Entity Framework Code First Fluent Api: Adding Indexes to columns

Question

I\'m running EF 4.2 CF and want to create indexes on certain columns in my POCO objects.

As an example lets say we have this employee class:

public c         


        

Answer 1

You could create an attribute called indexed (as you suggested), which is then picked up in a custom initializer.

I created the following attribute:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, Inherited = false, AllowMultiple = true)]
public class IndexAttribute : Attribute
{
    public IndexAttribute(bool isUnique = false, bool isClustered = false, SortOrder sortOrder = SortOrder.Ascending)
    {
        IsUnique = isUnique;
        IsClustered = isClustered;
        SortOrder = sortOrder == SortOrder.Unspecified ? SortOrder.Ascending : sortOrder;

    }

    public bool IsUnique { get; private set; }
    public bool IsClustered { get; private set; }
    public SortOrder SortOrder { get; private set; }
    //public string Where { get; private set; }
}

I then created a custom initializer which got a list of the table names created for the entities in my context. I have two base classes which all my entities inherit, so I did the following to get the table names:

 var baseEF = typeof (BaseEFEntity);
        var baseLink = typeof (BaseLinkTable);
        var types =
            AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies().ToList().SelectMany(s => s.GetTypes()).Where(
                baseEF.IsAssignableFrom).Union(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies().ToList().SelectMany(
                    s => s.GetTypes()).Where(
                        baseLink.IsAssignableFrom));

        var sqlScript = context.ObjectContext.CreateDatabaseScript();

        foreach (var type in types)
        {
            var table = (TableAttribute) type.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (TableAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault();
            var tableName = (table != null ? table.Name : null) ?? Pluralizer.Pluralize(type.Name);

I then found all the properties on each entity that have this attribute and then execute a SQL command to generate the index on each property. Sweet!

//Check that a table exists
            if (sqlScript.ToLower().Contains(string.Format(CREATETABLELOOKUP, tableName.ToLower())))
            {

                //indexes

                var indexAttrib = typeof (IndexAttribute);
                properties = type.GetProperties().Where(prop => Attribute.IsDefined(prop, indexAttrib));
                foreach (var property in properties)
                {
                    var attributes = property.GetCustomAttributes(indexAttrib, true).ToList();

                    foreach (IndexAttribute index in attributes)
                    {
                        var indexName = string.Format(INDEXNAMEFORMAT, tableName, property.Name,
                                                      attributes.Count > 1
                                                          ? UNDERSCORE + (attributes.IndexOf(index) + 1)
                                                          : string.Empty);
                        try
                        {
                            context.ObjectContext.ExecuteStoreCommand(
                                string.Format(INDEX_STRING, indexName,
                                              tableName,
                                              property.Name,
                                              index.IsUnique ? UNIQUE : string.Empty,
                                              index.IsClustered ? CLUSTERED : NONCLUSTERED,
                                              index.SortOrder == SortOrder.Ascending ? ASC : DESC));
                        }
                        catch (Exception)
                        {
                        }
                    }
                }

I even went on to add class based indexes (which could have multiple columns) , unique constraints and default constraints all in the same way. Whats also really nice is that if you put these attributes on an inherited class the index or constraint gets applied to all the classes (tables) that inherit it.

BTW the pluralizer helper contains the following:

public static class Pluralizer
{
    private static object _pluralizer;
    private static MethodInfo _pluralizationMethod;

    public static string Pluralize(string word)
    {
        CreatePluralizer();
        return (string) _pluralizationMethod.Invoke(_pluralizer, new object[] {word});
    }

    public static void CreatePluralizer()
    {
        if (_pluralizer == null)
        {
            var aseembly = typeof (DbContext).Assembly;
            var type =
                aseembly.GetType(
                    "System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Design.PluralizationServices.EnglishPluralizationService");
            _pluralizer = Activator.CreateInstance(type, true);
            _pluralizationMethod = _pluralizer.GetType().GetMethod("Pluralize");
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

After Migrations was introduced in EF 4.3 you can now add indexes when modifying or creating a table. Here is an excerpt from the EF 4.3 Code-Based Migrations Walkthrough from the ADO.NET team blog

namespace MigrationsCodeDemo.Migrations
{
    using System.Data.Entity.Migrations;

    public partial class AddPostClass : DbMigration
    {
        public override void Up()
        {
            CreateTable(
                "Posts",
                c => new
                    {
                        PostId = c.Int(nullable: false, identity: true),
                        Title = c.String(maxLength: 200),
                        Content = c.String(),
                        BlogId = c.Int(nullable: false),
                    })
                .PrimaryKey(t => t.PostId)
                .ForeignKey("Blogs", t => t.BlogId, cascadeDelete: true)
                .Index(t => t.BlogId)
                .Index(p => p.Title, unique: true);

            AddColumn("Blogs", "Rating", c => c.Int(nullable: false, defaultValue: 3));
        }

        public override void Down()
        {
            DropIndex("Posts", new[] { "BlogId" });
            DropForeignKey("Posts", "BlogId", "Blogs");
            DropColumn("Blogs", "Rating");
            DropTable("Posts");
        }
    }
}

This is a nice strongly typed way to add the indexes, which was what i was looking for when i first posted the question.

