Force DateTime in Entity Framework Migration

Question

I am creating a database with entity framework migrations and I would like all DateTime fields to be created as DateTime and not the default DateTime2. I don't need the precision of DateTeim2 and I don't want the hassle of having to assign a value to every datetime field even if I don't need it.

Answer 1

As mentioned here, the MSDN documentation recommends using datetime2. There is no further 'hassle' using it. However, if you absolutely must have the column as a datetime type, then add this attribute to your property:

[Column(DbType="datetime")]
public DateTime? SomeDate { get; set; }

If you are now comfortable sticking with datetime2 and do not want to have to assign a value to the column, then make it nullable. For example if your property looks like this:

public DateTime SomeDate { get; set; }

Then change it to this:

public DateTime? SomeDate { get; set; }

Answer 2

Just set proper attribute. To map it to nullabe filed use property declaration as:

[Column(DbType="datetime NULL")]
public DateTime? YourDateTimeProp {get; set;}

Check the article for more information.