I cannot get the Entity Framework to work against SQL Azure. Is this just me or is it not intended to be compatible? (I have tried the original release of EF with VS2008 as well as the more recent VS2010 Beta 2 version)
To check this I created the simplest scenario possible. Add a single table to a local SQL Server 2008 instance. The table has two columns, a primary key of type integer and a string column. I add a single row to the table with values of (1, foobar). I then added exactly the same setup to my SQL Azure database.
Created a console application and generated an EF model from the local database. Run the application and all is good, the single row can be returned from a trivial query. Update the connection string to connect to the SQL Azure and now it fails. It connects to the SQL Azure database without problems but the query fails on processing the result.
I tracked the initial problem down using the exception information. The conceptual model had the attribute Schema="dbo" set for the entity set of my single defined entity. I removed this attribute and now it fails with another error...
"Invalid object name 'testModelStoreContainer.Test'."
Where 'Test' is of course the name of the entity I have defined and so it looks like it's trying to create the entity from the returned result. But for some unknown reason cannot work out this trivial scenario.
So either I am making a really fundamental error or SQL Azure is not compatible with the EF? And that seems just crazy to me. I want to use the EF in my WebRole and then RIA Services to the Silverlight client end.
While I haven't done this myself I'm pretty sure that members on the EF team have, as has Kevin Hoffman.
So it is probably just that you went astray with one step in your porting process.
It sounds like you tried to update the EDMX (XML) by hand, from one that works against a local database.
If you do this most of the changes will be required in the StorageModel element in the EDMX (aka SSDL). But it sounds like you've been making changes in the ConceptualModel (aka CSDL) element.
My guess is you simply need to replace all references to the dbo schema in the SSDL with whatever schema is the SQL Azure schema.
Hope this helps
Alex
To answer the main question - Yes, at least the Entity Framework v4 can be used with SQL Azure - I haven't honestly tried with the initial version (from the .Net Framework 3.5. SP 1).
A little while back I did a complete project and blogged about the experience: http://www.sanderstechnology.com/?p=9961 Hopefully this might help a little bit!
Microsoft's Windows Azure documentation contains How to: Connect to Windows Azure SQL Database Using the ADO.NET Entity Framework.
After creating your model, these instructions describe how to use SQL Azure with the Entity Framework:
Migrate the School database to SQL Database by following the instructions in How to: Migrate a Database by Using the Generate Scripts Wizard (Windows Azure SQL Database).
In the SchoolEFApplication project, open the App.Config file. Change the connection string so that it connects to your SQL Database.
<connectionStrings>
<add name="SchoolEntities"
connectionString="metadata=res://*/SchoolDataModel.csdl|res://*/SchoolDataModel.ssdl|res://*/SchoolDataModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string="Data Source=<provideServerName>.database.windows.net;Initial Catalog=School;Integrated Security=False;User ID=<provideUserID>;Password=<providePassword>;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False""
providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"/>
</connectionStrings>
Press F5 to run the application against your SQL Database.
Related
Using ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework 6 Code First on SQL Express everything runs fine on my local machine. When I publish to Windows Azure things start to fall apart. The default MVC page displays just fine. And I think the data is correct because I can compare the Azure database with my local SQL Express and everything is identical except for a couple records in __MigrationHistory. This is a new app, so I don't think the other SO issues about converting from previous versions of EF apply.
When I try to access a page that queries the database I get the following exception when I attach the Visual Studio debugger to the Azure web site. It fails on the first call to dbContext.SingleOrDefault. Note that I can see the full data of the dbContext in the debugger when it pauses.
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException occurred
_HResult=-2146232060
_message=Invalid column name 'CreatedOn'.
HResult=-2146232060
IsTransient=false
Message=Invalid column name 'CreatedOn'.
Source=.Net SqlClient Data Provider
ErrorCode=-2146232060
_doNotReconnect=false
Class=16
LineNumber=2
Number=207
Procedure=""
Server=tcp:*.database.windows.net,1433
State=1
StackTrace:
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction)
InnerException:
Any help would be much appreciated.
Seems like this is something to do with Migrations and the removal of the CreatedOn column.
I get this exception using the MiniProfiler. I deleted the pdb files from the bin folder (as suggested in a post in the MiniProfiler github site) and it no longer happens.
