Question

I have a solution divided in 3 projects:

• Domain
• Web User Interface
• Unit tests

In my web.config, I defined my database like this:

  <connectionStrings>
      <add name="EntityFrameworkDbContext" 
        connectionString="Data Source=.\SQL2008;Initial Catalog=MvcLearning;Integrated Security=SSPI;Database=MVCLearning;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|MVCLearning.mdf;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;User Instance=True"
        providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
  </connectionStrings>

We have the |DataDirectory| used in my connectionstring.

Everything about the database should be located in the ‘domain’ projet, right? But when executing the solution for the first time, the database is created and I see that it is created in the WebUI\App_Data folder…

I thought it should be located in the App_Data in the ‘domain’ projet, shouldn’t?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Everything about the database should be located in the ‘domain’ projet, right?

Ideally it should be located in a data access layer which should be a separate layer of your application than your business/domain layer.

I thought it should be located in the App_Data in the ‘domain’ projet, shouldn’t?

No, since the hosting project is the ASP.NET MVC application, things like App_Data are special folders which have only sense in a web application. So when you define |DataDirectory|MVCLearning.mdf in the web.config of your web application that really means the App_Data folder of the web application.