Introduction to Entity Framework Core

Entity Framework Core also known as EF Core is the latest version of Microsoft’s Entity Framework. It is an Object Relational Mapping (O/RM) framework, an enhanced version of ADO.NET, that automates data storage and retrieval from the database. EF Core is open source, cross-platform, lightweight, extensible and very powerful in nature. It is also very easy to learn and use in our DOT NET Projects.

This tutorial is a part of Entity Framework Core series.

• 1. Introduction to Entity Framework Core
• 2. Installation of Entity Framework Core
• 3. Database-First approach in Entity Framework Core
• 4. DbContext Class in Entity Framework Core
• 5. Code-First Approach in Entity Framework Core
• 6. Migrations in Entity Framework Core
• 7. Insert Records in Entity Framework Core
• 8. Read Records in Entity Framework Core
• 9. Update Records in Entity Framework Core
• 10. Delete Records in Entity Framework Core
• 11. Conventions in Entity Framework Core
• 12. Configurations in Entity Framework Core
• 13. Fluent API in Entity Framework Core
• 14. Configure One-to-Many relationship using Fluent API in Entity Framework Core
• 15. Configure One-to-One relationship using Fluent API in Entity Framework Core
• 16. Configure Many-to-Many relationship using Fluent API in Entity Framework Core
• 17. Execute Raw SQL Queries using FromSqlRaw() method in Entity Framework Core
• 18. Execute SQL Stored Procedures using FromSqlRaw() & ExecuteSqlRawAsync() methods in Entity Framework Core

EF Core Supported Application Types

We can use Entity Framework Core on all DOT NET applications like :

1. Console Applications
2. Windows Applications
3. ASP.NET Web Forms
4. ASP.NET MVC
5. ASP.NET Core MVC
6. ASP.NET Core Razor Pages
7. Blazor Apps
8. WPF
9. Xamarin Framework
10. Web API
11. .NET MAUI

EF Core Versions

Entity Framework Core vs Entity Framework

Entity Framework Core is the highly enhanced version of Entity Framework and contains a lot more features. It was released in the year 2016 when DOT NET Core came into existence. Entity Framework has a visual designer tool called .edmx file which describes the database and the models along with the mappings between them. Entity Framework Core does not have a visual designer tool. All the models and mappings are created in C# classes. Entity Framework is no longer actively developed by Microsoft so use only Entity Framework Core in your projects.

Entity Framework Core Approaches

There are 2 Entity Framework Core develpment approaches which we can follow. These are:

• 1. Database First .
• 2. Code First.

There is very little support of Database First approach since there is no visual designer, like .edmx file, in EF Core. The EF Core mainly supports Code First approach.

Database First Approach

In Database First approach the domain & context classes are created based on the existing Database.

Code First Approach

In Code First approach the domain & context classes are created by you then EF Core created the database using these classes. The term Migration is used whenever EF Core creates or updates the Database based on the domain & context classes.

Entity Framework Core Features

Some important features of EF Core are:

• 1. DbContext & DbSet
• 2. LINQ Support
• 3. Tracking
• 4. Migrations
• 5. Batch Insert, Update and Delete operations

Supported Databases

Entity Framework Core works on many databases like:

1. SQL Server
2. MySQL
3. PostgreSQL
4. SQLite
5. SQL Compact
6. Firebird
7. Oracle
8. Db2
9. MongoDB