Entity Framework Core also known as EF Core is the latest version of Microsoft’s Entity Framework. It is an Object/Relational Mapping (O/RM) framework, an enhanced version of ADO.NET, that automates data storage and retrieval from the database. EF Core is very powerful and also very easy to learn and use in your projects.
You can use Entity Framework Core on:
EF Core Version | Release Date |
---|---|
EF Core 3.1 | February 2020 |
EF Core 2.0 | August 2017 |
EF Core 1.1 | November 2016 |
EF Core 1.0 | June 2016 |
There are 2 approaches when doing development in EF Core. These are:
There is very little support of Database First approach since there is no visual designer, like .edmx file, in EF Core. The EF Core mainly supports Code First approach.
In Database First approach the domain & context classes are created based on the existing Database.
In Code First approach the domain & context classes are created by you then EF Core created the database using these classes. The term Migration is used whenever EF Core creates or updates the Database based on the domain & context classes.
Some important features of EF Core are:
Entity Framework Core works on many databases like:
1. SQL Server
2. MySQL
3. PostgreSQL
4. SQLite
5. SQL Compact
6. Firebird
7. Oracle
8. Db2