SQL Server Express with attached file while using EF

Question

How can I use a mdf file that should be located in the solution directory (or elsewhere) in combination with Entity Framework? By default EF creates the file in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA". Additionally it would be nice to be able to access the database over a windows peer-to-peer network after staring the .net application which initializes the server instance.

I guess i have to use a connection string something similar to this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb264564%28v=sql.90%29.aspx, which uses User Instance and AttachDbFilename

This post states that i can use connection strings as usual with EF: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/01/12/ef-4-3-configuration-file-settings.aspx

What i get when using my own (not the default EF) connection string is: The type initializer for 'System.Data.Entity.Internal.AppConfig' threw an exception. (Configuration system failed to initialize)

<configuration>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="SomeContext"
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"
      connectionString="Server=.\SQLEXPRESS;
      AttachDbFilename=C:\temp\SomeNamespace.SomeContext.mdf; 
      Integrated Security=True;
      User Instance=True" />

  </connectionStrings>
...

Versions used:

SQL Server Express Edition R2 SP1

EF 4.3.1 (Code First)

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

Thanks to these answers I was able to use a custom location:

Problem connecting to database - user instance and Entity Framework issue

WPF and ADO.NET EF - error part II

My steps were:

Copying the .mdf and .LDF files that were created by EF to somewhere i wanted them to be
Starting Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (Express) as admin and deleting the old database with SSMS (which has been copied)
Attaching the copied .mdf file to the local server with SSMS
Restructuring App.config so the configSections stands before the connectionStrings section
Changing the connection string (it doesn't use user instances anymore that are deprecated anyway)

My App.config now looks something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>    
    <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=4.3.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=u57a3c561234h089" />
  </configSections>

  <connectionStrings>
  <add name="SomeContext"
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"
      connectionString="Server=.\SQLEXPRESS; Integrated Security=True; Database=SomeNamespace.SomeContext" />
  </connectionStrings>

  <entityFramework>
    <defaultConnectionFactory 
    ...

SQL Server Express with attached file while using EF

1 Answers1