Changing the Name of the Connection String that Entity Framework Uses - entity-framework

How do you change the name of the connection string that Entity Framework models are bound to by default?
Let's say I create an Entity Framework data model named "Model1.edmx" by pointing it to a databased named "MyDb" and picking some objects to map using the Visual Studio add new item wizard. The EF model is in a class library project, so when the wizard completed, it automatically added a connection string named "MyDbEntities" to the App.Config file for the project. My model references this connection string by default.
I know I can pass in a connection string to a constructor for my model's object context, but how can I change the name of the default connection string?
I'm using VS 2010 Beta 2.

The default connection string name is simply the same as the Entity Container Name of your model.
So if you open up your model, click on a blank area, then go to the Properties window, you can look for the Entity Container Name and change it.
Note that the Entity Container Name is also used for other things. E.g., it's the class name of your ObjectContext subtype, and it's used when creating EntityKeys.

Related

ASP.NET Identity Model First fails because of renamed AspNetUserRoles columns

Like several others I have tried to implement ASP.NET Identity Model First. Everything works fine once you have tried, errored, fumed, searched and resolved.. I thought.
See also:
ASP.NET Identity with EF Database First MVC5
http://danieleagle.com/blog/2014/05/setting-up-asp-net-identity-framework-2-0-with-database-first-vs2013-update-2-spa-template/
Course of action, summarized:
Created default project (MVC5)
Create database
Update connectionstring in the web.config
Run website, register: tables get created
Create EF Model (edmx)
Import Identity tables (everything fine up to this point)
Modified xxx.Context.tt to inherit from IdentityDbContext
Generate database script (trouble starts here)
I have solved the issues that appeared (up to the latest step). For completeness I will describe them.
Using the default Identity context
Everything works fine: tables get created, I can Register and login. This is however not the situation I want: I want to use a Model First approach.
Using the custom, model first context using the EF connectionstring
Modifying the CreatePerOwinContext so that it uses my Model First context:
public void ConfigureAuth(IAppBuilder app)
{
app.CreatePerOwinContext(CustomModelFirstDbContext.Create);
And the ApplicationUserManager so that it uses the Model First context:
public static ApplicationUserManager Create(IdentityFactoryOptions<ApplicationUserManager> options, IOwinContext context)
{
var manager = new ApplicationUserManager(new UserStore<ApplicationUser>(context.Get<CustomModelFirstDbContext>()));
Results in:
Server Error in '/' Application.
The entity type ApplicationUser is not part of the model for the
current context.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of
the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.InvalidOperationException: The entity type
ApplicationUser is not part of the model for the current context.
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the
current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of
the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[InvalidOperationException: The entity type ApplicationUser is not
part of the model for the current context.]
Using the "normal" connectionstring with the custom, Model First context
An exception of type
'System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.UnintentionalCodeFirstException'
occurred in WebApplication1.dll but was not handled in user code
Additional information: 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.
So, I figured I needed the default Identity context to use Identity, and use the custom Model First context for everything else. Not the preferred solution, but acceptable.
Rolled everything back
Import Identity tables from database
(Optional) Created entities via the Model First approach
Generated database script
Both the normal project and a quick sanity check test project have the same problem with the AspNetUserRoles table. That is a junction table, and when importing it in the EF designer, everything is OK. You won't see it since it is a many to many relationship, and when inspecting the association between AspNetRole and AspNetUser it looks good.
Designer and mapping details:
However, when generating the sql script, EF modifies the keys.
Designer and mapping details:
Generated SQL script:
-- Creating table 'AspNetUserRoles'
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[AspNetUserRoles] (
[AspNetRoles_Id] nvarchar(128) NOT NULL,
[AspNetUsers_Id] nvarchar(128) NOT NULL
);
GO
In EF, you can't change the names of the mappings in the designer (thread on social.msdn.microsoft.com).
Subsequently the creation of a new user wil fail, using the originally created context because the junction table contains the wrong columns:
Server Error in '/' Application.
Invalid column name 'UserId'.
Invalid column name 'UserId'.
Invalid column name 'UserId'.
Invalid column name 'RoleId'.
Invalid column name 'UserId'.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of
the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Invalid column name 'UserId'. Invalid column name 'UserId'. Invalid column name 'UserId'. Invalid column name 'RoleId'. Invalid column name 'UserId'.
Source Error:
Line 89: {
Line 90: var user = new ApplicationUser() { UserName = model.Email, Email = model.Email };
Line 91: IdentityResult result = await UserManager.CreateAsync(user, model.Password);
Line 92: if (result.Succeeded)
Line 93: {
What is the solution? Are there any alternatives than trying to change the generated script, or moving to Code First?
If you in the begginning and db is still empty than
I believe the easiest workaround is:
Create EF Model(edmx).
Right click on model "Generate Database from model".
It will create DDL file (snippet below)
Replace all wrong "AspNetUsers_Id" and "AspNetRoles_Id" for correct values.
Right click "execute".
Works for me.
-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_AspNetUserRoles_AspNetUser'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_AspNetUserRoles_AspNetUser]
ON [dbo].[AspNetUserRoles]
([AspNetUsers_Id]); //replace for UserId
Happy coding!

Entitfy Framework DbContext and xxxEntities?

