Database

MySQL

We use MySQL on the server, because it works with Entity Framework and supports all migrations, which SQLite for instance does not. Furthermore MySQL is cross-platform and can be set up on both Windows, Mac and Linux distributions.

Migrations (Only for developers of the API)

If changes has been made to the model classes of the web-api then a new migration should be added to be able to update the database with new entities without losing data:

  • In a shell, navigate to: .../web-api/GirafAPI
  • dotnet ef migrations add NameOfMigrationDescribingTheChange
  • dotnet ef database update
  • If an exception is thrown then adjust the migration Up method in the file Migrations/...NameOfMigrationDescribingTheChange.cs to include the change of the model without triggering any MySQL exceptions. It may be good to inspect the file in any case, to see that it will function as expected.
  • When the database is updated confirm that the migration NameOfMigrationDescribingTheChange is added to the table __efmigrationshistory in the giraf database.
  • Now check that the Down method in the migration is also working properly. Determine the name of the last migration before yours, looking at the date and time prefixes in ls Migrations/MySQL. If it is 20180409123114_PreviousMigration.cs, then you must run dotnet ef database update PreviousMigration.
  • If an exception is thrown then adjust the migration Down method in the file Migrations/...NameOfMigrationDescribingTheChange.cs to include the change of the model without triggering any MySQL exceptions.
  • When the database is updated to the previous migration confirm that NameOfMigrationDescribingTheChange is no longer in the table __efmigrationshistory in the giraf database.
  • Finally update the database to the newly added migration again using dotnet ef database update.
  • If an exception is thrown adjust the Up method of the migration again to fix the issue.
  • Make sure that the entire web-api repository has no syntax errors before migrating, as this can also cause the migrations to fail.

Many-to-Many

ASP.NET Core does not support many-to-many relations at the current release (v. 2), however a workaround was developed to obtain the same results. The workaround is inspired by a similar approach shown in the DBS course.

The relations created can be found in the GirafEntities project. An example is the relation called DepartmentResource in the user folder, that maps between departments and resources. Many-to-Many relations in the Entity project have a suffix with either Resource or Relation. The relations are built in the GirafDbContext, but an example of creating such a relation is shown below:

builder.Entity<DepartmentResource>()
    //States that one department is involved in each DepartmentResourceRelation
    .HasOne(dr => dr.Other)
    //And that this one department may own several DepartmentResources
    .WithMany(d => d.Resources)
    //And that the key of the department in the relation is 'OtherKey'
    .HasForeignKey(dr => dr.OtherKey);

//Configures the relation from Resource to DepartmentResource
builder.Entity<DepartmentResource>()
    //States that only one resource is involved in this relation
    .HasOne(dr => dr.Resource)
    //And that each resource may take part in many DepartmentResource relations
    .WithMany(r => r.Departments)
    //And that the key of the department in the relation is 'ResoruceKey'
    .HasForeignKey(dr => dr.ResourceKey);

Using this syntax will create the defined relation.

Last update: October 27, 2025