EF5 Starting a Project:Error Running transformation: Please overwrite the replacement token '$edmxInputFile$'

Question

I'm creating a Console Project in VS2012 with .Net4.5. After it I "Add", "New Item" to the project, and choose "EF 5.x DbContext Generator". Then, after a couple of seconds the following error message appears in the 'Error List' tab:

Error 1 Running transformation: Please overwrite the replacement token '$edmxInputFile$' with the actual name of the .edmx file you would like to generate from. C:\Projects\Tests\ConsoleAppEF5\ConsoleAppEF5\Model1.tt`

How can I fix this ?

What am I missing ?

Answer 1

You should create edmx model first to generate POCO's from it automatically. You can add it through menu (Add New Item -> ADO.NET Entity Data Model). After the model will be created you can use the DbContext generator. Replace $edmxInputFile$ with the name of your edmx file and then save file you are edit (though VS 2012 should do it automatically).

Answer 2

And in another scenario, this is apparently a known bug: http://web.archive.org/web/20131203074519/http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/498723/ado-net-entityobject-generator-error-list-bug

So if you add a DbContext Generator and then remove it and you get this error, just close and reopen the project. Solved it for me.

Answer 3

In my case I was inadvertently adding the EF Db Context Generator instead of Entity Framework. Total PEBKAC but I'm posting it here as I'm sure I will not be the only one.

I noticed that the file extension was TT as this is a text template not the EDMX that I wanted.

If you are looking to add entity then add ADO.NET Entity Data Model not EF X.x DbContext Generator