Entity

Is a model allows you to access data. This model also represent a table in the database.

Context

Represents a database connection session. The context object allows saving & querying the data.

Migrations

In real world applications, data models change as features get implemented: new entities or properties are added and removed, and database schemas need to be changed accordingly to be kept in sync with the application. The migrations feature in EF Core provides a way to incrementally update the database schema to keep it in sync with the application's data model while preserving existing data in the database.

At a high level, migrations function in the following way:

• When a data model change is introduced, the developer uses EF Core tools to add a corresponding migration describing the updates necessary to keep the database schema in sync. EF Core compares the current model against a snapshot of the old model to determine the differences, and generates migration source files; the files can be tracked in your project's source control like any other source file.
• Once a new migration has been generated, it can be applied to a database in various ways. EF Core records all applied migrations in a special history table, allowing it to know which migrations have been applied and which haven't.

Usage

1. Add migration

dotnet ef database migrations add MigrationName --context ContextClass

2. Update database

dotnet ef database update --context ContextClass

Seed the database

Create the DB first if it doesn't exist

// Program.cs
using (var scope = app.Services.CreateScope())
{
    var services = scope.ServiceProvider;

    var context = services.GetRequiredService<SchoolContext>();
    context.Database.EnsureCreated();
    DbInitializer.Initialize(context);
}

EnsureCreated() only create an empty database. We need to seed it with data.

To initialize the database, we can create a static method and provide a context to connect to the DB.

// Data/DbInitializer.cs
using ContosoUniversity.Models;

namespace ContosoUniversity.Data
{
    public static class DbInitializer
    {
        public static void Initialize(SchoolContext context)
        {
            // Look for any students.
            if (context.Students.Any())
            {
                return;   // DB has been seeded
            }

            var students = new Student[]
            {
                new Student{FirstMidName="Carson",LastName="Alexander",EnrollmentDate=DateTime.Parse("2019-09-01")}
            };

            context.Students.AddRange(students);
            context.SaveChanges();

            var courses = new Course[]
            {
                new Course{CourseID=1050,Title="Chemistry",Credits=3},
                new Course{CourseID=4022,Title="Microeconomics",Credits=3},
                new Course{CourseID=4041,Title="Macroeconomics",Credits=3},
                new Course{CourseID=1045,Title="Calculus",Credits=4},
                new Course{CourseID=3141,Title="Trigonometry",Credits=4},
                new Course{CourseID=2021,Title="Composition",Credits=3},
                new Course{CourseID=2042,Title="Literature",Credits=4}
            };

            context.Courses.AddRange(courses);
            context.SaveChanges();

            var enrollments = new Enrollment[]
            {
                new Enrollment{StudentID=1,CourseID=1050,Grade=Grade.A},
                new Enrollment{StudentID=1,CourseID=4022,Grade=Grade.C},
                new Enrollment{StudentID=1,CourseID=4041,Grade=Grade.B}
            };

            context.Enrollments.AddRange(enrollments);
            context.SaveChanges();
        }
    }
}