How can set a default value constraint with Entity Framework 6 Code First?

Question

In a legacy app, most string properties can't be null and need to have a default value of string.empty.

I know it's possible to do this with migrations, but I'm looking for a way to do this using the fluent configuration interface:

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)     {         modelBuilder.Properties<string>().Configure(c =>         {             c.HasMaxLength(255);              if (!c.ClrPropertyInfo.IsDefined(typeof (NullableAttribute), false))             {                 c.IsRequired();                 // I want to set a default value (string.empty) here.             }     } 

Is there any way to do this or I'm doomed to initialize all strings in the entity constructors?

Answer 1

Unfortunately the answer right now is 'No'.

But you can vote for Better support for default values

EDIT 30 Mar 2015: It's coming in EF7... Support database default values in Code First

EDIT 30 Jan 2017: General support for default database values is part of EF Core (the new name for EF7)... Default values

EDIT 17 Jan 2018: I'm not sure why people are commenting that EF7 is still a "pipe dream". EF7 (renamed EF Core) was released on 27th June 2016 and supports the setting of default values in Code First using the FluentAPI like this:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder) {     modelBuilder.Entity<Blog>()         .Property(b => b.Rating)         .HasDefaultValue(3); } 

EF Core 2.0 was released on 14 August 2017

Answer 2

Now the answer is Yes:

AddColumn("[table name]",            "[column name]",            c => c.Boolean(nullable: false, defaultValue: false));