Answer 3

To build further on all these great responses, we added the following code to enable the Index attribute to be picked up from an associated metadata type. For the full details please see my blog post, but in summary here are the details.

Metadata types are used like this:

    [MetadataType(typeof(UserAccountAnnotations))]
    public partial class UserAccount : IDomainEntity
        {
        [Key]
        public int Id { get; set; } // Unique ID
        sealed class UserAccountAnnotations
            {
            [Index("IX_UserName", unique: true)]
            public string UserName { get; set; }
            }
       }

In this example the metadata type is a nested class, but it doesn't have to be, it can be any type. Property matching is done by name only, so the metadata type just has to have a property of the same name, and any data annotations applied to that should then be applied to the associated entity class. This didn't work in the original solution because it doesn't check for the associated metadata type. We plumbed in the following helper method:

/// <summary>
///   Gets the index attributes on the specified property and the same property on any associated metadata type.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="property">The property.</param>
/// <returns>IEnumerable{IndexAttribute}.</returns>
IEnumerable<IndexAttribute> GetIndexAttributes(PropertyInfo property)
    {
    Type entityType = property.DeclaringType;
    var indexAttributes = (IndexAttribute[])property.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(IndexAttribute), false);
    var metadataAttribute =
        entityType.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(MetadataTypeAttribute)) as MetadataTypeAttribute;
    if (metadataAttribute == null)
        return indexAttributes; // No metadata type

    Type associatedMetadataType = metadataAttribute.MetadataClassType;
    PropertyInfo associatedProperty = associatedMetadataType.GetProperty(property.Name);
    if (associatedProperty == null)
        return indexAttributes; // No metadata on the property

    var associatedIndexAttributes =
        (IndexAttribute[])associatedProperty.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(IndexAttribute), false);
    return indexAttributes.Union(associatedIndexAttributes);
    }

Answer 4

For EF7 you can use the hasIndex() method. We can set clustered and non-clustered index as well. By default primary key will be clustered . We can change that behavior too.

supplierItemEntity.HasKey(supplierItem => supplierItem.SupplierItemId).ForSqlServerIsClustered(false);

supplierItemEntity.HasIndex(s => new { s.ItemId }).ForSqlServerIsClustered(true);

Answer 5

For anyone using Entity Framework 6.1+, you can do the following with fluent api:

modelBuilder 
    .Entity<Department>() 
    .Property(t => t.Name) 
    .HasColumnAnnotation("Index", new IndexAnnotation(new IndexAttribute()));

Read more in the documentation.

Answer 6

jwsadler's extension of Data Annotations was a nice fit for us. We use Annotations to influence the treatment of a class or property and Fluent API for global changes.

Our annotations cover indexes (unique and not unique) plus default values of getdate() and (1). The code sample shows how we applied it to our situation. All of our classes inherit from one base class. This implementation makes a lot of assumptions because we have a pretty simple model. We're using Entity Framework 6.0.1. Lots of comments have been included.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;

namespace YourNameSpace
{
    public enum SqlOption
    {
        Active = 1,
        GetDate = 2,
        Index = 3,
        Unique = 4,
    }

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, Inherited = false, AllowMultiple = true)]
    public class SqlAttribute : Attribute
    {
        public SqlAttribute(SqlOption selectedOption = SqlOption.Index)
        {
            this.Option = selectedOption;
        }

        public SqlOption Option {get; set;}
    }

    // See enum above, usage examples: [Sql(SqlOption.Unique)] [Sql(SqlOption.Index)] [Sql(SqlOption.GetDate)]
    public class SqlInitializer<T> : IDatabaseInitializer<T> where T : DbContext
    {
        // Create templates for the DDL we want generate
        const string INDEX_TEMPLATE = "CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX IX_{columnName} ON [dbo].[{tableName}] ([{columnName}]);";
        const string UNIQUE_TEMPLATE = "CREATE UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED INDEX UQ_{columnName} ON [dbo].[{tableName}] ([{columnName}]);";
        const string GETDATE_TEMPLATE = "ALTER TABLE [dbo].[{tableName}] ADD DEFAULT (getdate()) FOR [{columnName}];";
        const string ACTIVE_TEMPLATE = "ALTER TABLE [dbo].[{tableName}] ADD DEFAULT (1) FOR [{columnName}];";

