Possible to set column ordering in Entity Framework

Question

Is there any possible configuration to set database column ordering in entity framework code first approach..?

All of my entity set should have some common fields for keeping recordinfo

public DateTime CreatedAt { get; set; }
public int CreatedBy { get; set; }
public DateTime ModifiedAt { get; set; }
public int ModifiedBy { get; set; }
public bool IsDeleted { get; set; }

I want to keep this fields at the end of the table. Is there any possible EF configuration that i can use to config this rather than keeping this fields at the end of my model class.

What if I have for instance 3 levels of inheritance and still have complete control fo column ordering? Thx! — Gonzalo Méndez
– Gonzalo Méndez, Commented Sep 15, 2017 at 19:21
If you are using ef core, check the following post stackoverflow.com/questions/51443459/… — arslanaybars
– arslanaybars, Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 8:07

Steve · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-06 06:08:49Z

22

I'm assuming you are using Entity Framework 6 since column ordering is not yet supported in EF Core.

You can use either data attributes or the fluent API to set column order.

To use a Data Attribute to set column order, reference System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations and use the ColumnAttribute. You can also set the column name with this attribute if you want it to differ from the property name.

[Column("CreatedAt", Order=0)]
public DateTime CreatedAt { get; set; }
[Column("CreatedBy", Order=1)]
public int CreatedBy { get; set; }

Note the Order parameter is zero-based.

See also: http://www.entityframeworktutorial.net/code-first/column-dataannotations-attribute-in-code-first.aspx

Alternatively, you can use the Fluent API in the OnModelCreating method in your DbContext class:

protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    //Configure Column
    modelBuilder.Entity<EntityClass>()
                .Property(p => p.CreatedAt)
                .HasColumnOrder(0);
}

See also: http://www.entityframeworktutorial.net/code-first/configure-property-mappings-using-fluent-api.aspx

This way is a bit more verbose but you can have a more bit control over what's happening.

answered Apr 6, 2017 at 6:08

Steve

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3 Comments

Isha John Over a year ago

Thanks Steve for the great replay. I have one more question let say if i set column order for few fields in my model then what will be the order of the remaining column(I mean the column without order number in the same model).

Steve Over a year ago

@IshaJohn I believe they are put after your numbered columns in alphabetical order. I'm not sure what happens if you don't start at 0 however.

ManojAnavatti Over a year ago

I can see in EF6 "Order" property on ForeignKeys dosen't apply. If i have a property of some other class referred in my class, foreign key column for that property will be appearing last. Does anyone have solution for this?

wonea · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-20 19:04:09Z

0

Just use:

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;

Code:

[DisplayColumn("Name" , Order = 1)]
public int UserName { get; set; }

Notice: column order by default takes a big number so if you ordered only this column it will be first one in the table unless you ordered another column with a lower order number which is in this case : 0

edited Mar 20, 2019 at 19:04

wonea

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answered Apr 6, 2017 at 6:07

Zaheer Ul Hassan

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