definition):
public class MembershipMap : EntityTypeConfiguration<Membership>
{
public MembershipMap()
{
//Primary Key
this.HasKey(t => t.Id);
//**Relationship Mappings
this.HasRequired(m => m.Profile)
.WithRequiredPrincipal(p => p.Membership);
//Properties & Column mapping
this.Property(m => m.Id)
.HasColumnName("PKID")
.HasDatabaseGeneratedOption(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None);
this.Property(m => m.UserName)
.HasColumnName("Username")
.HasMaxLength(255);
this.Property(m => m.Approved)
.HasColumnName("IsApproved");
this.Property(m => m.Locked)
.HasColumnName("IsLocked");
this.Property(m => m.CreatedOn)
.HasColumnName("CreationDate");
this.ToTable("AppUser");
}
}
Profile Mapping:
public class ProfileMap : EntityTypeConfiguration<Profile>
{
public ProfileMap()
{
//Primary Key
this.HasKey(t => t.Id);
//Properties & Column mapping
this.Property(m => m.Id)
.HasColumnName("PKID")
.HasDatabaseGeneratedOption(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None);
this.Property(m => m.FirstName)
.HasColumnName("FirstName");
this.Property(m => m.LastName)
.HasColumnName("LastName");
this.Property(m => m.Email)
.HasColumnName("Email");
this.Property(m => m.Telephone)
.HasColumnName("Telephone");
this.Property(m => m.Extension)
.HasColumnName("Extension");
this.ToTable("AppUser");
}
}
Database Table
I know that not all fields are mapped, but i do not need them at this stage, surely that wouldn't be the issue would it?

Issue was not Code First Mappings but caused by me switching databases and some rouge migrations coming into play.
To reset migrations you can see the answer here from a follow up question:
Resetting Context for Entity Framework 5 so it thinks its working with a initialised Database - Code First
Kudos to EvilBHonda

Self-referencing many-to-many recursive relationship code first Entity Framework

I can't seem to make this work at all
class Member
{
public virtual IList<Member> Friends { get; set; }
[Key]
public int MemberId { get; set; }
public string Name{ get; set; }
}
I tried adding Mappings but in vain. Is there a way to do so with CTP5?

By convention, Code First will take uni-directional associations as one to many. Therefore you need to use fluent API to let Code First know that you want to have a many to many self referencing association:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Member>().HasMany(m => m.Friends).WithMany().Map(m =>
{
m.MapLeftKey("MemberId");
m.MapRightKey("FriendId");
m.ToTable("MembersFriends");
}
);
}

If I am correct you can influence the many to many table name with this code:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Member>().HasMany(m => m.Friends).WithMany().Map(m =>
{
m.MapLeftKey("MemberId");
m.MapRightKey("FriendId");
m.ToTable("MembersFriends");
}
);
}
hope this helps.

You can get this to work in EF 4 CTP5 using Model-First, but the CTP5 Code First has too many bugs with self-referential and polymorphic query configurations to use Code First for such scenarios. Morteza Manavi (see other answer) has documented several of them on his blog.

I wanted to get this done without having to write fluent API code. So here is my take.
The following example trying to save whomever other users profiles the user visited and who visited that user profile. Sadly, the following example doesn't support extra properties other than two ids of the visiting and the visited user.
The navigation properties had been linked using the InversePropertyAttribute.
see more about it in entityframework.net and entityframeworktutorial.net
Model ↴
public class User
{
[InverseProperty(nameof(User.VisitingUsers))]
public virtual List<User> VisitedUsers { get; set; }
[NotMapped]
public long? VisitedUsersCount { get { return this.VisitedUsers == null ? 0 : this.VisitedUsers.Count(); } }
[InverseProperty(nameof(User.VisitedUsers))]
public virtual List<User> VisitingUsers { get; set; }
[NotMapped]
public long? VisitingUsersCount { get { return this.VisitingUsers == null ? 0 : this.VisitingUsers.Count(); } }
}
Generated Migration Code ↴
CreateTable(
"dbo.UserUsers",
c => new
{
User_Id = c.Long(nullable: false),
User_Id1 = c.Long(nullable: false),
})
.PrimaryKey(t => new { t.User_Id, t.User_Id1 })
.ForeignKey("dbo.Users", t => t.User_Id)
.ForeignKey("dbo.Users", t => t.User_Id1)
.Index(t => t.User_Id)
.Index(t => t.User_Id1);

Your example is not a many-to-many relationship, it is more of a recursive relationship.
I am not sure how to fix it. But the problem with your code is that your will get two fields on the same row with the same name. MemberId for the id of the row and MemberId for the id of the friend.
Edit
Try doing it like this:
class Member
{
[Key]
public int MemberId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public virtual IList<FriendRelationship> Friends { get; set; }
}
class FriendRelationship
{
[Key]
public int RelationshipId { get; set; }
public Member Friend { get; set; }
}