Question

This is about Entity Framework 5 RTM Code First.

When I map an entity having an existing enum I get this error:

No corresponding object layer type could be found for the conceptual
type ‘[FULL ENUM TYPE NAME]’

Actually it looks for the whole enum in the same namespace of the DbContext.

Some other question (Using Enums with Code First & Entity Framework 5) had an answer that pointed to some blog post where there’s a how-to on how to get this working but it talks about Database-First/Model-First approach.

How can I add an EDM enum type using Code-First approach?

Answer 1

I am afraid it isn’t possible right now – there is known bug in the EF5 http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/532, that is causing the mentioned error.

I was struggling with the similar problem and didn’t find any elegant solution. I ended up with int column instead of enum column.

Edit (problematic model):

Core assembly:

public enum UserStatus { Approved, Disabled }

public interface IUser {
    public int ID { get; }
    public string Username { get; set;}
    public UserStatus Status { get; set;}
}

Users assembly:

public class User : IUser {
    public int ID { get; protected set; }
    public string Username { get; set; }
    public UserStatus Status { get; set; }
}