EntityFramework.CodeFirst.DbViews

What is EntityFramework.CodeFirst.DbViews?

EntityFramework.CodeFirst.DbViews is a small library that supports database views to Entity Framework in code first approach with migrations supports.

How to use EntityFramework.CodeFirst.DbViews?

• Create POCO class with DbViewAttribute:

[DbView]
public class PeopleView
{
    [Key]
    public int PersonId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Surname { get; set; }
    public string City { get; set; }
    public string Street { get; set; }
}

• Add Entity to DbContext:

public class ViewsContext : DbContext
{
    private DbSet<PeopleView> PeopleViews { get; set; }
    public IQueryable<PeopleView> PeopleDbView => PeopleViews;
}

• Write sql script that creates appropriate db view:

CREATE VIEW PeopleViews AS
SELECT p.Id AS 'PersonId', p.Name, p.Surname, a.City, a.Street
FROM People p
LEFT JOIN Addresses a ON a.Id = p.AddressId

• Configure initializer in db context. first parameter in Initializer is path to location where sql scripts are located:

public class ViewsContext : DbContext
{
    public ViewsContext() : base("EFViews")
    {
        Database.SetInitializer(new DropCreateDatabaseAlwaysDbViewsSupport<ViewsContext>(
                Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "Db", "Views")
        ));
    }

    ...

---

Library supports all default Initializers:

• DropCreateDatabaseAlwaysDbViewsSupport
• CreateDatabaseIfNotExistsDbViewsSupport
• DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChangesDbViewsSupport
• MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersionDbViewsSupport

When you generates automatic migrations remember to remove from them all lines related to dbviews. Initializer before migration remove all sql views. After migrations all views are recreated, thanks that sql views are also updates.