Question

When I right-click in a .EDMX file and click Generate Database From Model, the resulting script is obviously wrong because of the table names. What it generates is the following script. Note the table names in the DROP TABLE part versus the CREATE TABLE part.

Why is this inconsistent?

This is obviously not a reusable script. What I created was an Entity named “Address” and an Entity named “Company”, etc (all singular). The EntitySet names are pluralized. The “Pluralize New Objects” boolean does not change this either. So what’s the deal?

For what it’s worth, I originally generated the EDMX by pointing it to a database that had tables with non-pluralized names and now that I’ve made some changes, I want to go back the other way. I’d like to have the option to go back and forth as neither the db-first nor the model-first model is ideal in all scenarios, and I have the control to ensure that there will be no merging issues from multiple people going both ways at the same time.

-- --------------------------------------------------
-- Dropping existing FOREIGN KEY constraints
-- NOTE: if the constraint does not exist, an ignorable error will be reported.
-- --------------------------------------------------

    ALTER TABLE [Address] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Address_StateID-State_ID];
GO
    ALTER TABLE [Company] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Company_AddressID-Address_ID];
GO
    ALTER TABLE [Employee] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Employee_BossEmployeeID-Employee_ID];
GO
    ALTER TABLE [Employee] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Employee_CompanyID-Company_ID];
GO
    ALTER TABLE [Employee] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Employee_PersonID-Person_ID];
GO
    ALTER TABLE [Person] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Person_AddressID-Address_ID];
GO

-- --------------------------------------------------
-- Dropping existing tables
-- NOTE: if the table does not exist, an ignorable error will be reported.
-- --------------------------------------------------

    DROP TABLE [Address];
GO
    DROP TABLE [Company];
GO
    DROP TABLE [Employee];
GO
    DROP TABLE [Person];
GO
    DROP TABLE [State];
GO

-- --------------------------------------------------
-- Creating all tables
-- --------------------------------------------------

-- Creating table 'Addresses'
CREATE TABLE [Addresses] (
    [ID] int IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [StreetAddress] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [City] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [StateID] int  NOT NULL,
    [Zip] nvarchar(10)  NOT NULL
);
GO

-- Creating table 'Companies'
CREATE TABLE [Companies] (
    [ID] int IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [Name] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [AddressID] int  NOT NULL
);
GO

-- Creating table 'People'
CREATE TABLE [People] (
    [ID] int IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [FirstName] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [LastName] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [AddressID] int  NOT NULL
);
GO

-- Creating table 'States'
CREATE TABLE [States] (
    [ID] int IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [Name] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [Abbreviation] nvarchar(2)  NOT NULL
);
GO

-- Creating table 'Employees'
CREATE TABLE [Employees] (
    [ID] int IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [PersonID] int  NOT NULL,
    [CompanyID] int  NOT NULL,
    [Position] nvarchar(100)  NOT NULL,
    [BossEmployeeID] int  NULL
);
GO

-- --------------------------------------------------
-- Creating all PRIMARY KEY constraints
-- --------------------------------------------------

-- Creating primary key on [ID] in table 'Addresses'
ALTER TABLE [Addresses]
ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_Addresses]
    PRIMARY KEY ([ID] );
GO

-- Creating primary key on [ID] in table 'Companies'
ALTER TABLE [Companies]
ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_Companies]
    PRIMARY KEY ([ID] );
GO

-- Creating primary key on [ID] in table 'People'
ALTER TABLE [People]
ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_People]
    PRIMARY KEY ([ID] );
GO

-- Creating primary key on [ID] in table 'States'
ALTER TABLE [States]
ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_States]
    PRIMARY KEY ([ID] );
GO

-- Creating primary key on [ID] in table 'Employees'
ALTER TABLE [Employees]
ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_Employees]
    PRIMARY KEY ([ID] );
GO

-- --------------------------------------------------
-- Creating all FOREIGN KEY constraints
-- --------------------------------------------------

-- Creating foreign key on [StateID] in table 'Addresses'
ALTER TABLE [Addresses]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Address_StateID_State_ID]
    FOREIGN KEY ([StateID])
    REFERENCES [States]
        ([ID])
    ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;

-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_Address_StateID_State_ID'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_Address_StateID_State_ID]
ON [Addresses]
    ([StateID]);
GO

-- Creating foreign key on [AddressID] in table 'Companies'
ALTER TABLE [Companies]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Company_AddressID_Address_ID]
    FOREIGN KEY ([AddressID])
    REFERENCES [Addresses]
        ([ID])
    ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;

-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_Company_AddressID_Address_ID'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_Company_AddressID_Address_ID]
ON [Companies]
    ([AddressID]);
GO

-- Creating foreign key on [AddressID] in table 'People'
ALTER TABLE [People]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Person_AddressID_Address_ID]
    FOREIGN KEY ([AddressID])
    REFERENCES [Addresses]
        ([ID])
    ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;

-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_Person_AddressID_Address_ID'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_Person_AddressID_Address_ID]
ON [People]
    ([AddressID]);
GO

-- Creating foreign key on [CompanyID] in table 'Employees'
ALTER TABLE [Employees]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Employee_CompanyID_Company_ID]
    FOREIGN KEY ([CompanyID])
    REFERENCES [Companies]
        ([ID])
    ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;

-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_Employee_CompanyID_Company_ID'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_Employee_CompanyID_Company_ID]
ON [Employees]
    ([CompanyID]);
GO

-- Creating foreign key on [BossEmployeeID] in table 'Employees'
ALTER TABLE [Employees]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Employee_BossEmployeeID_Employee_ID]
    FOREIGN KEY ([BossEmployeeID])
    REFERENCES [Employees]
        ([ID])
    ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;

-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_Employee_BossEmployeeID_Employee_ID'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_Employee_BossEmployeeID_Employee_ID]
ON [Employees]
    ([BossEmployeeID]);
GO

-- Creating foreign key on [PersonID] in table 'Employees'
ALTER TABLE [Employees]
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Employee_PersonID_Person_ID]
    FOREIGN KEY ([PersonID])
    REFERENCES [People]
        ([ID])
    ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;

-- Creating non-clustered index for FOREIGN KEY 'FK_Employee_PersonID_Person_ID'
CREATE INDEX [IX_FK_Employee_PersonID_Person_ID]
ON [Employees]
    ([PersonID]);
GO

-- --------------------------------------------------
-- Script has ended
-- --------------------------------------------------

Answer 1

I have been unable to find an answer to this problem. In addition, I have had issues recreating this problem where I’m not going back and forth from DB-first to model-first scenarios. As such, I’m just assuming that back-and-forth has caused issues and is a bad situation to put EF through.