        // Called by Database.SetInitializer(new IndexInitializer< MyDBContext>()); in MyDBContext.cs
        public void InitializeDatabase(T context)
        {
            // To be used for the SQL DDL that I generate
            string sql = string.Empty;

            // All of my classes are derived from my base class, Entity
            var baseClass = typeof(Entity);

            // Get a list of classes in my model derived from my base class
            var modelClasses = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies().ToList().
                SelectMany(s => s.GetTypes()).Where(baseClass.IsAssignableFrom);

            // For debugging only - examine the SQL DDL that Entity Framework is generating
            // Manipulating this is discouraged.
            var generatedDDSQL = ((IObjectContextAdapter)context).ObjectContext.CreateDatabaseScript();

            // Define which Annotation Attribute we care about (this class!)
            var annotationAttribute = typeof(SqlAttribute);

            // Generate a list of concrete classes in my model derived from
            // Entity class since we follow Table Per Concrete Class (TPC).
            var concreteClasses = from modelClass in modelClasses
                                  where !modelClass.IsAbstract
                                  select modelClass;

            // Iterate through my model's concrete classes (will be mapped to tables)
            foreach (var concreteClass in concreteClasses)
            {
                // Calculate the table name - could get the table name from list of DbContext's properties
                // to be more correct (but this is sufficient in my case)
                var tableName = concreteClass.Name + "s";

                // Get concrete class's properties that have this annotation
                var propertiesWithAnnotations = concreteClass.GetProperties().Where(prop => Attribute.IsDefined(prop, annotationAttribute));

                foreach (var annotatedProperty in propertiesWithAnnotations)
                {
                    var columnName = annotatedProperty.Name;
                    var annotationProperties = annotatedProperty.GetCustomAttributes(annotationAttribute, true).ToList();

                    foreach (SqlAttribute annotationProperty in annotationProperties)
                    {
                        // Generate the appropriate SQL DLL based on the attribute selected
                        switch (annotationProperty.Option)
                        {
                            case SqlOption.Active: // Default value of true plus an index (for my case)
                                sql += ACTIVE_TEMPLATE.Replace("{tableName}", tableName).Replace("{columnName}", columnName);
                                sql += INDEX_TEMPLATE.Replace("{tableName}", tableName).Replace("{columnName}", columnName);
                                break;
                            case SqlOption.GetDate: // GetDate plus an index (for my case)
                                sql += GETDATE_TEMPLATE.Replace("{tableName}", tableName).Replace("{columnName}", columnName);
                                sql += INDEX_TEMPLATE.Replace("{tableName}", tableName).Replace("{columnName}", columnName);
                                break;
                            case SqlOption.Index: // Default for empty annotations for example [Sql()]
                                sql += INDEX_TEMPLATE.Replace("{tableName}", tableName).Replace("{columnName}", columnName);
                                break;
                            case SqlOption.Unique:
                                sql += UNIQUE_TEMPLATE.Replace("{tableName}", tableName).Replace("{columnName}", columnName);
                                break;
                        } // switch
                    } // foreach annotationProperty
                } // foreach annotatedProperty
            } // foreach concreteClass

            // Would have been better not to go through all the work of generating the SQL
            // if we weren't going to use it, but putting it here makes it easier to follow.
            if (context.Database.CreateIfNotExists())
                context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(sql);

        } // InitializeDatabase
    } // SqlInitializer
} // Namespace

Here's our context:

using System;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Conventions;

namespace YourNameSpace
{
    public class MyDBContext : DbContext
    {
       protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
        {
            // Only including my concrete classes here as we're following Table Per Concrete Class (TPC)
            public virtual DbSet<Attendance> Attendances { get; set; }
            public virtual DbSet<Course> Courses { get; set; }
            public virtual DbSet<Location> Locations { get; set; }
            public virtual DbSet<PaymentMethod> PaymentMethods { get; set; }
            public virtual DbSet<Purchase> Purchases { get; set; }
            public virtual DbSet<Student> Students { get; set; }
            public virtual DbSet<Teacher> Teachers { get; set; }

            // Process the SQL Annotations
            Database.SetInitializer(new SqlInitializer<MyDBContext>());
            base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);

            // Change all datetime columns to datetime2
            modelBuilder.Properties<DateTime>().Configure(c => c.HasColumnType("datetime2"));

            // Turn off cascading deletes
            modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<OneToManyCascadeDeleteConvention>();
        }
    }
}