dotConnect for MySQL allows configuring creating and deleting database objects in the CreateDatabase() and DeleteDatabase() methods. These customizations are rather useful for the Code First approach. You can tweak the behaviour of the methods using the MySqlEntityProviderConfig.DatabaseScript.Schema, MySqlEntityProviderConfig.DatabaseScript.Table, and MySqlEntityProviderConfig.DatabaseScript.ForeignKey classes.

MySqlEntityProviderConfig.DatabaseScript.Schema Settings

• DeleteDatabaseBehaviour. This enumeration determines the behavior of the DeleteDatabase() function.

  • ModelObjectsOnly - this is the default value. Only the tables that model objects are mapped to are created/deleted.
  • AllSchemaObjects - all tables will be created/deleted from schemas or databases that model objects were mapped to.

  • Schema - entire schema, containing model objects, (database) is created/deleted. If the model contains objects from other schemas, these schemas (databases) will be created/deleted as well.

  • Database - the database (schema), specified in the connection string, is deleted when calling DeleteDatabase(). When calling CreateDatabase(), dotConnect for MySQL tries to create the database. When using DeleteDatabaseBehaviour.Database option, you can specify a non-existent database in the connection string and create this database after connecting.

    Note that if there are model objects, mapped to database objects in other schemas, these schemas are created/deleted only when using the following database initialization strategies: CreateDatabaseIfNotExists, DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges, DropCreateDatabaseAlways or when explicitly using the CreateDatabase()/DeleteDatabase() methods of the ObjectContext class or the Database class that is used with DbContext instead of using a database initialization strategy. If you use the MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion database initialization strategy, you need to generate a code-based migration and add SQL commands for creating/deleting necessary schemas using the Sql() method of the DbMigration class.

• CharacterSet - set the charset for the created database.
• Collate - set the specific collation option for the created database.

MySqlEntityProviderConfig.DatabaseScript.ForeignKey Settings

• Enabled. Turns on/off generation of foreign constraints. The default value is true.
• IndexCreation. When set to true, an index is created for the columns being parts of the foreign key. The default value is false. Note that for MySQL, the IndexCreation property is effective only when the Enabled property is set to false. When foreign keys are created, MySQL always creates the corresponding indexes automatically.

MySqlEntityProviderConfig.DatabaseScript.Table Settings

• StorageEngine. This property determines the MySQL storage engine used for the table when creating it using Code First or Code First Migrations. This property can have the following values:

  • Default - Storage engine is not specified. MySQL server configuration determines the storage engine used.
  • InnoDB - InnoDB storage engine is used.
  • MyISAM - MyISAM storage engine is used.
  • Memory - Memory storage engine is used.
  • CSV - CSV storage engine is used.
  • Archive - Archive storage engine is used.
  • NDB - NDB storage engine is used.