You might want to check references to EF as it could be a reference in a [nuget] package built against an earlier version of EF.
I have a ASP.NET MVC application which uses EF (v6) as data access layer. My application works fine on IIS Express and also when deployed to the server running IIS 7.5.
The problem is that I'm getting the following exception when I deploy it to Azure (Web Sites).
Code generated using the T4 templates for Database First and Model First development may not work correctly if used in Code First mode. To continue using Database First or Model First ensure that the Entity Framework connection string is specified in the config file of executing application. To use these classes, that were generated from Database First or Model First, with Code First add any additional configuration using attributes or the DbModelBuilder API and then remove the code that throws this exception.
I've searched the web and I made sure my connection string starts with "metadata=" + checked my db context class' constructor to be sure it contains the correct name (in my case it's "name=PsDataEntities"))
My connection string looks like this: <add name="PsDataEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/PsDataModel.csdl|res://*/PsDataModel.ssdl|res://*/PsDataModel.msl;
provider=System.Data.SqlClient;
provider connection string="data source=SERVER_NAME;initial catalog=DB_NAME;user id=UID;password=PWD;
MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework"" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
Anybody had the same problems?
Any help is appreciated
I did a few more tests (like changing metadata in the connection string to use fully qualified names instead of '*') without success, then I decided to set my metadata (regarding .csdl/.ssdl/.msl) programatically with the help from this post. Application now works correctly when deployed to Azure.
I am using Entity Framework using Code First and the Fluent API.
When developing on my local machine, the database and tables are created as expected and everything works fine.
When deploying to my Azure web role the database is created, but the tables are never created. If I try a HTTP request touching DbContext, the request times out and finally my web role only returns "Service Unavailable".
The model is large, but not extremely so (43 tables are created on my dev machine).
What can be wrong here? Here is my Azure SQL connection string, where you can see that I set the timeout quite high:
<add name="MyConnectionString" connectionString="Server=tcp:myserveronazure.database.windows.net,1433;Database=MyDatabase;User ID=MyUser#myserveronazure;Password=thepassword;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;Connection Timeout=120;PersitSecurityInfo=true;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
EDIT: After RDP:ing into the Azure VM, I see in the Event Log that w3wp.exe (the IIS worker process, if I'm not mistaken) crashes. The log doesn't list any error message.
Enityframework have three Database Initializer by default CreateDatabaseIfNotExists,DropCreateDatabaseWhenModelChanges and DropCreateDatabaseAlways that are executed when you hit the context for the first time, if you are using migrations (i think is the case) you must use the MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion initializer to work in the application deployment. Hope it works!
I am using the code first method in my windows azure project. I would like to see wich tables are created by the framework but the mdf file is not listed in the app_data folder.
I tried editing the default connection string to:
<add name="ModelContext" connectionString="data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|ModelContext.mdf;User Instance=true;Database=ModelContext"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
When using this connection string I get the following error:
CREATE FILE encountered operating system error 5(failed to retrieve text for this error. Reason: 15105) while attempting to open or create the physical file 'C:\Users\Myname\WindowsAzureProject1\MvcWebRole1\App_Data\ModelContext.mdf'.
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
How can I solve this?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
This isn't the best way to do things. It is probably a permission problem. Take a look at this:
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/tutorials/web-app-with-sql-azure/
It uses code first and works with Azure and starts out using SQL Express.
Sql Express is not installed in a web role. You need to use a Sql Azure database or add a start up task for the web role to install sql express. Take a look at this post from Steve Marx http://blog.smarx.com/posts/introduction-to-windows-azure-startup-tasks on how to add a start up task
I am using two databases in the project: Azure and Sql Compact. Entity Framework was generated using Compact database, but now I am trying to use it to connect to Azure database with the same schema passing to Context constructor Azure connection string:
but when it tries to get some data it gives me the exception:
"SqlCeCommand.CommandTimeout does not support non-zero values."
Why it uses Compact command if provider is specified correctly? How I can fix this?
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/82017/Preparing-an-Entity-Framework-model-for-multi-prov.aspx
this may not have been the cause of your issue but I received this error when I had manually set the command timeout for the SqlCeCommand that I was using to connect to my Compact Edition database.
This is the setting I removed:
cecmd.CommandTimeout = 720;
I hope this helps someone else!