更改数据库第一个实体模型的连接字符串

Question

I have an ASP.NET website that uses the Entity Framework 6. I'm using the Database First method for creating the Model and use EntitesToDTOs to create DTOs for all the tables. Now I need to be able to easily change the database it uses. The databases are basically copies of each other, however they are separate from each other with different connection strings.

Right now I'm able to switch out the databases by manually changing the connection strings in the config files. There are 3 config files needing to be changed.

1. Web.config in the Website project (references and uses #2)
2. App.config in the DataAccess project (references and uses #3)
3. App.config in the DatabaseModel project (contains the entity model)

The following section of each config file is manually modified.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>

  ...

  <connectionStrings>
    <!-- Entity Framework Connection Strings - Uncomment the one in use -->

    <!-- Entities Database 1 -->
    <add name="ClientEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/ClientModel.csdl|res://*/ClientModel.ssdl|res://*/ClientModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=...connection string info...;multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

    <!-- Entities Database 2 -->
    <!--<add name="ClientEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/ClientModel.csdl|res://*/ClientModel.ssdl|res://*/ClientModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=...connection string info...;multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />-->
  </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

Is there a way to automate this process or do everything programmatically, perhaps based off the regular connection string in the web.config file?

This is the regular connection string in the Web.config file and it reflects the entities database that needs to be used.

<add name="Database1" connectionString="..." providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

Answer 1

It sounds as if you want to have different build configurations for different scenarios. You can easily manage this for web using Web.config transformations and the same procedure is applicable to other .NET projects by using this tutorial .