How to Specify Primary Key Name in EF-Code-First

Question

I'm using Entity Framework Codefirst to create my Database. The default Primary key with the schema name dbo.pk_Jobs seems to upset access 2007 when I connect to it over ODBC. If I manually edit the name and remove the schema name and rename this Primary Key to pk_jobs, Access can now read the table.

Can I specify the Primary Key name to not include the name of the schema using Fluent Api, Data Attributes or any other method.

public class ReportsContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Job> Jobs { get; set; }
    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Entity<Job>().ToTable("Jobs");
        modelBuilder.Entity<Job>().HasKey(j => j.uuid);

        base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
    }
}
public class Job
{
    public Guid uuid{ get; set; }
    public int active{ get; set; }
}

Solution 1

If you want to specify the column name and override the property name, you can try the following:

Using Annotations

public class Job
{
    [Key, DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
    [Column("CustomIdName")]
    public Guid uuid { get; set; }
    public int active { get; set; }
}

Using Code First

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder mb)
    {
        base.OnModelCreating(mb);

        mb.Entity<Job>()
            .HasKey(i => i.uuid);
        mb.Entity<Job>()
          .Property(i => i.uuid)
          .HasDatabaseGeneratedOption(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)
          .HasColumnName("CustomIdName");
    }

Inside Migration Configuration

public partial class ChangePrimaryKey : DbMigration
{
    public override void Up()
    {
        Sql(@"exec sp_rename 'SchemaName.TableName.IndexName', 'New_IndexName', 'INDEX'");
    }

    public override void Down()
    {
        Sql(@"exec sp_rename 'SchemaName.TableName.New_IndexName', 'Old_IndexName', 'INDEX'");
    }
}

Solution 2

You can use the Key attribute to specify the parts of the primary key. So your Job class might be

public class Job
{
    [Key]
    public Guid uuid{ get; set; }
    public int active{ get; set; }
}

The data annotation attributes are defined in the System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations namespace

Solution 3

If I understand, you are asking how to change the name of the primary key column used by Entity Framework. The following addition to your HasKey statement should take care of this:

modelBuilder.Entity<Job>().Property(j => j.uuid).HasColumnName("pk_Jobs")

Solution 4

(This is a complement to the answer/comments by @Jeff Sivers and @cubski.)

As far as I know you can't specify the PK name with Data Attribute. Sometimes I need to get rid of the dbo. part of the name and I then use a manually edited code first migration to change the name, like this:

public partial class ChangeNameOnPKInCustomers : DbMigration
{
    private static string fromName = "PK_dbo.Customers";    // Name to change

    private static string toName = fromName.Replace("dbo.", "");

    public override void Up()
    {
        Sql($"exec sp_rename @objname=N'[dbo].[{fromName}]', @newname=N'{toName}'");
        // Now the PK name is "PK_Customers".
    }

    public override void Down()
    {
        Sql($"exec sp_rename @objname=N'[dbo].[{toName}]', @newname=N'{fromName}'");
        // Back to "PK_dbo.Customers".
    }
}

View more solutions