CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netentity-frameworkef-code-firstentity-framework-6
Vaccano
Vaccano

Reputation: 82301

Create a Foreign Key Using "Code First" but actually have the DB First

I have these views in my Sql Server database:

Shipment.Shipment
     * ShipmentId --> PK
     * CourierId

Ref.Courier
     * CourierId --> PK

Since these are views, there are no foreign keys on them. The underlying tables are legacy and also do not have foreign keys.

But I want to have my entity framework model think that there are foreign keys. (Specifically Shipment.Shipment.CourierId => Ref.Courier.CourierId)

I could do this in database first, but I recently switched to "code first" and I can't seem to get it to work using the ForeignKey attribute.

However, I don't really do "Code First". I retrofitted my entity classes from the views in the existing database.

So, using the "code first" syntax, how can I add an association/foreign key to my existing entities? (even though there is not one in the database)

Here is a paired down version of my existing entities:

[Table("Shipment.Shipment")]
public partial class Shipment
{
    [Key]
    [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
    public int ShipmentId { get; set; }

    public int CourierId { get; set; }

    [StringLength(50)]
    public string Airbill { get; set; }
}


[Table("Ref.Courier")]
public partial class Courier
{
    [Key]
    [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
    public int CourierId { get; set; }

    [StringLength(50)]
    public string CourierName { get; set; }
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 69

Answers (1)

Anshul Nigam
Anshul Nigam

Reputation: 1628

Change your code to 

[Table("Shipment.Shipment")]
public partial class Shipment
{
    [Key]
    [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
    public int ShipmentId { get; set; }

    public int CourierId { get; set; }

    /* this will tell EF about relationship with Courier,assuming it is 1-1 */
    public virtual Courier Courier { get; set; }

    [StringLength(50)]
    public string Airbill { get; set; }
}


[Table("Ref.Courier")]
public partial class Courier
{
    [Key]
    [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
    public int CourierId { get; set; }

    [StringLength(50)]
    public string CourierName { get; set; }
}

Upvotes: 1

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