Data Hierarchies Part 1.5: PostgreSQL ltree with EF Core

PostgreSQL's ltree extension gives you materialised paths with database-native superpowers: GiST indexes, specialised operators like @> and <@, and powerful pattern matching. If you're committed to PostgreSQL and want the best hierarchy query performance,…

Data Hierarchies Part 1.4: Nested Sets with EF Core

Nested sets encode the entire tree structure into just two integers per node - Left and Right boundaries from a depth-first walk. Finding all descendants becomes a simple range query, and ORDER BY Left gives you perfect display order. The catch? Every insert…

Data Hierarchies Part 1.3: Materialised Path with EF Core

Materialised paths store the complete ancestry as a delimited string - like /1/3/7/ - making ancestors instantly readable without any joins. Perfect for breadcrumb generation and human-readable debugging, though moving subtrees means updating every…

Data Hierarchies Part 1.2: Closure Table with EF Core

Closure tables precompute and store every ancestor-descendant relationship, trading storage space for blazing-fast reads. This is the approach this blog uses for its comment system - when reads vastly outnumber writes, the extra insert complexity pays off with…

Data Hierarchies Part 1.1: Adjacency List with EF Core

The adjacency list is the simplest and most intuitive approach to storing hierarchical data - each row just points to its parent. It's what most developers reach for first, and for shallow trees with frequent moves, it's often the right choice. This article…

Data Hierarchies: Managing Hierarchical Data with EF Core and PostgreSQL (Overview)

Hierarchical data is everywhere in software development: threaded comments, organisational charts, file systems, product categories, and forum discussions. The eternal question of "how do I store a tree in a relational database?" has haunted developers since…

You're Probably Doing EF Migrations wrong...

Running MigrateAsync() at startup? You're giving your app database owner rights and hoping nothing goes wrong. There's a better way - EF migration bundles let you run migrations as a controlled CI step, keeping your production app secure. But here's the thing:…

Simple Search Using HTMX & EF Core for ASP.NET Core

This is just a quick article as it builds on the others in the full text search series such as the typeahead dropdown and Postgres full text search. In this post, I will show you how to implement a simple search page using HTMX and EF Core in an ASP.NET Core…

Adding a Comment System Part 1 - Setting up the Database

One of the key aspects of a blogging site like this is a comments system. So, I decided to build one. This is the first part of a series of posts on how to build a comments system. In this post, I will be setting up the database. Setting up the Database As…

Full Text Searching (Pt 1)

Searching for content is a critical part of any content heavy website. It enhances discoverability and user experience. In this post I'll cover how I added full text searching for this site Next parts in this series: Search Box with Postgres Introduction to…