Cod First using entity framework with MVC

Entity framework is support three different ways to interaction with database and develops application.

DB First: In DB First technique we first create database and then create .edmx file using entity framework.

Model First: In Model First technique we first create all data models using .edmx file of entity framework. After model design done we can create generate create script for that model and used to create database.

Code First: Code First is a most popular technique in now days for interact with database.

In Code First we create POCO (Plain Old CLR Object) models in code as a class object and entity framework convert that POCO model into database table.
So now we can create our entire database using POCO models as a class object and EF will convert that POCO models into database.
In this post I will demonstrate how, we can create database from POCO models using Entity Framework in MVC.

I am using MVC 3 and Entity Framework 4.3.1 version for demo code first. Entity Framework now available on nugget page also. Use install-package entityframework command for download entity framework.

Ok! Now let’s start demo. We will create one table for store project information

STEP: 1 Create POCO Model
Create MVC project for demo and install entity framework from nugget package manager.
Create class name with project in model.
By default EF will create tables with same name of model. We can set Table name attribute for set table name in database.

                [Table("ProjectData")]
                public class Project
                {
                    public int Id { get; set; }
                    public string Name { get; set; }
                    public string Description { get; set; }

                }
            

STEP: 2 Create Data Context Class
Create one class which inherits from System.Data.Entity.DBContext.
By default EF will create database using class name. we can set custom database name and connection strings if any then.
Now, Create property using DbSet[project] for project table.

                public class DATABContext : DbContext
                {
                    public DATABContext()
                        : base("ReportDB")
                    {
                        this.Database.CreateIfNotExists();
                    }
                    public DATABContext(string ConnectionString)
                        : base(ConnectionString)
                    {
                        this.Database.CreateIfNotExists();
                    }

                    public DbSet[Product] Products { get; set; }
                }
            

We have done almost using default settings for create database and tables from POCO. Now, next is how to use the models? We can use it in controller using following code.

                public class Default1Controller : Controller
                    {
                        private DATABContext db = new DATABContext();

                        //
                        // GET: /Default1/

                        public ViewResult Index()
                        {

                            return View(db.Products.ToList());
                        }
                   }
            

STEP: 3 Run Project
We have set all basic requirements for default database creation by Entity Framework. By default it use Sql Express server for create database and it will create ReportDB database with one table ProjectData.

STEP: 4 Use Existed Database
If we have already a database how can we use in CODE First technique?
It is actually easy and configurable. We can set database connection string by web.config file as well as by code.
By default DBContext class used connection string name of DBContext class.

                Connection string : 
                 
                    
                  
                
                By code we can set connection string using properties 

                Database.DefaultConnectionFactory = new SqlConnectionFactory("Data Source=RANMAL; Integrated Security=True; MultipleActiveResultSets=True");
                            

I Hope it will help!
Feel free to add comment. Enjoy coding and life.