PostgreSQL ASP.NET Core 2.0

Convert an ASP.NET Core Web Application project to use PostgreSQL with Entity Framework.

This enables development of ASP.NET Core projects using VS Code on Mac OS X / macOS or linux targets.

This repository uses ASP.NET Core 2.0 Visual Studio 2017 ASP.NET Core Web Application project scaffold updated to use PostgreSQL.

Project Setup

Project setup has already been completed in this repository.

Below, instructions are referenced to use PostgreSQL in a ASP.NET Core project.

Install NuGet packages

Install the Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL NuGet package in the ASP.NET web application.

To do this, you can use the dotnet command line by executing:

$ dotnet add package Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL --version 2.0.2

Or, edit the project's .csproj file and add the following line in the PackageReference item group:

<PackageReference Include="Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL" Version="2.0.2" />

Update appsettings.json

Configure connection string in project's appsettings.json, replacing the username, password, and dbname appropriately:

"ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "User ID=username;Password=password;Server=localhost;Port=5432;Database=dbname;Integrated Security=true;Pooling=true;"
},

Modify Startup.cs

Inside Startup.cs ConfigureServices() method, replace the UseSqlServer option with PostgresSQL:

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    // Add framework services.
    services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
        options.UseNpgsql(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));

Running the solution

Before the solution can be executed, be sure to run entity framework migrations.

Run Entity Framework Migrations

Execute the following comment inside the project directory, where the .csproj file is located:

$ dotnet ef database update

After running the migration, the database is created and web application is ready to be run.

Setting up a PostgresSQL server on Mac

Here are instructions to setup a PostgreSQL server on Mac using Homebrew.

Installing PostgreSQL on Mac

Use brew to install PostgreSQL, then launch the service:

$ brew install postgresql
$ brew services start postgresql

Create a user

Create a user using the createuser command from a terminal. Using the -P argument, you will be prompted to setup a password.

$ createuser username -P

Create a database

Create your database using the createdb command from a terminal.

$ createdb dbname

At this time, run the solution's Entity Framework migrations (see above for instructions).

Verifying database

Launch PostgreSQL interactive terminal and connect to the database.

$ psql dbname

From the PostgreSQL interface terminal, List tables using the \dt command:

dbname=# \dt
                   List of relations
 Schema |         Name          | Type  |    Owner     
--------+-----------------------+-------+--------------
 public | AspNetRoleClaims      | table | username
 public | AspNetRoles           | table | username
 public | AspNetUserClaims      | table | username
 public | AspNetUserLogins      | table | username
 public | AspNetUserRoles       | table | username
 public | AspNetUserTokens      | table | username
 public | AspNetUsers           | table | username
 public | __EFMigrationsHistory | table | username
(8 rows)

tscung/postgresql-dotnet-core