Entity framework 6 without config file? - entity-framework

Question

I have an application that can not use a config file and has to set up the connectionstring for the entity context by code (with EntityConnectionStringBuilder).
The problem comes however with this:
No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient'.
Since I can not use the standard app.config file, am I screwed in EF6? It was not a problem in EF4 if I recall correctly.
So the settings inside the entityFramework-tag is something I wish to set in code.
<entityFramework>
<defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.LocalDbConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">
<parameters>
<parameter value="v11.0" />
</parameters>
</defaultConnectionFactory>
<providers>
<provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />
</providers>
</entityFramework>

Answer 1

I'm using EF 6 without an App.config file at all I just pass a connection string to my DBContext (well the connection is read out of a config file elsewhere but that's up to you). Just Remove all the EF stuff from the config file.
Here's how I got it to work.
public partial class MyDbContext : DbContext, IMyDbContext
{
public MyDbContext(string connectionString,
DbValidationMode validationMode = DbValidationMode.Enabled,
DbLazyLoadingMode lazyLoadingMode = DbLazyLoadingMode.Disabled,
DbAutoDetectMode autoDetectMode = DbAutoDetectMode.Enabled)
: base(((EntityConnectionStringBuilder)new EntityConnectionStringBuilder()
{
Provider = "System.Data.SqlClient",
ProviderConnectionString = connectionString,
Metadata = #"res://*/Contexts.Test.MyModel.csdl|res://*/Contexts.Test.MyModel.ssdl|res://*/Contexts.Test.MyModel.msl"
}).ToString())
{
this.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = validationMode.Equals(DbValidationMode.Enabled);
this.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled = lazyLoadingMode.Equals(DbLazyLoadingMode.Enabled);
this.Configuration.AutoDetectChangesEnabled = autoDetectMode.Equals(DbAutoDetectMode.Enabled);
}
... Etc
Then I just inject this context into all my services.
I'm using Database First design so I found it easier to modify the T4 Templates.
There may be nicer ways of doing this but I've not ran into any problems at all.

Answer 2

In EF6 you can use Code-based Configuration for Entity Framework specific setup. (Also see How to add entity framework 6 provider in code?). Then you can build connection string and pass it to the ctor of the context.