Question

I’ve created a new MVC 3 website using EF 4.1 with DB first approach. I’ve created the edmx file and then the DBContext (the new 4.1 feature) classes. all went well.

Then, I’ve created new controllers using the automatic creation for DBContext. All wen’t great.

Now, that I’m trying to fire up the website it won’t connect to the connection string itself created.

Here is the connection string:

<add name="PizzaByMeEntities"
     connectionString='metadata=res://*/Models.PizzaByMeModel.csdl|
                                res://*/Models.PizzaByMeModel.ssdl|
                                res://*/Models.PizzaByMeModel.msl;
                       provider=System.Data.SqlClient;
                       provider connection string="data source=(local);
                                                   initial catalog=PizzaByMe;
                                                   integrated security=True;
                                                   pooling=False;
                                                   multipleactiveresultsets=True;
                                                   App=EntityFramework;"'
     providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

When I fire up the website I get:

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while
establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or
was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that
SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL
Network Interfaces, error: 26 – Error Locating Server/Instance
Specified)

The strange part is that if I remove the connection string – I still get the exact same error. I guess that the EF just can’t find the Connection String even when it’s there.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

EDIT:

My DBContext is as follows:

public partial class PizzaByMeEntities : DbContext
{
    public PizzaByMeEntities()
        : base("name=PizzaByMeEntities")
    {
    }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        throw new UnintentionalCodeFirstException();
    }

    public DbSet<X> Xs{ get; set; }
    public DbSet<Y> Ys{ get; set; }
    public DbSet<Z> Zs{ get; set; }
}

EDIT 2:

the working connection string is this:

  <add name="PizzaByMe" connectionString="Data Source=(local);initial catalog=PizzaByMe;integrated security=True;pooling=False;multipleactiveresultsets=True;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

Though to make it work – I just used direct ADO.NET connection.

Answer 1

Your derived DbContext class must have the same name as your connection string if you have only implemented a default constructor (or no constructor at all)

public PizzaByMeEntities : DbContext
{
    public PizzaByMeEntities()
    {
        // ...
    }
}

If your context has another name then you must specify the name of the connection string in the constructor:

public PizzaByMeContext : DbContext
{
    public PizzaByMeContext() :
        base("name=PizzaByMeEntities")
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Here are details about connections and connection strings with DbContext: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2011/01/27/using-dbcontext-in-ef-feature-ctp5-part-2-connections-and-models.aspx

Edit: Another guess

The connection string must be in the web.config of your MVC app, not in an app.config of a class library project where you possibly have your EF model and DbContext. Is it?