EF Core MySql Integration

Download Starter Template

Download the starter template with ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework Core to integrate MySQL. Multi-page template with ASP.NET Core 2.x + .NET Core Framework + Authentication will be explained in this document.

Getting Started

There are two Entity Framework Core providers for MySQL that are mentioned in the Micrososft Docs. One of them is the Official MySQL EF Core Database Provider and the other is Pomelo EF Core Database Provider for MySQL.

NOTE: The official provider MySql.Data.EntityFrameworkCore supports EF Core 2.0 after version 6.10.5, but you have to make a lot of changes when using it. So, the Pomelo EF Core Database Provider will be used in this example instead.

Related issue: https://github.com/aspnetboilerplate/aspnetboilerplate/issues/4007

Related guide: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/connector-net/en/connector-net-entityframework-core.html

Install

Install the Pomelo.EntityFrameworkCore.MySql NuGet package to the *.EntityFrameworkCore project.

Configuration

Configure DbContext

Replace YourProjectNameDbContextConfigurer.cs with the following lines

public static class MySqlDemoDbContextConfigurer
{
    public static void Configure(DbContextOptionsBuilder<MySqlDemoDbContext> builder, string connectionString)
    {
        var serverVersion = ServerVersion.AutoDetect(connectionString);
        builder.UseMySql(connectionString, serverVersion);
    }

    public static void Configure(DbContextOptionsBuilder<MySqlDemoDbContext> builder, DbConnection connection)
    {
        var serverVersion = ServerVersion.AutoDetect(connection.ConnectionString);
        builder.UseMySql(connection, serverVersion);
    }
 }

Some configuration and workarounds are needed to use MySQL with ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework Core.

Configure connection string

Change the connection string to your MySQL connection in *.Web.Mvc/appsettings.json. Example:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "Default": "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;pwd=1234;database=mysqldemodb"
  },
  ...
}

A workaround

To prevent EF Core from calling Program.BuildWebHost() rename BuildWebHost. For example, change it to InitWebHost. To understand why it needs to be renamed, check the following issues:

Reason : EF Core 2.0: design-time DbContext discovery changes

Workaround : Design: Allow IDesignTimeDbContextFactory to short-circuit service provider creation

NOTE : If you don't rename BuildWebHost, you'll get an error running BuildWebHost method.

Create Database

Remove all migration classes (including DbContextModelSnapshot) under *.EntityFrameworkCore/Migrations folder; generally, you can remove all files in that folder. Because Pomelo.EntityFrameworkCore.MySql will add some of its own configurations to work with Entity Framework Core.

Now it's ready to build the database.

• Select *.Web.Mvc as the startup project.
• Open Package Manager Console and select the *.EntityFrameworkCore project.
• Run the add-migration Initial_Migration command
• Run the update-database command

The MySQL integration is now complete. You can now run your project with MySQL.