Unique Key constraints for multiple columns in Entity Framework

Solution 1:

With Entity Framework 6.1, you can now do this:

[Index("IX_FirstAndSecond", 1, IsUnique = true)]
public int FirstColumn { get; set; }

[Index("IX_FirstAndSecond", 2, IsUnique = true)]
public int SecondColumn { get; set; }

The second parameter in the attribute is where you can specify the order of the columns in the index.
More information: MSDN

Solution 2:

I found three ways to solve the problem.

Unique indexes in EntityFramework Core:

First approach:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
   modelBuilder.Entity<Entity>()
   .HasIndex(p => new {p.FirstColumn , p.SecondColumn}).IsUnique();
}

The second approach to create Unique Constraints with EF Core by using Alternate Keys.

Examples

One column:

modelBuilder.Entity<Blog>().HasAlternateKey(c => c.SecondColumn).HasName("IX_SingeColumn");

Multiple columns:

modelBuilder.Entity<Entity>().HasAlternateKey(c => new [] {c.FirstColumn, c.SecondColumn}).HasName("IX_MultipleColumns");

EF 6 and below:

First approach:

dbContext.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(string.Format(
                        @"CREATE UNIQUE INDEX LX_{0} ON {0} ({1})", 
                                 "Entitys", "FirstColumn, SecondColumn"));

This approach is very fast and useful but the main problem is that Entity Framework doesn't know anything about those changes!

Second approach:
I found it in this post but I did not tried by myself.

CreateIndex("Entitys", new string[2] { "FirstColumn", "SecondColumn" },
              true, "IX_Entitys");

The problem of this approach is the following: It needs DbMigration so what do you do if you don't have it?

Third approach:
I think this is the best one but it requires some time to do it. I will just show you the idea behind it: In this link http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/CSASPNETUniqueConstraintInE-d357224a you can find the code for unique key data annotation:

[UniqueKey] // Unique Key 
public int FirstColumn  { get; set;}
[UniqueKey] // Unique Key 
public int SecondColumn  { get; set;}

// The problem hier
1, 1  = OK 
1 ,2  = NO OK 1 IS UNIQUE

The problem for this approach; How can I combine them? I have an idea to extend this Microsoft implementation for example:

[UniqueKey, 1] // Unique Key 
public int FirstColumn  { get; set;}
[UniqueKey ,1] // Unique Key 
public int SecondColumn  { get; set;}

Later in the IDatabaseInitializer as described in the Microsoft example you can combine the keys according to the given integer. One thing has to be noted though: If the unique property is of type string then you have to set the MaxLength.

Solution 3:

If you're using Code-First, you can implement a custom extension HasUniqueIndexAnnotation

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Annotations;
using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Configuration;

internal static class TypeConfigurationExtensions
{
    public static PrimitivePropertyConfiguration HasUniqueIndexAnnotation(
        this PrimitivePropertyConfiguration property, 
        string indexName,
        int columnOrder)
    {
        var indexAttribute = new IndexAttribute(indexName, columnOrder) { IsUnique = true };
        var indexAnnotation = new IndexAnnotation(indexAttribute);

        return property.HasColumnAnnotation(IndexAnnotation.AnnotationName, indexAnnotation);
    }
}

Then use it like so:

this.Property(t => t.Email)
    .HasColumnName("Email")
    .HasMaxLength(250)
    .IsRequired()
    .HasUniqueIndexAnnotation("UQ_User_EmailPerApplication", 0);

this.Property(t => t.ApplicationId)
    .HasColumnName("ApplicationId")
    .HasUniqueIndexAnnotation("UQ_User_EmailPerApplication", 1);

Which will result in this migration:

public override void Up()
{
    CreateIndex("dbo.User", new[] { "Email", "ApplicationId" }, unique: true, name: "UQ_User_EmailPerApplication");
}

public override void Down()
{
    DropIndex("dbo.User", "UQ_User_EmailPerApplication");
}

And eventually end up in database as:

CREATE UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [UQ_User_EmailPerApplication] ON [dbo].[User]
(
    [Email] ASC,
    [ApplicationId] ASC
)

Solution 4:

The answer from niaher stating that to use the fluent API you need a custom extension may have been correct at the time of writing. You can now (EF core 2.1) use the fluent API as follows:

modelBuilder.Entity<ClassName>()
            .HasIndex(a => new { a.Column1, a.Column2}).IsUnique();

Solution 5:

You need to define a composite key.

With data annotations it looks like this:

public class Entity
 {
   public string EntityId { get; set;}
   [Key]
   [Column(Order=0)]
   public int FirstColumn  { get; set;}
   [Key]
   [Column(Order=1)]
   public int SecondColumn  { get; set;}
 }

You can also do this with modelBuilder when overriding OnModelCreating by specifying:

modelBuilder.Entity<Entity>().HasKey(x => new { x.FirstColumn, x.SecondColumn });