Why EF core tries to add navigational property into DB and not only the Id of foreign model? - asp.net-core

Question

I was wondering why EF tries to add also foreign models.
Example:
public class Category
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name{ get; set; }
}
public class Content
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name{ get; set; }
public Category Category{ get; set; }
}
After creating "Content" using migrations, I have a table that includes the id of category. That's create. So I have three columns: Id, name and the categoryId. Seems EF "knows" that this should be just the primary key of Category, that needs to get stored.
Than I tried to add something with EF.
var cat = new Category {Id = 2, Name = "awesomeCat"})
var addContent = new Content({Name = "test", Category = cat})
Now I want to add a Content by using _context.Add(addContent). I was expecting a single insert into db that uses the name "test" and the categoryId 2. Id will be generated by DB.
But instead EF also tries to add a new Category into the category table.
So I took a deeper look and seems EF "does" not know it already exists and was not maintaining any transactions about the category model.
I gave it another try and used no new category, instead I was loading it before:
var cat = _context.findById("2");
and assigned this one instead. Now EF should know that this one already exists and does not have to add it in category table.
Could it be, that my model is just wrong.
Do I need to use it more like:
public class Content
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name{ get; set; }
public int? CategoryId{ get; set; }
[ForeignKey("CategoryId")]
public Category Category{ get; set; }
}
Won't I get two category references then?

Answer 1

You need to tell EF Core it's a primary key and to generate the key
public class Category
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class Content
{
[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public Category Category { get; set; }
}
Then you don't need to mark [ForeignKey("CategoryId")], EF Core will turn the object reference into an ID in the database
If I misunderstood your question, ask again :)

Answer 2

EF Core has internal tracking of entities. When you simply new up a category, it's not being tracked. When you add the content, EF will track any related entities as well, which would include your category, which will by default be tracked as "Added". You have a few choices.
Don't "new up" an existing category, but rather, retrieve it from the database. If EF pulls it from the database, then it will be tracked, and will not be added again.
You can explicitly track the category instance you newed up and set it's state to "Unchanged".
_context.Attach(category);
_context.Entry(category).State = EntityState.Unchanged;
_context.Add(content);
The best method is to not deal with the reference property at all, and use an explicit foreign key property. Add a property to your content class:
public int CategoryId { get; set; }
Then, you can simply set this id, instead of the Category prop:
var addContent = new Content { Name = "test", CategoryId = 2 };
EF will backfill the reference property after save.