Deploy Entity Framework Code First Database

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC 3 application using an Entity Framework (4.3.1) Code First database. Now I would like to create a comprehensive zip file containing the database, the appli

Answer 1

I usually connect to my development database locally using SQL Management Studio and right-click the database, choose Tasks -> Generate Scripts. Then I select the entire database or just the tables I'd like to keep, click next, then click the Advanced button and make sure that I am scripting out "Schema and Data", and then generate a sql script that I can run on the production database, therefore keeping the table structure and the data that was in the dev database. Obviously, if you don't want to keep the data then just script out the Schema only. Then, point your application's connection string to the new production environment database and you're good to go.