EntityFramework refuses to forget old columns

Question

I'm using EntityFramework 6.1.3, database-first. I am currently wishing I had chosen code-first...

I have a database with some tables. I've previously built my edmx off of these tables. Then I changed the type of a few columns and added a few columns. For instance, changing a bit column to an int column.

I try and update my model from the database, using right-click -> Update Model from Database.

It seems that no matter what I do, EF will only ever pick up the state of my database as it was when I created the edmx. Things I have tried:

1. Reopening Visual Studio
2. Rebuilding the project
3. Deleting and re-adding the entity (this is what most people say should work)
4. Searching the entire project for text references in xml or C# to my column while visual studio is closed and replacing them. (This seems to work at first but if I try to update from database again it writes over them)
5. Restarting SQL service
6. Restarting the machine
7. "Run Custom Tool" on all .tt files (shouldn't make a difference but what the hell)

When I right-click my entity and select "Table Mapping", it always always shows the old bit column on the left.

Here's my database table design:

It might be of note that the entity is going off a view, not directly off of the table. But the view is literally a select * of the table as I am investigating this issue, and I have confirmed with powershell that the type returned by the view is an int:

PS> $conn = new-object data.sqlclient.SqlConnection("data source=localhost;initial catalog=dbname;integrated security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework")
PS> $conn.open()
PS> $query = $conn.createcommand()
PS> $query.commandtext = "select * from [dbname].[LocalCustom].[viewname]"
PS> $reader = $query.executereader()
PS> $reader.getschematable().rows[19]

ColumnName                      : ActiveMember
ColumnOrdinal                   : 19
ColumnSize                      : 4
NumericPrecision                : 10
NumericScale                    : 255
IsUnique                        : False
IsKey                           :
BaseServerName                  :
BaseCatalogName                 :
BaseColumnName                  : ActiveMember
BaseSchemaName                  :
BaseTableName                   :
DataType                        : System.Int32
AllowDBNull                     : False
ProviderType                    : 8
IsAliased                       :
IsExpression                    :
IsIdentity                      : False
IsAutoIncrement                 : False
IsRowVersion                    : False
IsHidden                        :
IsLong                          : False
IsReadOnly                      : False
ProviderSpecificDataType        : System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlInt32
DataTypeName                    : int
XmlSchemaCollectionDatabase     :
XmlSchemaCollectionOwningSchema :
XmlSchemaCollectionName         :
UdtAssemblyQualifiedName        :
NonVersionedProviderType        : 8
IsColumnSet                     : False

My MAIN QUESTION I have at this time is... How does EF know that it used to be a bit type? Where is it storing this data?? Of course I would also like to know how to properly update the model using the UI without having to delete and re-add entities or whatever else I'm going to have to do to get it to update.

I'm pretty frustrated with EF :(

Answer 1

This is the case I often meet when using Entity Framework database-first. When you make some changes from the database, to update EF, you should:

1. Delete the modified table in .edmx
2. Re-add that table to your .edmx by right-click -> Update Model from Database -> check that table