EF Core Mapping

You can configure a number of aspects of the model via the Entity Framework Core Fluent API. These options are made available through methods on the ModelBuilder type.

Schema

The default schema that EF Core uses to create database objects is dbo. You can change this behaviour using the ModelBuilder's HasDefaultSchema method:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.HasDefaultSchema("MyCustomSchema");
}

Data Annotations

It is not possible to specify the default schema using Data Annotations attributes.

Exclude a Type

The Ignore<TEntity>() method enables you to explicitly exclude an entity from the EF model, and therefore it will not be mapped to a database table.

In the following example, the AuditLog entity is referenced as a navigation property in the Contact entity, and will be included in the model by convention. The Ignore method is used to ensure that the AuditLog class will not be mapped to a table in the database:

public class SampleContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Contact> Contacts { get; set; }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Ignore<AuditLog>();
    }
}

public class Contact
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string FullName { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; } 
    public AuditLog AuditLog { get; set; }
}

public class AuditLog
{
    public int EntityId { get; set; }
    public int UserId { get; set; }
    public DateTime Modified { get; set; }
}

Data Annotations

The Data Annotations equivalent to the Ignore method is the NotMapped attribute.