What does principal end of an association means in 1:1 relationship in Entity framework

Solution 1:

In one-to-one relation one end must be principal and second end must be dependent. Principal end is the one which will be inserted first and which can exist without the dependent one. Dependent end is the one which must be inserted after the principal because it has foreign key to the principal.

In case of entity framework FK in dependent must also be its PK so in your case you should use:

public class Boo
{
    [Key, ForeignKey("Foo")]
    public string BooId{get;set;}
    public Foo Foo{get;set;}
}

Or fluent mapping

modelBuilder.Entity<Foo>()
            .HasOptional(f => f.Boo)
            .WithRequired(s => s.Foo);

Solution 2:

You can also use the [Required] data annotation attribute to solve this:

public class Foo
{
    public string FooId { get; set; }

    public Boo Boo { get; set; }
}

public class Boo
{
    public string BooId { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public Foo Foo {get; set; }
}

Foo is required for Boo.