EF 4.1 Code First and Existing Database and .NET Membership

Question

I have a database called ApplicationName_Development running on SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer edition on my development box.

I added .NET membership tables to the database with no problem. When I tried to get Code First working I received the following error message:

The server encountered an error processing the request. The exception message is "Model compatibility cannot be checked because the database does not contain model metadata. Ensure that IncludeMetadataConvention has been added to the DbModelBuilder conventions.

After some googling, I discovered that I had to delete the database and let EF create the database. That's fine but I lost all my .NET membership tables. I can go back in and add the membership tables again but if my model changes and EF needs to recreate the database then I have to add the membership tables in again.

How do I get around this?

Answer 1

This is how code-first work. Main idea of code first is that you do not touch your database because it is responsibility of the model to create the database. If you want to customize your database you must create custom IDatabaseInitializer and add your custom SQL.

public class MyDbInitializer : DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges<MyContext>
{
    protected override void Seed(MyContext context)
    {
        // Here run your custom SQL commands
        context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("CREATE TABLE ....");
    }
}

Now you only need setup your cutom intializer on the startup of your application:

Database.SetInitializer<MyContext>(new MyDbInitializer());

If you don't want to do it this way you must manually maintain your database and set initializer to null.

Answer 2

Found a easier workaround here. I hope this helps.

http://www.paragm.com/ef-v4-1-code-first-and-asp-net-membership-service/