Entity Framework Code First Does Not Create Database

Where is the Database?

I spent more time than I should have trying to troubleshoot why my database not being created. My DbContext-based class looked like:

    public class TakeNoteContext : DbContext
    {
        public TakeNoteContext()
            : base("name=TakeNote")
        {
            
        }
        public DbSet Posts ;
        public DbSet Users;
        public DbSet PostTypes;
        public DbSet SourceTypes;

        protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
        {
            //base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
            //an alternative to using attributes
            modelBuilder.Configurations.Add(new PostConfiguration());
        }
    }

Everything looked right to me, initially. And later I noticed that I was using fields and properties for my DbSet data members.

The correct way:

    public class TakeNoteContext : DbContext
    {
        public TakeNoteContext()
            : base("name=TakeNote")
        {
            
        }
        public DbSet Posts { get; set; }
        public DbSet Users { get; set; }
        public DbSet PostTypes { get; set; }
        public DbSet SourceTypes { get; set; }

        protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
        {
            //base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
            //an alternative to using attributes
            modelBuilder.Configurations.Add(new PostConfiguration());
        }
    }

The interesting thing is that the database can be created if I call ctx.Database.CreateIfNotExists(); directly even if I used fields. There might other reasons why your database is not created. My sure your connection is correct, for example.