Entity Framework (EF) Core is a lightweight, extensible, open source and cross-platform version of the popular Entity Framework data access technology.
EF Core can serve as an object-relational mapper (O/RM), which:
- Enables .NET developers to work with a database using .NET objects.
- Eliminates the need for most of the data-access code that typically needs to be written.
EF Core supports many database engines, see Database Providers for details.
Entity Framework development approaches:
- Code First
- Code First - Fluent API
- Database First
- Model First
| Feature | Code First | Code First - Fluent API | Database First | Model First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | Create a database from the model, and then add data to the database. | Create a database from the model, and then add data to the database. ModelBuilder class acts as a Fluent API. | Creating entity & context classes for an existing database. | Create a new model using the Entity Framework Designer and then generate a database schema from the model. |
| Suitable Application | Greenfield / Brownfield | Greenfield | Brownfield | Greenfield |
| Application Size | Small | Small | Large | Small / Medium |
| Data Intensity | No | No | Yes | No |
| Version Control | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| GUI | No | No | Yes | Yes (Slow / Laggy) |
| Code Development | Ease | Ease | Moderate | Moderate |
| DB Maintenance | Moderate | Moderate | Ease | Bit Hard (Laggy GUI) |
| Query Data | LINQ | LINQ | LINQ / Stored Procedure | LINQ |
Language : C#
.Net Version : >=6.0
- Visual Studio IDE
- Microsoft SQL Server
- Azure Data Studio / SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) / SSDT for Visual Studio
- Database with tables:
- Departments (Departments data like Name, IsActive)
- Employees (Employee data like Name, Email, Phone, DepartmentId, IsActive)
- Skills (Skills data like Name, IsActive)
- EmployeeSkills (Relation Mapping between Employee and Skill)
- Each Employee belongs to a department and can have multiple skills.
Code First Sample - DotNet Entity Framework Core Code First
Code First Fluent API Sample - DotNet Entity Framework Core Code First Fluent API
Database First Sample - DotNet Entity Framework Core Database First
Model First Sample - DotNet Entity Framework Core Model First
EntityFrameworkCore
Entity Framework Core Tutorial
EF Core and EF6
.Net Core MVC
EFCore - Get Started