CRUD Operations with EF Core

Create

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var product = new Product { Name = "Laptop", Price = 1200 }; dbContext.Products.Add(product); await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

Read

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var allProducts = await dbContext.Products.ToListAsync();

Update

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var product = await dbContext.Products.FindAsync(1); product.Price = 999; await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

Delete

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dbContext.Products.Remove(product); await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

Using Migrations to Manage Schema Changes

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dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate dotnet ef database update

EF Core generates migration scripts to evolve your database schema with your code.

Best Practices for EF Core

✅ Use Asynchronous Queries to avoid blocking threads
✅ Limit Include() Depth to reduce unnecessary joins and improve performance
✅ Use NoTracking for Read-Only Queries

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dbContext.Products.AsNoTracking().ToList();

✅ Separate DbContext per request (Scoped lifetime)
✅ Avoid Large Transactions—keep them short and focused
✅ Use DTOs/ViewModels to decouple entity models from API responses

EF Core Performance Tips

⚡ Use compiled queries for performance-critical endpoints
⚡ Index key columns in your database schema
⚡ Consider EF Core caching libraries for heavy-read applications
⚡ Batch updates and inserts when dealing with large data sets
⚡ Avoid n+1 query issues by using eager loading with .Include()

EF Core vs Other ORMs

EF Core strikes a balance between developer productivity and runtime performance.

Real-World Use Cases

Entity Framework Core is used in:

ASP.NET Core Web APIs

Razor Pages and Blazor applications

Microservices with SQL/NoSQL persistence

Desktop applications with WPF/WinForms

Serverless backends with Azure Functions

Conclusion

Entity Framework Core makes working with databases in .NET simple, fast, and developer-friendly. It abstracts away SQL while giving you full control over queries, performance tuning, and schema evolution. Whether you're building a small app or a large enterprise system, EF Core provides the flexibility and power needed to manage your data access layer effectively.

Ready to modernize your .NET stack? Start using EF Core and experience smoother development with smarter data access.

visit our website www.codriveit.com

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What is Entity Framework Core?

Entity Framework Core is a lightweight, extensible, cross-platform ORM developed by Microsoft. It allows .NET developers to interact with databases using .NET objects and LINQ queries, abstracting away raw SQL.

EF Core is a rewrite of Entity Framework 6, built from the ground up to work with .NET Core and .NET 5/6/7+.

Key Features of EF Core

✔️ Cross-platform Support (Windows, Linux, macOS)
✔️ LINQ Integration for expressive, type-safe queries
✔️ Migration Support to handle schema changes
✔️ Asynchronous Queries with async/await
✔️ Change Tracking and Lazy Loading
✔️ Support for Multiple Database Providers (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Cosmos DB)

Setting Up EF Core in a .NET Project

1. Install EF Core Packages

For a SQL Server project:

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dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools

2. Define Your Data Model

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public class Product {    public int Id { get; set; }    public string Name { get; set; }    public decimal Price { get; set; } }

3. Create a DbContext

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public class AppDbContext : DbContext {    public DbSet Products { get; set; }    public AppDbContext(DbContextOptions options) : base(options) { } }

4. Configure in Program.cs

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builder.Services.AddDbContext(options =>    options.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));

CRUD Operations with EF Core

Create

csharp

CopyEdit

var product = new Product { Name = "Laptop", Price = 1200 }; dbContext.Products.Add(product); await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

Read

csharp

CopyEdit

var allProducts = await dbContext.Products.ToListAsync();

Update

csharp

CopyEdit

var product = await dbContext.Products.FindAsync(1); product.Price = 999; await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

Delete

csharp

CopyEdit

dbContext.Products.Remove(product); await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync();

Using Migrations to Manage Schema Changes

bash

CopyEdit

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate dotnet ef database update

EF Core generates migration scripts to evolve your database schema with your code.

Best Practices for EF Core

✅ Use Asynchronous Queries to avoid blocking threads
✅ Limit Include() Depth to reduce unnecessary joins and improve performance
✅ Use NoTracking for Read-Only Queries

csharp

CopyEdit

dbContext.Products.AsNoTracking().ToList();

✅ Separate DbContext per request (Scoped lifetime)
✅ Avoid Large Transactions—keep them short and focused
✅ Use DTOs/ViewModels to decouple entity models from API responses

EF Core Performance Tips

⚡ Use compiled queries for performance-critical endpoints
⚡ Index key columns in your database schema
⚡ Consider EF Core caching libraries for heavy-read applications
⚡ Batch updates and inserts when dealing with large data sets
⚡ Avoid n+1 query issues by using eager loading with .Include()

EF Core vs Other ORMs

EF Core strikes a balance between developer productivity and runtime performance.

Real-World Use Cases

Entity Framework Core is used in:

ASP.NET Core Web APIs

Razor Pages and Blazor applications

Microservices with SQL/NoSQL persistence

Desktop applications with WPF/WinForms

Serverless backends with Azure Functions

Conclusion

Entity Framework Core makes working with databases in .NET simple, fast, and developer-friendly. It abstracts away SQL while giving you full control over queries, performance tuning, and schema evolution. Whether you're building a small app or a large enterprise system, EF Core provides the flexibility and power needed to manage your data access layer effectively.

Ready to modernize your .NET stack? Start using EF Core and experience smoother development with smarter data access.

visit our website www.codriveit.com

>