Installing Entity Framework Core

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss how to install and set up Entity Framework Core in the .Net core application.

Before you start on this I strongly recommend reading “Introduction to Entity Framework Core 6.0” first and then coming back.

We will cover,

1. Setup Entity Framework Core in .Net Core

Prerequisites

1. Visual Studio 2022 or higher
2. Basic knowledge of Asp.net Core will help.

Setup Entity Framework Core in .Net Core

Let’s create an ASP.net Core application first,

Step 1: Create Asp.Net Project

Step 2: Install Nuget Packages for Entity Framework Core

Based on the database which needs to be used, respective NuGet packages needs to be installed. You can find the list of all NuGet packages based on DB in the below link,

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/providers/?tabs=dotnet-core-cli

Let's Install Nuget Package for SQL Server,

Click on Install Button.

It will show and install all dependent packages as per the below image.

Click on OK Button.

Please note that Entity Framework needs to have three main packages,

1. Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore. SqlServer – This is DB specific package. In this case, this package has all the required details for SQL Server DB.
2. Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational – Common Relational functionality.
3. Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore – Contain common functionality of Entity Framework Core.

If we will install “Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer”, it will automatically install dependent packages like “Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational” and “Microsoft.EntityFramworkCore”.

But if you install “Microsoft.EntityFramworkCore” first, then you need to install “Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational” and “Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer” NuGet packages manually.

Let’s see the below images for more information,

Now I will show you dependencies in the Project,

Now .Net core application is ready to work with EFCore. In the next article, we will create sample EntityFrameworkCore Application.

That’s all for this article. Hope you enjoyed and find it useful.