Set Entity Framework Connection String at Runtime in C#

Question

I need to set my Entity Framework connection string at runtime. Right now, I have the following:

string connectionString = "metadata=res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.csdl|res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.ssdl|res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=tcp:{serverName},{portNumber};initial catalog={databaseName};user id={username};multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework&quot;";
using (CustomerEntities entities = new CustomerEntities(connectionString))
{
  CustomerEntity entity = new CustomerEntity();
  // do more
  entities.CustomerEntities.Add(entity);
  entities.SaveChanges();
}

When I execute the code above (with the {parameter} values replaced), I get the following error:

Keyword not supported: 'data source'.

What am I doing wrong?

scartag · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-03 14:36:05Z

Change this.

string connectionString = "metadata=res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.csdl|res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.ssdl|res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=tcp:{serverName},{portNumber};initial catalog={databaseName};user id={username};multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework&quot;";

To this (note how i escaped the " character as "" )

string connectionString = @"metadata=res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.csdl|res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.ssdl|res://*/DataModels.CustomerDataModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string= ""data source=tcp:{serverName},{portNumber};initial catalog={databaseName};user id={username};multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework""";

Mukus · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-19 05:59:40Z

I know this was asked 10 months ago, but I found an easier way to specify the connectionString:

If your config file has it as:

<connectionStrings>
<add name="CustomerDataModel" connectionString="metadata=res://*/EntityFramework.CustomerDataModel.csdl|res://*/EntityFramework.CustomerDataModel.ssdl|res://*/EntityFramework.CustomerDataModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=.\CustomerDataModel;initial catalog=CustomerDB;integrated security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

You can specify it as -

public const string ConnectionString = @"name=CustomerDataModel";
..
CustomerDBContext context = new CustomerDBContext(ConnectionString );

No need to worry about quotes. Lot cleaner.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-19 16:03:36Z

6

It is easier to use EntityConnectionStringBuilder and SqlConnectionStringBuilder to change parameters as you want.

edited May 19, 2014 at 16:03

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 4, 2014 at 14:45

Bedouin

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Comments

Vijay Sutaria · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-24 18:27:02Z

3

set multiple connection strings in your web.config, and follow below:

public partial class MyDatabaseEntities
{
    public MyDatabaseEntities(string connection)
        : base(connection)
    {
    }
}

and then wherever you want to create instance of entities, pass connection string name in parameter:

MyDatabaseEntities entities = new MyDatabaseEntities("CONNECTION_STRING_NAME");

I hope this will help.

Thanks

answered Sep 24, 2015 at 18:27

Vijay Sutaria

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