EntityConnection throws the exception when create the connection instance - entity-framework

Question

In my EF project if I execute the following
using (EntityConnection con = new EntityConnection("name=HCMConnection"))
it throws the exception
The specified named connection is either not found in the configuration,
not intended to be used with the EntityClient provider, or not valid.
The connection string is in the Web.Config and it looks like following
<add name="HCMConnection" connectionString="Data Source=DEV-PROG-01;
Initial Catalog=HCM;
user id=HCMUser;
password=*******;
MultipleActiveResultSets=True"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
I suspect it does no like the SqlClient provider, does not it?
Thanks.

Answer 1

I believe you should have (replace settings class with the correct one for your app type). There is no EntityConnection constructor that can take the connection string name as a param to work.
using (EntityConnection con = new EntityConnection(SettingsClass.HCMConnection))
However its probably a better idea to let the dbcontext manage the connection instead of doing it manually, this constructor can take just the connection name.
using (MyDbContext con = new MyDbContext ("HCMConnection"))
And even better in your context class
public MyDbContext()
: base("HCMConnection")

Answer 2

Paul
Not clear what is the SettingsClass in my case, but I decided to use the same context to use its connection:
public ActionResult Education(ModelHCMContainer model)
{...
and execute the following
using (DbCommand cmd = model.Database.Connection.CreateCommand())
{
model.Database.Connection.Open();
try
{
cmd.CommandText = String.Concat("select ed.*,", ...
"order by ed.DateStart DESC");
using (var _reader = cmd.ExecuteReader())
{
using (ModelHCMContainer context = new ModelHCMContainer())
{
var records = ((IObjectContextAdapter)context).ObjectContext.Translate<HCMApplication.Models.POCO.Profile.HCMEducationPOCO>(_reader);
items = records.ToList();
}
}
}
finally
{
model.Database.Connection.Close();
}
}
It seems like working fine.
Thanks.