Question

In most asp.net applications you can change the database store by modifing the connectionstring at runtime. i.e I can change from using a test database to a production database by simply changing the value of the “database” field in the connectionstring

I’m trying to change the schema (but not necessarily the database itself) with entity framework but no luck.

The problem I’m seeing is the that the SSDL content in the edmx xml file is storing the schema for each entityset.

see below

<EntitySet 
    Name="task" 
    EntityType="hardModel.Store.task" 
    store:Type="Tables" 
    Schema="test"  />

Now I have changed the schema attribute value to “prod” from test and it works..

But this does not seem to be a good solution.

1. I need to update evert entity set as well as stored procedures ( I have +50 tables )
2. I can only do this an compile time?
3. If I then try to later update the Entity model-entityies that already exist are being read due to EF not recognizing that the table already exists in the edm.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Update Upon reading your comments it’s clear that you’re wanting to change the referenced schema for each DB, not the database. I’ve edited the question to clarify this and to restore the sample EDMX you provided which was hidden in the original formatting.

I’ll repeat my comment below here:

If the schemata are in the same DB, you can’t switch these at runtime (except with EF 4 code-only). This is because two identically-named and structured tables in two different schemata are considered entirely different tables.

I also agree with JMarsch above: I’d reconsider the design of putting test and production data (or, actually, ‘anything and production data’) in the same DB. Seems like an invitation to disaster.

Old answer below.

Are you sure you’re changing the correct connection string? The connection string used by the EF is embedded inside the connection string which specifies the location of CSDL/SSDL/etc. It’s common to have a “normal” connection string for use by some other part of your app (e.g., ASP.NET membership). In this case, when changing DBs you must update both of your connection strings.

Similarly, if you update the connection string at runtime then you must use specific tools for this, which understand the EF connection string format and are separate from the usual connection string builder. See the example in the link. See also this help on assigning EF connection strings.