EF Core OnDelete

The Entity Framework Core Fluent API OnDelete method is used to specify the action which should take place on a dependent entity in a relationship when the principal is deleted.

The OnDelete method takes a DeleteBehavior enum as a parameter:

• Cascade - dependents should be deleted
• Restrict - dependents are unaffected
• SetNull - the foreign key values in dependent rows should update to NULL

If the database was created from EF Core migrations, the specified behaviour is set up automatically.

This example features a relationship that is defined purely by the presence of a single navigational property (Books in the Author entity):

public class Author
{
    public int AuthorId { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Book> Books { get; set; }
}

public class Book
{
    public int BookId { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
}

Because there is no foreign key property in the dependant Book entity, EF Core will configure a nullable AuthorId foreign key column in the Books table with a referential constraint action of Restrict, which will translate to NO ACTION in SQL Server. The following example illustrates how to override that so that the foreign key field is set to null when the principal is deleted:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.Entity<Book>()
        .HasOne(b => b.Author)
        .WithMany(a => a.Books)
        .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.SetNull);
}

The next example illustrates how to configure the realtionship as required and to specify that dependant rows are deleted when the principal is deleted:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.Entity<Book>()
        .HasOne(b => b.Author)
        .WithMany(a => a.Books)
        .IsRequired()
        .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Cascade);
}

In the following example, the conventional behaviour will be to cascade delete operations to dependents because the relationship is required (based on the presence of a non-nullable foreign key property in the dependent Tenant entity):

public class Property
{
    public int PropertyId { get; set; }
    public string Address { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Tenant> Tenants { get; set; }
}
public class Tenant
{
    public int TenantId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int PropertyId { get; set; }
    public Property Property { get; set; }
}

This behaviour can be overridden using the Fluent API so that the PropertyId column in the Tenants table is set to NULL in the event that a related property is deleted as follows:

protected override void  OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.Entity<Property>()
        .HasMany(p => p.Tenants)
        .WithOne(t => t.Property)
        .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.SetNull)
}

Data Annotation Attributes

There is no Data Annotation equivalent to the OnDelete method.

Further Reading

• Configuring One To Many Relationships