Can't Add ADO.NET Entity Data Model to .NET Core 2.1 Project

Question

The Issue...

As the title states, I've installed the .NET Core 2.1 SDK and created a new .NET Core 2.1 project. When I go to Project > Add Item... > Data, I do not have the ADO.NET Entity Data Model option.

I am using Visual Studio 2017 15.7.3, which I've installed only hours ago.

The Error and Warning logs are clean.

Any assistance is appreciated.

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What I've done so far...

• Researched. You'll notice I've pulled most of my attempts to solve this issue from primarily these three resources:
  • StackOverflow: Can't find ADO.net Entity Data Model template in VS 2017 ^{(This question is pre-2.1 and has no accepted answer, so I feel this deserves an updated discussion)}
  • Microsoft: Announcing Entity Framework Core 2.0
  • Microsoft Docs: Getting Started with EF Core on ASP.NET Core with an Existing Database
• Ensured that Entity Framework 6 Tools is included in my VS installation
• Added the following dependencies...
  • NuGet
    • Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore (2.1.0)
    • Microsoft.EntityFrameWorkCore.Relational (2.1.0)
    • Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer (2.1.0)
    • Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools (2.1.0)
    • Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Design (2.1.0)
  • SDK
    • Microsoft.NETCore.App (2.1.0)
    • NETStandard.Library (2.0.3)
• Build / Rebuild / Clean / Restart Visual Studio / Restart PC

Answer 1

EntityFramework Core doesn't use the "EDMX" data model designers, it is purely code-first.

See the Getting Started with EF Core on ASP.NET Core with an Existing Database to scaffold a database context from an existing database or create a new model and use migrations to create and update databases.

Update: In .NET Core 3.0, you will be able to use Entity Framework 6 along with .edmx models (which may require VS 2019)