Database.Migrate() creating database but not tables, EF & .NET Core 2

Question

This question has been asked a couple times but none of the solutions/documentation is working for me.

Scenario - I need to build a database from scratch and edit it with migrations all from code, according to the documentation the line below should create the database from the DbContext/ModelBuilder.

_dbContext.Database.Migrate();

however this is only creating the database itself and none of the tables. If I run the below instead,

_dbContext.Database.EnsureCreated();

the database AND all the tables are created however this is not an option as I need to edit with migrations further down the line. I've tried the code below directly after the Migrate line but pendingMigrations is always 0.

var pendingMigrations = _dbContext.Database.GetAppliedMigrations().ToList();
        if (pendingMigrations.Any())
        {
            var migrator = _dbContext.Database.GetService<IMigrator>();
            foreach (var targetMigration in pendingMigrations)
                migrator.Migrate(targetMigration);
        }

Is there something I'm missing here? Shouldn't Database.Migrate() be creating the tables as well as the database?

Note - in testing I am deleting the database before trying another approach.

_dbContext.Database.Migrate(); should create the tables. And it does it in my (and not only I guess) tests. — Ivan Stoev
– Ivan Stoev, Commented May 24, 2018 at 11:35

Nour · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-15 05:38:24Z

12

Another classic case of struggling with something for a day or two only to find the answer half an hour after posting a question here. Posting my solution incase other people have had a similar issue.

TLDR - _dbContext.Database.Migrate(); doesn't create migrations.

Basically, dbContext.Database.EnsureCreated() doesn't care about migrations, which is why it generated the full database inc tables (however then of course you can't migrate).

_dbContext.Database.Migrate(); applies the migrations and creates the database if it doesn't exist however it doesn't create the tables if there's no migration.

Basically I have a project as a resource, I was trying to duplicate the project from a new application generated by the user but as I'd never run any migrations in the resource project there was nothing to migrate. Running the Add-Migration Initial in the PMC in the resource project gave the project it's initial migration files so then when I ran migrate on a new database it knew which tables to create.

edited May 15, 2019 at 5:38

Nour

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answered May 24, 2018 at 11:41

James Morrison

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1 Comment

r41n Over a year ago

+1. It's unfathomable to me how this isn't covered by the official documentation. And boy, the logic behind it! To create a new db you create a migration and migrate. /rant

hanan · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-07 23:57:52Z

6

In my case I had multiple projects and DesignTimeDbContextFactory was pointing to a MigrationsAssembly but in startup sqlOptions were not.

so when DI creates DbContext it does't know there are pending migrations.

you can check you pending migrations with dbContext.Database.GetPendingMigrations(); before Migrate(); to check if it has found migrations or not

Solution is add migration MigrationsAssembly in sqlOptions

 services.AddDbContext<BM_OCR_DbContext>(options =>
                {
                    options.UseSqlServer(
                    Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection"),
                    sqlServer => sqlServer.MigrationsAssembly("BM.OCR.Server"));
                });

answered Mar 7, 2019 at 23:57

hanan

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Comments

Sam · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-26 18:20:39Z

0

Be careful mixing EntityFramework and EntityFrameworkCore.

In my case i created the migration with:

EntityFrameworkCore\Add-Migration

Because '-Force' does not exist in EntityFrameworkCore i had to

EntityFrameworkCore\Remove-Migration

After this i could create the migration again and had the Methods 'Up' and 'Down' filled again. Nothing else worked.

answered Apr 26, 2023 at 18:20

Sam

1

Comments

Alex · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-20 18:56:10Z

-1

Another way - create an extension method in the EF Migration project. It will work without sqlServer.MigrationsAssembly() method.

namespace Project.Data;
{
    public static class Extensions
    {
        public static void AddEntityFramework(this IServiceCollection services, IConfiguration configuration)
        {
            var cnn = configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection");
            services.AddDbContext<AppDbContext>(opt => opt.UseSqlServer(cnn));
        }
    }
}

Then in Startup.cs just use it

services.AddEntityFramework(Configuration);

answered Jan 20, 2022 at 18:56

Alex

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Comments

alexcordovac · Accepted Answer · 2024-06-26 08:10:02Z

-1

this was so silly of me, I was calling Database.Migrate() and also publishing the application to IIS, the thing is I was immediately checking if the migrations were applying to the database but It turned out they were not, so then I logged in directly in the website (this request woke up the iis process) and the migrations were applied!!!

conclusion: make sure the iis process is actually running!!

answered Jun 26, 2024 at 8:10

alexcordovac

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