How to rename a database column in Entity Framework 5 Code First migrations without losing data?

Question

I got the default ASP.NET MVC 4 template successfully running with EF 5.0 Code First Migrations. However, when I update a model property name, the corresponding table column dat

Answer 1

You can get the migration to call RenameColumn for you if you do this:

[Column("NewName")]
public string OldName { get; set; }

Here is the generated migration:

    public override void Up()
    {
        RenameColumn(table: "Schema.MyTable", name: "OldName", newName: "NewName");
    }

    public override void Down()
    {
        RenameColumn(table: "Schema.MyTable", name: "NewName", newName: "OldName");
    }

If you want your property and DB column to be the same name, you can rename the property later and remove the Column attribute.