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    Enum Type Mapping

    By default, any enum properties in your model will be mapped to database integers. EF Core 2.1 also allows you to map these to strings in the database with value converters.

    However, the Npgsql provider also allows you to map your CLR enums to database enum types. This option, unique to PostgreSQL, provides the best of both worlds: the enum is internally stored in the database as a number (minimal storage), but is handled like a string (more usable, no need to remember numeric values) and has type safety.

    Creating your database enum

    First, you must specify the PostgreSQL enum type on your model, just like you would with tables, sequences or other databases objects:

    protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder builder)
        => builder.HasPostgresEnum<Mood>();
    

    This causes the EF Core provider to create your enum type, mood, with two labels: happy and sad. This will cause the appropriate migration to be created.

    If you are using context.Database.Migrate() to create your enums, you need to instruct Npgsql to reload all types after applying your migrations:

    await context.Database.MigrateAsync(token);
    
    if (context.Database.GetDbConnection() is NpgsqlConnection npgsqlConnection)
    {
        await npgsqlConnection.OpenAsync(token);
        try
        {
            await npgsqlConnection.ReloadTypesAsync();
        }
        finally
        {
            await npgsqlConnection.CloseAsync();
        }
    }
    

    Mapping your enum

    Even if your database enum is created, Npgsql has to know about it, and especially about your CLR enum type that should be mapped to it:

    • NpgsqlDataSource
    • Without NpgsqlDatasource

    Since version 7.0, NpgsqlDataSource is the recommended way to use Npgsql. When using NpgsqlDataSource, map your enum when building your data source:

    // Call UseNodaTime() when building your data source:
    var dataSourceBuilder = new NpgsqlDataSourceBuilder(/* connection string */);
    dataSourceBuilder.MapEnum<Mood>();
    var dataSource = dataSourceBuilder.Build();
    
    builder.Services.AddDbContext<MyContext>(options => options.UseNpgsql(dataSource));
    

    Since version 7.0, NpgsqlDataSource is the recommended way to use Npgsql. However, if you're not yet using NpgsqlDataSource, map enums by adding the following code, before any EF Core operations take place. An appropriate place for this is in the static constructor on your DbContext class:

    static MyDbContext()
        => NpgsqlConnection.GlobalTypeMapper.MapEnum<Mood>();
    

    This code lets Npgsql know that your CLR enum type, Mood, should be mapped to a database enum called mood. Note that if your enum is in a custom schema (not public), you must specify that schema in the call to MapEnum.

    If you're curious as to inner workings, this code maps the enum with the ADO.NET provider - see here for the full docs. When the Npgsql EF Core first initializes, it calls into the ADO.NET provider to get all mapped enums, and sets everything up internally at the EF Core layer as well.

    Note

    If you have multiple context types, all MapEnum invocations must be done before any of them is used; this means that the code cannot be in your static constructors, but must be moved to the program start.

    Using enum properties

    Once your enum is mapped and created in the database, you can use your CLR enum type just like any other property:

    public class Blog
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public Mood Mood { get; set; }
    }
    
    using (var ctx = new MyDbContext())
    {
        // Insert
        ctx.Blogs.Add(new Blog { Mood = Mood.Happy });
        ctx.Blogs.SaveChanges();
    
        // Query
        var blog = ctx.Blogs.Single(b => b.Mood == Mood.Happy);
    }
    

    Altering enum definitions

    The Npgsql provider only allow adding new values to existing enums, and the appropriate migrations will be automatically created as you add values to your CLR enum type. However, PostgreSQL itself doesn't support removing enum values (since these may be in use), and while renaming values is supported, it isn't automatically done by the provider to avoid using unreliable detection heuristics. Renaming an enum value can be done by including raw SQL in your migrations as follows:

    migrationBuilder.Sql(@"ALTER TYPE mood RENAME VALUE 'happy' TO 'thrilled';");
    

    As always, test your migrations carefully before running them on production databases.

    Scaffolding from an existing database

    If you're creating your model from an existing database, the provider will recognize enums in your database, and scaffold the appropriate HasPostgresEnum() lines in your model. However, the scaffolding process has no knowledge of your CLR type, and will therefore skip your enum columns (warnings will be logged). You will have to create the CLR type, add the global mapping and add the properties to your entities.

    In the future it may be possible to scaffold the actual enum type (and with it the properties), but this doesn't happen at the moment.

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