5 posts tagged with "entity framework"

Managed Identity offers a very secure way for applications running in Azure to connect to Azure SQL databases. It's an approach that does not require code changes; merely configuration of connection string and associated resources. Hence it has a good developer experience. Importantly, it allows us to avoid exposing our database to username / password authentication, and hence making it a tougher target for bad actors.

Just recently my team took on the challenge of upgrading our codebase from .NET Core 2.2 to .NET Core 3.1. Along the way we encountered a quirky issue which caused us much befuddlement. Should you be befuddled too, then maybe this can help you.

Let me start by telling you a dirty secret. I have an ASP.Net Core project that I build with VSTS. It is deployed to Azure through a CI / CD setup in VSTS. That part I'm happy with. Proud of even. Now to the sordid hiddenness: try as I might, I've never found a nice way to deploy Entity Framework database migrations as part of the deployment flow. So I have [blushes with embarrassment] been using the Startup of my ASP.Net core app to run the migrations on my database. There. I said it. You all know. Absolutely filthy. Don't judge me.

Code First Migrations. They look a little like this in Visual Studio:

Just recently I've noticed that there appears to be something of a controversy around Unit Testing and Entity Framework. I first came across it as I was Googling around for useful posts on using MOQ in conjunction with EF. I've started to notice the topic more and more and as I have mixed feelings on the subject (that is to say I don't have a settled opinion) I thought I'd write about this and see if I came to any kind of conclusion...