Handy ModelMatchesDatabase method

24 Jul 2010 1 mins Entity Framework

The Entity Framework 4 CTP4 is out and contains nice improvements. One is especially handy. Well you was able to do the same even in v1 but it was a lot of work. The method is ModelMatchesDatabase in System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Database. You can get Database object easily through DbContext.Database. The method return boolean value and checks whether your database matches mapping or not.

Only not useful thing is the EdmMetadata table the whole infrastructure is using. I know it’s easier with it, but could be done without as well. I hope will be removed (or be optional) in future CTPs or final releases. Because then you’ll be able i.e. check that your mapping is valid for selected database, check that your database has expected structure from application’s point of view (i.e. after new release) or simply spin up you own custom database altering process and check results.

Jiří Činčura is .NET, C# and Firebird expert. He focuses on data and business layers, language constructs, parallelism, databases and performance. For almost two decades he contributes to open-source, i.e. FirebirdClient. He works as a senior software engineer for Microsoft. Frequent speaker and blogger at www.tabsoverspaces.com.