I have a SQL server db ( with tables etc) and ive installed ef6 in order to use async stuff ( p.s. im new to ef).
So I added this :
played with the wizard and created a valid edmx files.
My db name is DUMP so it added Dumpentities suffix :'
so now i can do :
de = new DumpEntities1();
var data=de.AgeGroups.ToList()
But why don't I Have DbContext ? like I see in many places ?
Is xxxEntityes is a replacement for DbContext ?
cause it seems i can do all actions with xxEntites ...
edit
Ive searched "dbcontext" in my solution and apprently i do have it :
So what is going on here?
does using xxxEntiyies is the new way ?( and not doing xxxContext = new xxxContext()...even if I wanted - I dont have it...)
You should not use DbContext directly (that will not make sense) in Entity Framework. Instead you use your own custom context - class inherited from DbContext which holds sets specific to your application. When you use database first approach this custom entity class will be generated based on edmx file data, which in his turn will be generated based on database schema.
Regarding to naming... its not obvious but custom context which will be generated, will have same name as connection string name when you are creating edmx file:
Actually this will be default name for Entity Container of your conceptual entity model. If you will open edmx file in designer and take a look on its properties, you will see:
If you will change this name, context will be re-generated with name you have provided.

add my own property to EF designer

I using vs2010 and the built-in EF designer against SQL server Compact 4.0 local database that in my project. ( design-first)
I tried to add (through the designer) to one of the entities a new property that doesn't exist in the DB (nor planed to) by: add-new scalar property.... , but when i was tring to validate it, i got an error:
property "x" is not map
my question:
can i add my own properties to the schema through the designer. and that properties won't be exist in the underline DB.(I thought i could)?
if I can, how?
You can add non db fields to your entity by creating a partial class of that entity with the required properties. These won't be used for the ORM.
public partial class MyEntity {
public string StringStatusCode { get;set;}
}

Entity Framework, ado.net Data Services, odata

I'm very new to Entity Framework, that's my disclaimer! I have a SQL 2008 database with 2 tables, tblModel and tblHairColor. tblModel contains a column named hairID which is a foreign key to the tblHairColor table's primary key of id.
I created the ado.net entity data model and now, following http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd728283.aspx, trying to access my data resources created.
My URL of http://localhost:51157/WcfDataService.svc/tblModels(1)/modelname/$value works great by returning the model's name (of record 1) from the tblModels table. However, when I try to access the hair color via http://localhost:51157/WcfDataService.svc/tblModels(1)/modelname/tblHairColor it does not work, (http 404 not found).
My entity model, generated from my SQL database, created a tblModels navigation property in tblHairColor and a tblHairColor navigation property in tblModel. It also auto generated an association of tblHairColor to tblModel (1 to *). I expected 1 to 1.
My question is what needs to be added/changed to allow this query, http://localhost:51157/WcfDataService.svc/tblModels(1)/modelname/tblHairColor, to return the models hair color?
Thanks in advance for your time.
Bob
modelname should not be used in URL, just navigational property:
http://localhost:51157/WcfDataService.svc/tblModels(1)/tblHairColor
If you want both model and haircolor, you should use $expand:
http://localhost:51157/WcfDataService.svc/tblModels(1)?$expand=tblHairColor

Entity framework: Database first/Code first hybrid

I am trying to create a custom Entity Framework (4.2) entity that would be mapped to my database like it would be done in a Code first approach.
The issue is that my entity framework data model is using Database first.
How can I add my custom entity to entity framework's context?
If by the Database first you mean that you already have EDMX created from exiting database you simply cannot use code first. You must create table and update model (EDMX) from the database to include it in EDMX.
Edit based on comment:
I want to create a BriefUser entity that would basically be a lighter
version of User but it would have properties retrieved from User's
foreign keys.
Well this is possible. You can either create BriefUser as common class and use projection in query.
var breifUser = (from x in context.Users
where ...
select new BriefUser
{
// Fill BreifUser's properties here
}).FirstOrDefault();
You can even refactor former code to reusable extension method:
public static IQueryable<BriefUser> ProjectUser(this IQueryable<User> query)
{
return query.Select(x => new BreifUser()
{ // Fill BreifUser's properties here });
}
and use it like:
var briefUser = context.Users.ProjectUser().FirstOrDefault(...);
It is also possible to define your new class as "entity view". The first problem is that each table can be mapped to only one entity (except some advanced concepts like inheritance or splitting) so you cannot define your BriefUser as a new entity type because mapping both User and BriefUser to UserTbl would violate this rule. You must use special construct called QueryView.
QueryView is view in mapping level. It allows you to create new mapped type which is projection of existing mapped entities defined directly in EDMX's MSL part. The projection is defined as custom Entity SQL query. The problem is that QueryView has limitations:
It doesn't offer all Entity SQL features - for example it doesn't support aggregations (which I consider as really missing feature). Without aggregations you for example cannot create a new type which will contain property counting some related entities.
It is not supported in designer. You must edit your EDMX as XML to define QueryView and you must write Entity SQL query yourselves.
Resulting type is a "view" and it is read-only.
I want to keep the EDMX file, but also be able to add an entity
(BriefUser) to EF's context.
This is not possible. Your BreifUser is only projection / view and EF is not able to track changes back to originating tables so you cannot add BreifUser to context and persist it. In case of QueryView you can achieve it if you define custom stored procedures which will no how to decompose BreifUser and modify all related tables. These stored procedures must be imported to the EDMX and mapped to data modification operations of the view entity. Btw. same will happen if you map your entity to the database view because EF takes all views as read-only.