EF Core Updating Entity Property with JSON Type - entity-framework-core

Question

I have a 1 to many relationship of Parent and Child to store some data. I want to store this data in PostgreSQL using Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL package. Parent maps to a table, but Child is stored as a json column of Parent table in the database.
public class Parent
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[Column(TypeName = "json")]
public ICollection<Child> Children { get; set; }
}
public class Child
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
When I try to add a Child entity to an existing Parent instance with the code below, SaveChangesAsync doesn't produce an update command on the database.
var child = new Child(){Id = 0, Name = "Name"};
var parent = await DataContext.Parent.SingleOrDefaultAsync(f => f.Id == 1);
parent.Children.Add(child);
await DataContext.SaveChangesAsync();
In order to trigger an update command, I have to set parent entity's State to Modified before calling SaveChangesAsync.
var entry = DataContext.Entry<Parent>(parent);
entry.State = EntityState.Modified;
Is this the expected behavior or am I missing something?
Update:
As #SvyatoslavDanyliv suggested, instead of using ICollection when I use a class EqualityCollection derived from List and override Object.Equals as follows :
public class EqualityCollection<T> : List<T>
{
public override bool Equals(object? obj)
{
if (obj != null && obj.GetType() == typeof(EqualityCollection<T>))
return this.Equals(obj as EqualityCollection<T>);
return false;
}
public bool Equals(EqualityCollection<T> obj)
{
return this.SequenceEqual(obj ?? throw new InvalidOperationException());
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return base.GetHashCode();
}
}
Change detection doesn't detect the change in the property and update command is not triggered.

Answer 1

You have to define ValueComparer when defining conversion via HasConversion as described in documentation: Value Comparers