Reverse engineering - Different behaviour whether sql user is db_owner or not

Reverse engineering with a SQL server user which is a db_owner produces code different from code generated with a non dbo user (i.e. db_datareader, db_datawriter) for not nullable bit columns with default values.

Steps to reproduce

Create a SQL Server table with a not nullable bit column.

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TestBitColumn](
	[ID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
	[Hidden] [bit] NOT NULL
 CONSTRAINT [PK_TestBitColumn] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
(
	[ID] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[TestBitColumn] ADD  CONSTRAINT [DF_TestBitColumn_Hidden]  DEFAULT ((1)) FOR [Hidden]
GO

---

Perform a reverse engineering with a SQL Server which has the db_owner role.

You’ll see the following code:

public partial class TestBitColumn
{
    [Key]
    [Column("ID")]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public bool? Hidden { get; set; }
}

---

Perform a reverse engineering with a SQL Server which doesn’t have the db_owner role.

You’ll see the following code:

public partial class TestBitColumn
{
    [Key]
    [Column("ID")]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public bool Hidden { get; set; }
}

The same code will be generated for a not nullable bit column without a default value, no matter whether the user used for reverse engineering is dbo or not.

Expected behaviour

IMHO a not nullable bit column should never be mapped as a nullable bool property, no matter whether the column has a default value or not, the user is dbo or not, … For me, the following code is the correct one in each scenario.

public bool Hidden { get; set; }

Further technical details

EF Core Power Tools version: 2.4.217.0 (none of the preview options are checked in the settings dialog)

Database engine: SQL Server 2017

Visual Studio version: VS 2019, 16.7.4

[ErikEJ]

I was able to replicate, this is by design: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/security/metadata-visibility-configuration?view=sql-server-ver15#benefits-and-limits-of-metadata-visibility-configuration

You can allow the restricted user to view default definition with:

GRANT VIEW DEFINITION to limited_user;

(In other words, db_owner or even db_datareader is not a requirement)

@smitpatel @bricelam FYI!

[ErikEJ]

I added a check: https://github.com/ErikEJ/EFCorePowerTools/commit/2a7525a2bdd0b0d68daede74a4faec34d1f03cba - let’s see how that goes…

@smitpatel