Calculated column in EF Code First
I need to have one column in my database calculated by database as (sum of rows) - (sum of rowsb). I'm using code-first model to create my database.
Here is what I mean:
public class Income {
[Key]
public int UserID { get; set; }
public double inSum { get; set; }
}
public class Outcome {
[Key]
public int UserID { get; set; }
public double outSum { get; set; }
}
public class FirstTable {
[Key]
public int UserID { get; set; }
public double Sum { get; set; }
// This needs to be calculated by DB as
// ( Select sum(inSum) FROM Income WHERE UserID = this.UserID)
// - (Select sum(outSum) FROM Outcome WHERE UserID = this.UserID)
}
How can I achieve this in EF CodeFirst?
You can create computed columns in your database tables. In the EF model you just annotate the corresponding properties with the DatabaseGenerated
attribute:
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)]
public double Summ { get; private set; }
Or with fluent mapping:
modelBuilder.Entity<Income>().Property(t => t.Summ)
.HasDatabaseGeneratedOption(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)
As suggested by Matija Grcic and in a comment, it's a good idea to make the property private set
, because you'd probably never want to set it in application code. Entity Framework has no problems with private setters.
Note: For EF .NET Core you should to use ValueGeneratedOnAddOrUpdate because HasDatabaseGeneratedOption doesnt exists, e.g.:
modelBuilder.Entity<Income>().Property(t => t.Summ)
.ValueGeneratedOnAddOrUpdate()
public string ChargePointText { get; set; }
public class FirstTable
{
[Key]
public int UserID { get; set; }
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)]
public string Summ
{
get { return /* do your sum here */ }
private set { /* needed for EF */ }
}
}
References:
- Bug in EF 4.1 DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed
- Calculated Columns in Entity Framework Code First Migrations
- Working with Computed Columns
As of 2019, EF core allows you to have computed columns in a clean way with the fluent API:
Suppose that DisplayName
is the computed column you want to define, you have to define the property as usual, possibly with a private property accessor to prevent assigning it
public class Person
{
public int PersonId { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
// this will be computed
public string DisplayName { get; private set; }
}
Then, in the model builder, address it with the column definition:
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
modelBuilder.Entity<Person>()
.Property(p => p.DisplayName)
// here is the computed query definition
.HasComputedColumnSql("[LastName] + ', ' + [FirstName]");
}
For further information, have a look at MSDN.
In EF6, you can just configure the mapping setting to ignore a calculated property, like this:
Define the calculation on the get property of your model:
public class Person
{
// ...
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string FullName => $"{FirstName} {LastName}";
}
Then set it to ignore on the model configuration
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
//...
modelBuilder.Entity<Person>().Ignore(x => x.FullName)
}
One way is doing it with LINQ:
var userID = 1; // your ID
var income = dataContext.Income.First(i => i.UserID == userID);
var outcome = dataContext.Outcome.First(o => o.UserID == userID);
var summ = income.inSumm - outcome.outSumm;
You may do it within your POCO object public class FirstTable
, but I would not suggest to, because I think it's not good design.
Another way would be using a SQL view. You can read a view like a table with Entity Framework. And within the view code, you may do calculations or whatever you want. Just create a view like
-- not tested
SELECT FirstTable.UserID, Income.inCome - Outcome.outCome
FROM FirstTable INNER JOIN Income
ON FirstTable.UserID = Income.UserID
INNER JOIN Outcome
ON FirstTable.UserID = Outcome.UserID