Entity Framework 4 maps DateTimeOffset to SQL datetime in Visual Studio 2010

Question

I'm using Visual Studio 2010 RTM with .NET/Entity Framework 4 RTM with a model driven design approach. When I create an entity with a DateTimeOffset field the EF modeler tries to map the DateTimeOffset to a SQL datetime instead of a SQL datetimeoffset. I'm using SQL Server 2008 Express so the datetimeoffset is supported in the database.

Visual Studio comes up with this error:

Error 2019: Member Mapping specified is not valid. The type 'Edm.DateTimeOffset[Nullable=False,DefaultValue=,Precision=]' of member 'Created' in type 'Data.SqlStorage.MyType' is not compatible with 'SqlServer.datetime[Nullable=False,DefaultValue=,Precision=3]' of member 'Created' in type 'Data.SqlStorage.Store.MyTypes

If I edit the type directly in the EDMX StorageModels xml section I get the following error:

Error 40: The Type datetimeoffset is not qualified with a namespace or alias. Only PrimitiveTypes can be used without qualification.

Why doesn't the modeler just correctly map this to a SQL datetimeoffset type? This problem also occured when I was still working with the beta versions of Visual Studio 2010 & .NET framework 4.

bkaid · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-24 06:54:27Z

5

In the RTM release, you can do something like this in your DbContext:

 protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder) {
     modelBuilder.Entity<EntityName>().Property(p => p.PropertyName).HasColumnType("datetimeoffset");
 }

This is also useful for telling Entity Framework Code First to use datetime2 instead of datetime when generating your database.

answered Apr 24, 2011 at 6:54

bkaid

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Craig Stuntz · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-15 12:55:20Z

1

Try going the other way (DB->Model). It worked for Julie Lerman. It seems to me your manually-edited EDMX should also work if you qualify the DateTimeOffset with a namespace.

answered Apr 15, 2010 at 12:55

Craig Stuntz

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2 Comments

Carvellis Over a year ago

The solution was to update from DB once. After that something probably got fixed, because now I can manually change the type to datetimeoffset without VS complaining. Still a bit annoyed I have to manually change it and the modeler doesn't set it correctly itself.

Dennis Rongo Over a year ago

You can go DB=>Model to see how it's done but I found out that adding the precision="7" attribute to the XML fixes this issue.

denstorti · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-16 20:19:41Z

1

The solution was to update from DB once, AFTER you change manually in the script sql and generated the db. I did it and after I checked my table mapping and the data type was modified to DATE instead of DATETIME. I think the same can be applied if you want to change to DATETIME2.

answered Jan 16, 2011 at 20:19

denstorti

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