I am using Entity Framework 4.1 and want to take advantage of their code-only approach. In the video located at http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Europe/2010/DEV212 starting at 35:00 minutes in they show a tool that reverse engineers their POCOs from their existing database. I want to do this as I have an existing database. I have installed EF 4.1 and I can create POCO entities just fine but I can't seem to find the tool they used to create POCOs from the existing database. Was this tool not released with 4.1?
Thanks in advance.
The tool is called EF Power Tools CTP1.
If your database is SQL Server, or SQL CE 4.0 then you can use the "Entity Framework Reverse POCO Generator" available at visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com
Update:
This answer is no longer relevant as EF 5+ is completely full-featured with code-first migration tools.
I had abandoned code-first for a while because it did not appear to be as full-featured as I had hoped. Recently I had some time to play with EF 4.1 a little more and examine it in more detail. All I really believe they are lacking now is a data/schema migration ability. This dropping and recreating of the database is not very ideal.
In my examination I found that the tool I am asking for in this question was indeed shipped with EF 4.1. It is a code generation template called "ADO.NET DbContext Generator". It can be found by opening up your existing EDMX file, right-clicking your design surface, and selecting "Add Code Generation Item".
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We're just starting to move off of a legacy codebase and begin using .net and Entity Framework Core for most of our new software.
We've migrated our database from our old platform to SQL Server, but the data is old and poorly normalised. We cannot undertake a normalisation project all at once because of the potential impact on the (large) existing codebase in the legacy language, so we are adding primary and foreign key definitions to our database as we go, and regenerating our Entity Framework Core model from scratch as more tables become valid for the framework.
I feel like we're missing some important capabilities of Entity Framework Core by doing this, but I don't really know enough about the framework to identify what it is. I know the generated model lacks completeness (my question was prompted because a table with an Identity column did not have the column marked as ValueGeneratedOnAdd(); in fact that table does not appear in the OnModelCreating method at all) but I don't know whether that's an issue with the database or another mistake I'm making.
My question is: what capabilities are there within Entity Framework Core to manage a rapidly-evolving database model? What should I be doing for myself, and what should I be relying on the Scaffold-DBContext command for?
With EF Core, most of the things you will need will be done by Scaffold-DBContext. The only things it doesn't handle right now is DBQuery sets. You will have to manually code those. Other than that, everything else is handled pretty eloquently by the command.
As far as ValueGeneratedOnAdd(), the only time I have ever seen this as a problem has been Versioned tables. If you have a versioned table, Scaffold-DBContext will not add that to those fields and you must have those so you will have to manually add those to your code.
I just noticed new Entity Framework Core does not provide .edmx generation any more. But I was loving this because it helps me to focus on application logic, not always create class and do migration things to update database. Now my question is- Does Microsoft have any future plan to add .edmx on Entity Framework Core? Or its permanently gone from .Entity Framework Core? I searched over internet but didn’t found any good answer for that.
I have not found any justification of this decision though I suppose this discussion can be found at least in some podcasts with EF team members interviews. In my opinion, this feature simply didn't deserve enough attention from developers and it didn't worth it to continue its support. Most people, as far as I'm concerned, moved towards code-first approach. You can concentrate on application logic even better with it, not creating any data objects in advance, but evolving your data structure together with business logic objects. That's what I can say based on my experience. Try it and maybe you will love it the same!
Edmx is not there in Entity Framework Core. It only supports a code-first approach. It produces entity class files instead of an edmx file. You can use dotnet ef dbcontext scaffold, it scaffolds a DbContext and entity types for a database.
You can refer the document to start with the already existing database.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/get-started/aspnetcore/existing-db
If you are on heavy load complex database and developing application using this database continuously then there is no easier way than just press refresh button in .edmx file and get your new models ready to use. I think .edmx idea still deserves development for future. Lot of solution already made with it and continuing with .edmx
My team has inherited a database application that contains hundreds of tables. The application uses Entity Framework and takes a database first approach for development. Our current process is to pull a table or two at a time into the edmx using the Update Model From Database... tool.
We are considering making a new API with .Net Core, but as far as I can tell from the research I have done, there is no equivalent process in the Entity Framework Core tools. The closest thing I can find is to reverse engineer the entire database with Scaffold-DbContext, and then use migrations for all future database changes. We can't scaffold the entire database, because some of the tables have errors, and fixing all those errors is not a viable option for us right now.
I have found that I can supply a list of tables that I want scaffolded with the initial Scaffold-DbContext call, but I'm not sure if migrations can be used in a similar way to the Update Model From Database... tool. Can I use migrations to add tables that already exist in our database? If not, what other options should I be looking at?
Using MVC5, EF6... We are going to build an enterprise level app. We have an existing database. Is it best to use EF code-first and code everything by hand, which takes longer, but may be cleaner? Or should we use the EF database-first approach, using EDMX (entity data model)? Can EDMX be used for enterprise level apps, or are there performance issues, etc...? What do you suggest? Thanks!
Is it best to use EF code-first and code everything by hand, which
takes longer, but may be cleaner?
IMHO, Code First is the best solution. It may take less time if you generate the Code First classes from exiting database by doing this method. You need to also know that EDMX no longer exists in Entity Framework Core verison (formely known as Entity Framework 7). Code First may help you in the future if you plan to migrate to EF Core.
Or should we use the EF database-first approach, using EDMX (entity data model)?
In my experience I encounter a lot merge conflicts when using EDMX (from Database First or Model First). If many people have to modify the EDMX in separate branchs, they will be soon be confronted with EDMX merge conflicts. Believe me, it is sometimes difficult to fix.
I'm working on a project using entity framework 6. At the start of the project I was a beginner with EF and choose to build with EF model first.
Now the model is quite big and I’m thinking about performance and ease to change the model without dropping the databases every time.
I thinking about switching to code first.
Given that model first has already generated all the classes I need and context, I don't think it's that difficult to switch to code first.
Nevertheless I would like to know what would be the best way to do that and if there will be real advantage in term of performance and ease of model modification.
Thanks for your help,
EF 6.1 tooling now allows creating a Code First model from the database. Here is a short video and a walkthrough showing the functionality. You can download the latest EF tooling from the download center.
The code created by EDMX is not same as Fluent API although it is closed to Data Annotations.
If you would like to work with Fluent API, you can use Entity Framework Power Tools Beta 4 to generate to Fluent API from Database.