Missing Features in Entity Framework Core

Monday, September 5, 2016

Updated: with EF Core 2.1.

Here’s a brief summary of some of the features that were present in previous versions of Entity Framework (6.x) and were excluded (or are not yet implemented) as of Entity Framework Core 2.1:

Feature	Description	Reason/Workaround
Entity Type Configuration	The ability to load entity configuration from classes in the same assembly as the context (EntityTypeConfiguration)	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2805 Implemented in EF Core 2.0.
Lazy loading	The ability to load entity relations after the root entity was loaded, automatically	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/3797 Implemented in EF Core 2.1.
Explicit loading	The ability to load entity relations after the root entity was loaded, explicitly	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/3797 Implemented in EF Core 1.1.
Support for Group By	Specifying GroupBy in a LINQ query	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2341 Implemented in EF Core 2.1.
Support for user defined functions	Using static methods as UDFs	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/4319 Implemented in EF Core 2.0.
DateTime, TimeSpan operations and common SQL functions	Doing DateTime operations and using common SQL functions in LINQ	The ability to do queries involving Date/Time operations (DbFunctions) and common SQL functions (SqlFunctions) in LINQ queries is not supported now. Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2850 https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/issues/6025
Complex Values	Support for properties of complex types (value objects)	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/246 Implemented in EF Core 2.0.
Many to Many Collections	Many-to-many relations without a middle entity/table	Will be available in a future version. For now, we need a middle entity and table. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/1368
Table Splitting		https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/619 Implemented in EF Core 2.0.
Table Per Type Inheritance Strategy		Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2266
Table Per Concrete Type Inheritance Strategy		Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/3170
Mapping CUD with stored procedures	The ability to use stored procedures for doing inserts, updates and deletes seemlesly	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/245
Map database views	The ability to map views instead of tables	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/1679 https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/827 Implemented in EF Core 2.1.
Spatial data types	The ability to query and use spatial data types	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/1100
Custom conventions	The ability to add custom conventions	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/214
Populate non-model types from SQL	Turn the results of custom SQL into classes that are not part of the model	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/240
Connection resiliency support	The ability to retry connecting and sending queries	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/237 Implemented in EF Core 1.1.
Seeding data in migrations	The ability to add data when migrating	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/629 Implemented in EF Core 2.1.
Command and query interception	The ability to intercept queries and SQL commands	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/626 https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/4048 https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/737
Visual Studio support for generating/updating entities from the database and viewing the model	The ability to generate the model from the database from inside Visual Studio and to view the model graphically	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/5837
Database initializers	Database initializers	Dropped.
Automatic migrations	Automatic migrations	Dropped.
Pluralization Service	Pluralization Service	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2506 Implemented in EF Core 2.0.
ObjectContext events	SavingChanges and ObjectMaterialized events of ObjectContext	Will be available in a future version. https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/3204 https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/issues/626
ObjectContext (Entity SQL)	Entity SQL	Dropped.
Model first approach	Model first approach	Dropped.
Data Annotations validations	The ability to perform data annotations validations before saving changes	Dropped.
Support for System.Transactions	The ability to use TransactionScope ambient transactions	https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFrameworkCore/issues/5595 https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/12534 Implemented in EF Core 2.1.

Please let me know if you think I missed something! Winking smile

See Microsof't comparison of Core and pre-Core versions here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/efcore-and-ef6/features.

For the most up to date roadmap, please consult the EF Core roadmap: https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/wiki/Roadmap.

Also, do check out the Entity Framework issue tracker: https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues

15 Comments

Dang... seems like a damning list. :( I was thinking about getting involved with this for my next project but I might stick with 6.0...

Mike-EEE - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 10:07:50 AM

Hi, Mike!
Yeah... even MS warns that the 6.x version is the recommended one... It's gonna take some time, I guess. Some of these are must-have features - just take the GroupBy thing, for instance.

RicardoPeres - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 10:45:30 AM

No Group by and no datetime operations? These two features alone are a reason to stay as far away from EF Core as I can!!! I would love it if I could use EF Core for a current project, but the current state makes it imposible. And probably at least for the next year too.

Raul - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 9:55:49 AM

Raul: totally understand you, I feel the same. EF Core is not ready for production.

RicardoPeres - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 10:33:12 AM

I loved Data Annotations validations using partial meta classes. I don't remember using EF specifically for validation, so I assume JS/MVC model validation will continue to work as-is.

mycall - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 4:11:47 PM

Mycall: yes, here I'm talking about validations on the DbContext, when it goes to SaveChanges.

RicardoPeres - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 4:43:56 PM

Yes, indeed. What's striking is how this continues to be a challenge for the group that has worked on this for over a decade now. Even with a rewrite it has proved to be a daunting undertaking. I've been with them since the start and have followed them from the beginning (and am one of their biggest fans), so it's been interesting to follow.

This is still a disappointment, however. I am looking at building a new app (my first) and was hoping to use EF Core. Hopefully I can find a solution to use EF6.0 on the server, while still using something viable on my (Xamarin/UWP) clients. Definitely open to any suggestions. :)

Mike-EEE - Thursday, September 8, 2016 2:16:46 PM

Wow, how can you guys seriously consider this a production ready release without even BASIC date functionality? This tells me that EF Core simply isn't ready. As far as I can tell there is A LOT of heavy lifting that needs to be done before you guys should consider a 1.0 release.

TheLievense - Wednesday, September 28, 2016 7:24:24 PM

TheLievense:
Who are "you guys"? I totally agree with you! :-)

RicardoPeres - Wednesday, September 28, 2016 7:26:14 PM

SQLite does not support transactions around schema changes, and so migrations are pretty much crippled on Android and IOS (Xamarin). Not really an EF Core problem but a showstopper for me.

Alex - Thursday, January 26, 2017 8:32:34 AM

This link is wrong´: https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/1186 should be: https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/5837

Also, would be nice with an update for 2.0 preview1:
Filters (reduces need for query interception, but not mentioned directly in your list)
Owned entities (Complex Types)
https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2805 - fixed
https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/2850 - groundwork done
https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework/issues/246 - done

ErikEJ - Monday, May 15, 2017 11:58:17 AM

Hi, ErikEJ!
Thanks, you are right, I updated the link.
As for the stuff that will be fixed in EF 2.0, I will write another post, when it is released.
Cheers!

RicardoPeres - Thursday, June 1, 2017 8:18:00 AM

Hard to read the table, please consider adding horizontal lines for each row.

EF Core - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 6:07:49 PM

This list needs to be updated:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2018/05/30/announcing-entity-framework-core-2-1/#comment-542395

Mohammad - Thursday, May 31, 2018 9:08:03 AM

Thanks, Mohammad! Indeed it does! ;-)

RicardoPeres - Thursday, May 31, 2018 10:19:31 AM

Missing Features in Entity Framework Core

15 Comments

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