Entity-Framework EntityConnection MetaData Problem

Question

We are trying to build an EntityConnection dynamically so that different users are connecting to differnet databases determined at run-time. In order to do this we are testing the code found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738533.aspx. We have implemented this below:

' Specify the provider name, server and database.
Dim providerName As String = "System.Data.SqlClient"
Dim serverName As String = "OurDBServerName"
Dim databaseName As String = "OurDBName"

' Initialize the connection string builder for the
' underlying provider.
Dim sqlBuilder As New SqlConnectionStringBuilder

' Set the properties for the data source.
sqlBuilder.DataSource = serverName
sqlBuilder.InitialCatalog = databaseName
sqlBuilder.IntegratedSecurity = False
sqlBuilder.UserID = "OurAppUserName"
sqlBuilder.Password = "OurPassword"

' Build the SqlConnection connection string.
Dim providerString As String = sqlBuilder.ToString

' Initialize the EntityConnectionStringBuilder.
Dim entityBuilder As New EntityConnectionStringBuilder

'Set the provider name.
entityBuilder.Provider = providerName

' Set the provider-specific connection string.
entityBuilder.ProviderConnectionString = providerString

' Set the Metadata location to the current directory.
entityBuilder.Metadata = "res://*/NotaModel.csdl|" & _
                         "res://*/NotaModel.ssdl|" & _
                         "res://*/NotaModel.msl"

Console.WriteLine(entityBuilder.ToString)

Using conn As EntityConnection = New EntityConnection(entityBuilder.ToString)
    conn.Open()
    Console.WriteLine("Just testing the connection.")
    conn.Close()
End Using

When the conn.Open() is run an error is thrown: "Unable to load the specified metadata resource." It seems to indicate that one or more of the "res://*..." references is wrong. I have confirmed that the project does indeed contain these files (under the bin/debug folder). What are we missing here - any ideas?

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, the res:// part is wrong. Look at the resource names in Reflector (inside the assembly), not on your local filesystem, to see what they should be.