The InverseProperty attribute is used to denote the inverse navigation property of a relationship when the same type takes part in multiple relationships. The following model depicts a contact system where the user who creates and updates contact records is recorded:
public class Contact
{
public int ContactId { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
public User CreatedBy { get; set; }
public User UpdatedBy { get; set; }
}
public class User
{
public int UserId { get; set; }
public string UserName { get; set; }
public List<Contact> ContactsCreated { get; set; }
public List<Contact> ContactsUpdated { get; set; }
}
This model appears to fit the inverse navigation property convention for Entity Framework Core, but EF Core will raise an error when asked to map these relationships:
Unable to determine the relationship represented by navigation property 'Contact.CreatedBy' of type 'User'. Either manually configure the relationship, or ignore this property from the model.
The InverseProperty attribute is applied to the navigation properties in the User class to specify their corresponding inverse navigation properties in the Contact class:
public class Contact
{
public int ContactId { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
public User CreatedBy { get; set; }
public User UpdatedBy { get; set; }
}
public class User
{
public int UserId { get; set; }
public string UserName { get; set; }
[InverseProperty("CreatedBy")]
public List<Contact> ContactsCreated { get; set; }
[InverseProperty("UpdatedBy")]
public List<Contact> ContactsUpdated { get; set; }
}
Fluent API
The Fluent API options for configuring inverse navigation properties are the WithRequired, WithOptional, and WithMany methods.
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