ASP.NET MVC 4 Code First Solution Setup Using SQL Server 2012

Question

I am planning to create a web application using ASP.NET MVC4 using the code first approach.

I am using Visual Studio 2012 and I have SQL Server 2012. What I would like to do is setup the solution in a way that I can use SQL Server instead of the default being SQL Express or localDB. I would like to have the solution regenerate the database if any changes are made to the models and seed the database with some test data when that occurs.

I have gone through a bunch of tutorials and they all seem to be using the SQL Express or LocalDB database. I was able to get the solution to generate the database on SQL Server the first time it was run, but after I make changes to the model such as alter the schema name from 'dbo' to lets say 'test' or change the table name, it doesn't seem to pick up those changes.

Can anyone give me some insight on how I might be able to accomplish this?

Thanks

Lotok · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-26 20:50:11Z

All you need to do is have your connection string in the web.config pointing to your SQL server for it to use that server instance.

As for having it update on model change, have a look into DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges. In your Global.asax you can set your database initializer like this

Database.SetInitializer(new DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges<DbContext>());

You will need a using statement too

using System.Data.Entity;

There is a free video guide to MVC4 by Scott Allen which can give you more info on Migrations and Code First (which is what you are asking about). The 4th section of the video guide has a 13 minute segment on Data Migrations which is a full walk through. If you can spare the time, watch that for a full detailed guide.http://www.asp.net/mvc/videos/pluralsight-building-applications-with-aspnet-mvc-4

I might point out this is only useful in development and there is no way to make it work for production as you would lose your data. If you need something that is suitable for a production environment look into SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools). You can manage your database as a SQL project in your solution and deploy updates using a DACPAC file. The file manages all the updates in production and can be set to protect against data loss. You can change and deploy your Db from your project and still use EF with database first and EF models etc. All you do is make your changes in the Db project and hit debug to update your test Db. When publishing you can choose to export the DACPAC for updating live.

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