ConfigurationType error when using Entity Framework migrate.exe with multiple migration configurations - entity-framework

Question

In my solution, I have a Data project that contains multiple Entity Framework 6.1.3 migration configuration classes. My goal is to run Entity Framework migration steps - for one of them, against an existing database - from TeamCity (or, to simplify, from a command line).
The migration configuration class I am using is the following:
namespace MyProject.Data
{
public partial class MyCustomMigrationConfiguration :
DbMigrationsConfiguration<MyCustomContext>
{
public MyCustomMigrationConfiguration()
{
AutomaticMigrationsEnabled = false;
AutomaticMigrationDataLossAllowed = true;
MigrationsDirectory = #"Migrations\MyCustomContext\MigrationSteps";
}
}
}
I can successfully run the following command from Package Manager Console in Visual Studio:
Update-Database -Verbose -StartUpProject Web -ConnectionString '-my
connection string here-' -ConfigurationTypeName
MyCustomMigrationConfiguration -ConnectionProviderName
'System.Data.SqlClient'
I want to do the same thing from a command line, so I run this:
migrate.exe MyProject.Data.dll "MyCustomMigrationConfiguration"
/startUpConfigurationFile=MyProject.Web.dll.config
/connectionString="-my connection string here-;"
/connectionProviderName="System.Data.SqlClient" /verbose
However, I get the following error:
ERROR: The migrations configuration type
MyCustomMigrationConfiguration was not be found in the assembly
‘MyProject.Data'.
Any suggestions on how to fix this, please?

Answer 1

You can specify the directory where are all the dependencies (assemblies) needed to run your code. You can do that by using the /startUpDirectory option, as explained here:
Specify working directory
Migrate.exe MyApp.exe /startupConfigurationFile=”MyApp.exe.config” /startupDirectory=”c:\MyApp”
If you assembly has dependencies or reads files relative to the working directory then you will need to set startupDirectory.

Answer 2

Found the solution (I ended up downloading the Entity Framework source code from http://entityframework.codeplex.com/ and debugging the migrate console application).
Apparently, all the dependencies of MyProject.Data.dll need to be copied in the same folder with it and migrate.exe, otherwise the Entity Framework migrate.exe tool will throw the misleading error message above.
Entity Framework could really use better error handling and a clearer error message in this case.
As a reference to Entity Framework devs: the following code in TypeFinder.cs was returning a null type because the dependencies of MyProject.Data.dll were not copied in the folder of migrate.exe:
type = _assembly.GetType(typeName, false);