Efcore: KeyAttribute support for composite primary key

[ygoe]

I'd like to declare a primary key that consists of multiple columns only with the Key attribute, just like for all other keys and as it was supported in EF6. This is the only situation when I have to go to the OnModelCreating method in another file to find out about the basic structure of the entity.

Currently I have to write this scattered code outside of where the entity is defined:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
    modelBuilder.Entity<MyEntity>()
        .HasKey(e => new { e.KeyColumn1, e.KeyColumn2 });
}

I'd prefer to keep it simple and in a single place, the entity class:

class MyEntity
{
    [Key, Column(Order = 0)]
    public int KeyColumn1 { get; set; }

    [Key, Column(Order = 1)]
    public int KeyColumn2 { get; set; }
}

I could imagine it would be helpful to get rid of the slightly unintuitive Column attribute just for this and define the order where it belongs and is used, the Key attribute, like in [Key(Order = 1)].

I'm wondering why there isn't already an issue for this. I have found one or two issues that might be similar but I don't understand them well enough to consider them a match for this topic. Also I couldn't see this mentioned in the sparse information I could find about the upcoming EF Core 2.1 so I have to assume it's not included in the next version.

[ajcvickers]

@ygoe We have been tracking the general issue of new attributes for things like this in issue #10111. However, I will leave this open as a specific case we should cover.

[cilerler]

@ajcvickers this issue becomes a big deal upon OData usage, is there any chance to bump the priority up.

[ajcvickers]

@cilerler Can you provide some more details as to why OData changes things here?

[cilerler]

@ajcvickers in my case database may have new fields, and time to time I need to add those to code. The easy workaround for me is generating the new DbContext through scaffolding and compare it with the previously generated one.

Since scaffolding uses .HasKey instead of [Key], OData is not able to identify those and forcing me to use it in GetEdmModel() as below, which requires manual verification each time.

namespace MyProject.Models
{
    [Table("Items")]
    public partial class Item
    {
        [Column("ID")]
        public long Id { get; set; }
        public string Notes { get; set; }
    }

    [Table("ProcessorSettings")]
    public partial class ProcessorSettings
    {
        [StringLength(50)]
        public string Name { get; set; }  // <= IF it would set the [Key] for this property, I wouldn't need to define it later
        [StringLength(2)]
        public string Code { get; set; }
        [StringLength(500)]
        public string Description { get; set; }
    }
}

EF

// ...
public virtual DbSet<ProcessorSetting> ProcessorSettings { get; set; }
public virtual DbSet<Item> Items { get; set; }
// ...
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    // ...
    modelBuilder.Entity<ProcessorSettings>(entity =>
    {
        entity.HasKey(e => new { e.Name, e.Code });
        entity.Property(e => e.Name)
            .IsUnicode(false)
            .ValueGeneratedNever();
                entity.Property(e => e.Code).IsUnicode(false);
        entity.Property(e => e.Description).IsUnicode(false);
        entity.Property(e => e.Value).IsUnicode(false);
    });

    modelBuilder.Entity<Item>(entity =>
    {
        entity.Property(e => e.Notes).IsUnicode(false);
    });
    //...
}

OData

public static IEdmModel GetEdmModel()
{
    var builder = new ODataConventionModelBuilder();
    // ...
    builder.EntitySet<Item>("Item");  // Automatically locates the `Id` column as `Key`
    builder.EntitySet<ProcessorSetting>("ProcessorSettings").EntityType.HasKey(e => new { e.Name, e.Code });
    // ...
    return builder.GetEdmModel();
}

[ajcvickers]

@cilerler I don't see any composite keys in that example.

[cilerler]

@ajcvickers updated as .HasKey(e => new { e.Name, e.Code });

[ajcvickers]

@cilerler Can you show the attributes that would be needed by OData to configure this as a composite key, including how the order of the two parts of the composite key is defined?

[cilerler]

@ajcvickers Just having [Key] on properties would be fine, there is no order so far. You may see more details in here https://stackoverflow.com/a/27538581/439130

[ajcvickers]

@cilerler That is something we can never support because the order of the properties in the composite key is critical for correctness. I'm actually very surprised that OData allows this given they they presumably have the same problem since the order is also critical to the OData model, but maybe it is constrained in some other way that isn't apparent here.

[smitpatel]

maybe it is constrained in some other way that isn't apparent here.

Based on stackoverflow post, OData is actually not caring about order at all. It's all about which are the key properties which should be bound when calling Get method. Order of properties does not matter because ODataRoute attribute specify which parameter should be bound with which key property.

@cilerler - You are free to add KeyAttribute to your model to make OData work. The EF model will not complain since Fluent API is overriding data annotation based configuration.
We will never scaffold KeyAttribute when generating EntityType from database until the ordering of properties issue is resolved out.

The OData issue does not change anything in this issue.

[ajcvickers]

Thanks @smitpatel for clarifying that.

