How to use a dynamic connection string using a Model First approach but still use the data model in the EDMX?

Question

I have created an EDMX using EF 5 with the Model First approach, i.e. I started with a blank designer and modeled my entities. Now I want to be able to use this model define

Answer 1

I had the same issue, so instead of relying on all the meta data in the connection string (which I think is not a good idea) I wrote a method to create it from a standard connection string. (I should probably refactor it into an Extension method for DbContext, but this should do)

internal static class ContextConnectionStringBuilder
{
  // Modified Version of http://stackoverflow.com/a/2294308/209259
  public static string GetEntityConnectionString(string ConnectionString, 
                                                 Type ContextType)
  {
    string result = string.Empty;

    string prefix = ContextType.Namespace
      .Replace(ContextType.Assembly.GetName().Name, "");

    if (prefix.Length > 0
        && prefix.StartsWith("."))
    {
      prefix = prefix.Substring(1, prefix.Length - 1);
    }

    if (prefix.Length > 1
        && !prefix.EndsWith("."))
    {
      prefix += ".";
    }


    EntityConnectionStringBuilder csBuilder = 
      new EntityConnectionStringBuilder();

    csBuilder.Provider = "System.Data.SqlClient";
    csBuilder.ProviderConnectionString = ConnectionString.ToString();
    csBuilder.Metadata = string.Format("res://{0}/{1}.csdl|"
                                        + "res://{0}/{1}.ssdl|"
                                        + "res://{0}/{1}.msl"
                                        , ContextType.Assembly.FullName
                                        , prefix + ContextType.Name);

    result =  csBuilder.ToString();

    return result;
  }
}

Basic usage is something like:

string connString = 
  ConfigurationMananager.ConnectionStrings["name"].ConnectionString;

string dbConnectionString = ContextConnectionStringBuilder(connString,
                                                           typeof(MyDbContext));

var dbContext = new MyDbContext(dbConnectionString);