How to set default value for POCO's in EF CF?

Andy picture Andy · Jun 29, 2010 · Viewed 39.2k times · Source

In Entity Framework Code First approach, how do you set a default value for a property in the POCO's EntityConfiguration class?

public class Person
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public DateTime CreatedOn { get; set; }
}

public class PersonConfiguration : EntityConfiguration<Person>
{
    public PersonConfiguration()
    {
        Property(p => p.Id).IsIdentity();
        Property(p => p.Name).HasMaxLength(100);

        //set default value for CreatedOn ?
    }
}

Answer

Chris Pacey picture Chris Pacey · Feb 24, 2012

With the release of Entity Framework 4.3 you can do this through Migrations.

EF 4.3 Code First Migrations Walkthrough

So using your example it would be something like:

public partial class AddPersonClass : DbMigration
{
    public override void Up()
    {
        CreateTable(
            "People",
            c => new
                {
                    Id = c.Int(nullable: false, identity: true),
                    Name = c.String(maxLength: 100),
                    CreatedOn = c.DateTime(nullable: false, defaultValue: DateTime.UtcNow)
                })
            .PrimaryKey(t => t.Id);
    }

    public overide void Down()
    {
        // Commands for when Migration is brought down
    }
}