EF 5 Update-Database Assistance

Question

I am using Code First Data Migrations and have my development database so built up that I really don't want to start fresh again. I had deleted an old table and cannot get EF to accept any model changes due to this lingering phantom table. How can I get a clean version of my database context based on the model that's currently in place? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

You could use a "Code Second" approach and reverse engineer the model from the database. A good way to do this is to use the Entity Framework Power Tools for VS to do the reverse engineering. Once it is installed just right-click the project and select Entity Framework > Reverse Engineer Code First and select the relevant database in the dialog. This will generate a model in the Model folder.

I usually do this in a dummy project and then copy the files across. The model generation is actually very clean and adds some nice features like initializing ICollections to a new List in the constructor which are sometimes left out of the original Code First model.

EDIT Here is an article which outlines the process using EF with an Existing Database