EF Core in .NET 7 API

    public class Department
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Description { get; set; }
        public bool IsActive { get; set; }
        public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
        public DateTime UpdatedDate { get; set; }
    }

    public class Employee
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public int DepartmentId { get; set; }

        public bool IsActive { get; set; }
        public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
        public DateTime UpdatedDate { get; set; }
    }

    public class EmployeeDbContext : DbContext
    {
        public EmployeeDbContext(DbContextOptions<EmployeeDbContext> options) : base(options) 
        {
        }

        public DbSet<Department> Departments { get; set; }
        public DbSet<Employee> Employees { get; set; }
    }

builder.Services.AddDbContext<EmployeeDbContext>(options =>
{
    options.UseSqlServer("Server=RAVI;Database=EFCoreCodeFirstDB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true;TrustServerCertificate=True;");
});

After that, we will run the migrations commands that will help us maintain the DB state.

Run the following command in the solution directory.

“dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate”.

After running it, the output will look something like this.

In the solution explorer, you will see the following folder.

Note. If the above command throws the error, please run the following command first.

“dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef”

After this, we will run the following command.

“dotnet ef database update”

You should see the following output.

After this, you can see your SqlServer to see that your database has been created along with your tables.

Now we will add a controller called "DepartmentController.cs".

[Route("api/[controller]")]
[ApiController]
public class DepartmentController: ControllerBase {
  private readonly EmployeeDbContext _dbContext;
  public DepartmentController(EmployeeDbContext dbContext) {
    _dbContext = dbContext;
  }

  [HttpGet]
  public IActionResult Get() {
    var departments = _dbContext.Departments.ToList();
    return Ok(departments);
  }

  [HttpPost]
  public IActionResult Post([FromBody] Department department) {
    _dbContext.Departments.Add(department);
    _dbContext.SaveChanges();
    return Ok();
  }

  [HttpPut]
  public IActionResult Put([FromBody] Department department) {
    var dept = _dbContext.Departments.FirstOrDefault(d => d.Id == department.Id);
    if (dept == null)
      return NotFound();

    dept.Name = department.Name;
    dept.Description = department.Description;
    dept.UpdatedDate = DateTime.Now;
    _dbContext.SaveChanges();
    return Ok(dept);
  }
}

In our DepartmentController.cs, we have three REST endpoints; one is HttpGet which will get us the list of all departments. The second endpoint is HTTP POST which will save the departments in the DB, and the last one is HTTPPUT which will update the department in the DB.

Similarly, we will have an employee controller as well, which will save, update and get employees.

[Route("api/[controller]")]
[ApiController]
public class EmployeeController: ControllerBase {
  private readonly EmployeeDbContext _dbContext;
  public EmployeeController(EmployeeDbContext dbContext) {
    _dbContext = dbContext;
  }

  [HttpGet]
  public IActionResult Get() {
    var employees = _dbContext.Employees.ToList();
    return Ok(employees);
  }

  [HttpPost]
  public IActionResult Add([FromBody] Employee employee) {
    _dbContext.Employees.Add(employee);
    _dbContext.SaveChanges();
    return Ok();
  }

  [HttpPut]
  public IActionResult Update([FromBody] Employee employee) {
    var emp = _dbContext.Employees.FirstOrDefault(d => d.Id == employee.Id);
    if (emp == null)
      return NotFound();

    emp.FirstName = employee.FirstName;
    emp.LastName = employee.LastName;
    emp.DepartmentId = employee.DepartmentId;
    emp.UpdatedDate = DateTime.Now;
    _dbContext.SaveChanges();
    return Ok(emp);
  }
}

Now let's run our API, and then we will hit the POST endpoint of the department's controller.

Now we will try to get all the departments by hitting the Get endpoint of departments.

Now we will create a new employee using the Post endpoint of the employee controller.

Now we will hit the Get endpoint of the employee controller.

Now we can verify the same values from the database as well.

As we can verify, our values are stored in the database as well.

Summary

We have seen how to create a .NET 7 API and use EF Core to interact with the relational database to store and get the data.

If you wish to see the code, please click here!

Happy Coding!