[cilerler]

Thanks, @smitpatel.

We will never scaffold KeyAttribute when generating EntityType from database until the ordering of properties issue is resolved out.

I was under the impression that I was asking if you may make the issue priority, did I sound different?

I got into the details because of @ajcvickers comments. As I mentioned above, it already works the way it is, and I have to do a manual check about the keys each time I do scaffolding which is an error-prone step.

Just wanted to nudge to get attention on this issue. 😁

[smitpatel]

@cilerler - I just wanted to clarify 2 different aspect. This issue particularly talks about support for KeyAttribute at runtime. i.e. not requiring Fluent API configuration. In your particular case, we can scaffold the code which would work with OData & it would still work with EF Core. It is just matter of scaffolding KeyAttribute which would be ignored by EF. But I was commenting that it would not be good idea to EF to write some code which can be misleading.

If you want to got bit crazy (warning: internal code so it can break between EF core releases):
You can copy this file and change below code and replace the service to get behavior you desire.
https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/blob/97b7479503f1d187bab5bf1163ef420e92908286/src/EFCore.Design/Scaffolding/Internal/CSharpEntityTypeGenerator.cs#L231-L250

All you need is to remove the check for 1 property. Then your scaffolding code would KeyAttribute for composite key so OData is happy. And it will still generate Fluent API so EF Core is also happy.

[cilerler]

Thank you for clarifying that and even further providing me a workaround. 🤗

I'm sorry for hijacking this issue; it wasn't my intention.
I just created an issue for what I was asking https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/issues/15677

[ajcvickers]

See also the notes on https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/issues/15677#issuecomment-491403879

[cmorgan091]

I'm currently doing a migration from EF6 to EF Core 2.2 and where we use composite PK's extensively and do it all through decoration with the KeyAttribute and ColumnAttribute.

I couldn't bear to do literally hundreds of statements in fluent, so I think I have a workaround, but please note THIS HAS NOT BEEN PROPERLY TESTED YET. Add this to OnModelCreating

```C#
// get all composite keys (entity decorated by more than 1 [Key] attribute
foreach (var entity in modelBuilder.Model.GetEntityTypes()
.Where(t =>
t.ClrType.GetProperties()
.Count(p => p.CustomAttributes.Any(a => a.AttributeType == typeof(KeyAttribute))) > 1))
{
// get the keys in the appropriate order
var orderedKeys = entity.ClrType
.GetProperties()
.Where(p => p.CustomAttributes.Any(a => a.AttributeType == typeof(KeyAttribute)))
.OrderBy(p =>
p.CustomAttributes.Single(x => x.AttributeType == typeof(ColumnAttribute))?
.NamedArguments?.Single(y => y.MemberName == nameof(ColumnAttribute.Order))
.TypedValue.Value ?? 0)
.Select(x => x.Name)
.ToArray();

// apply the keys to the model builder
modelBuilder.Entity(entity.ClrType).HasKey(orderedKeys);

}
```

Let me know if this helps anyone looking for a workaround, as the key attribute was a really useful feature of EF6 IMHO

[jez9999]

Another one I'd very much like to see implemented in EF Core. Let's hope this kind of thing gets done soon so EF Core has feature parity with EF classic.

[richardlawley]

@cmorgan091 I am also doing a port from EF6 and found your workaround useful. I understand the reasons for the team not supporting KeyAttribute and ColumnAttribute but for those of us trying to get onto the current version, this makes life a bit eaiser!

[ashishtilak]

I'm currently doing a migration from EF6 to EF Core 2.2 and where we use composite PK's extensively and do it all through decoration with the KeyAttribute and ColumnAttribute.

I couldn't bear to do literally hundreds of statements in fluent, so I think I have a workaround, but please note THIS HAS NOT BEEN PROPERLY TESTED YET. Add this to OnModelCreating

// get all composite keys (entity decorated by more than 1 [Key] attribute
foreach (var entity in modelBuilder.Model.GetEntityTypes()
    .Where(t => 
        t.ClrType.GetProperties()
            .Count(p => p.CustomAttributes.Any(a => a.AttributeType == typeof(KeyAttribute))) > 1))
{
    // get the keys in the appropriate order
    var orderedKeys = entity.ClrType
        .GetProperties()
        .Where(p => p.CustomAttributes.Any(a => a.AttributeType == typeof(KeyAttribute)))
        .OrderBy(p => 
            p.CustomAttributes.Single(x => x.AttributeType == typeof(ColumnAttribute))?
                .NamedArguments?.Single(y => y.MemberName == nameof(ColumnAttribute.Order))
                .TypedValue.Value ?? 0)
        .Select(x => x.Name)
        .ToArray();

    // apply the keys to the model builder
    modelBuilder.Entity(entity.ClrType).HasKey(orderedKeys);
}

Let me know if this helps anyone looking for a workaround, as the key attribute was a really useful feature of EF6 IMHO

You are life saver @cmorgan091