I have a couple of custom T4 templates that I want to regenerate any time my edmx file (in the same project) changes.
Somehow Entity Framework manages to figure out to refresh the POCO T4 template on save.....but I can't figure out how. At first I thought it had to do with the <DependentUpon> tag in the csproj...but that doesn't seem to have any effect except for telling Visual Studio to group one file under another.
How can I get my custom T4 templates to regenerate when my edmx changes, like Entity Framework's POCO tempaltes do?
Have a look at this page http://www.olegsych.com/2009/11/t4-toolbox-automatic-template-transformation/ You might be able to create a custom tool to do what you want. A custom tool would be good because you register it on your system and you can set it as the default tool for edmx files. But that requires a bit of work. Using the T4 toolbox looks like it would be a better, quicker option for you.
Related
I am building a Visual Studio extension (VSIX) with menu commands depending on the options for the extension. Its dynamic, what commands (how many) depends on the options.
I have a solution for it that uses the command-table, like: Dynamically add menu items
I would like to skip the command-table and build the menus totally programmatically, like: HOWTO: Package with commands created by code
The reason is to make it more dynamic. So if the user adds/changes/deletes in the options of the extension it would be handled dynamically (programmatically). On saving options the menu-command tree would be rebuildt. If I use a command-table I will have to add/delete nodes there to be able to solve it.
The thing I can not figure out is howto add the objects for "groups" and "menus" programmatically.
So I am out for the class/interface that has "AddGroup" or "AddMenu" as methods.
Is this at all possible or do I have to use the command-table? If it is possible I would appreciate links to code-examples for it.
Regards Hans
MVP Carlos Quintero has published sample code using IVsProfferCommmands3.AddNamedCommand that illustrates how to programmatically add menu items via the automation services (formerly utilized by the now discontinued add-in extensibility model).
https://github.com/visualstudioextensibility/VSX-Samples/tree/master/PackageCommandsCreatedByCode
While add-ins are no longer supported, the automation interfaces are still present. So you can use these, bearing in mind these menu items (aka commands) are temporary.
Also, the sample code here is a little outdated, using Package instead of AsyncPackage, and ProvideAutoLoad attributes. So you'll also want to read up on the following:
https://github.com/microsoft/VSSDK-Extensibility-Samples/tree/master/AsyncPackageMigration
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/updates-to-synchronous-autoload-of-extensions-in-visual-studio-2019/
Sincerely,
I have a WP7 application which I need to rebrand. I'm using Visual Studio 2012.
My problem is how manage brands in the most automatic way.
Lets say I developed the app for the Main Brand, and I need to restyle for the Secondary Brand.
Secondary Brand consist in change of Images and part some base styles (the base style are used and thus referenced by other style and templates which are shared).
I would prefer to have the XAP with only Images for its own Brand.
I need also to have the possibility to use the designer with one brand or another.
I tried to use a TFS Branch for this purpose, it is satisfing but at every merge (new features or bug fix in the Main Branch that must be merged in the Secondary Branch), I need to pay attention to not overwrite Images and Styles (if changed), it is an error prone process and lead to undetected and critical mistake.
I thinking about bring everything back on the main branch and manage Brands by moving all Images and Style that differs, into different 'theme' class libraries but how can I easily switch between references (I need the designer, so at design time) ? Is there a way to have different references for different solution configuration ?
Another option could be to use the Branch and the 2 theme class library, in the secondary branch the app will reference the secondary theme class library. On the paper it seems the best options, both branch will link statically the resources, they will have their designer branded, merge should not impact anything modified in the 'theme' libraries. Before try it i would like to know if anyone has a better option or foresee any problem on this.
Thank You.
I had similar project, and I can share the way I was trying to solve it.
I had following project structure
AppName.Common - here all common code, views and data templates defined
AppName.Main - here is App.xaml for main project, Resources with specific styles and images
AppName.Branded - here is App.xaml for branded project, Resources with specific styles and images. Also in App.xaml I configure IoC container, because some of behaviors were different for Branded and for Main proj.
All styles are defined in App.xaml in Resourced dictionary. So, in runtime app can resolve them. Sometimes you need to reopen solution, and also ReSharper can't support in, it fails to resolve you styles.
Blend for VS can support this structure. You just select current project as a Start-up proj.
Hope it will help you.
Don't forget, that if you navigate to View from other assembly, you need to change path.
I am building a code generation tool using vs 2010 visualisation & modelling sdk. One of the things that I need to generate is a simple data capture ui (windows forms, preferably using devexpress layout control), with capture fields & labels for each property in a class.
I can use t4 text templates to do this, but I am conscious that I will be re-inventing the wheel if I do this - a simpler approach would be to add controls to a form constructed at runtime and allow the appropriate codedomseriaizer to generate the form.designer.cs code for me - is this possible?
To summarise, I would like to build a form at runtime, and retrieve a string of the designer.cs file..
Graham
Could you not simply leave the runtime generation code in use, and design only the other parts of the form using the designer? This way the autogenerated controls will be automatically updated if new properties are added to the class.
I have two Entity Data models within a MVC3 project A and B.
I have recently added the new entity data model B to deal with some new functionality, the issue is that now the existing code has stopped working and I am getting the following error when trying to access code within entity model A.
The error message is:
Could not find the conceptual model type 'project.models.Bclass'
I do not understand why it is this new functionality has affected the current code seeing as entity model A has not change in any way. And functionality B is in a separate class and does not interfere with model A.
When the new code is removed from the project and entity model B is excluded then the code works as it should.
Here is some of the stacktrace from the error:
Exception : Could not find the conceptual model type for 'Project1.Models.CrossSession'.
Application Class - method : System.Data.Metadata.Edm.MetadataWorkspace -- GetEdmSpaceType
User : temp.user
Url : http://localhost/project1/auth/message
Stacktrace : at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.MetadataWorkspace.GetEdmSpaceType(StructuralType objectSpaceType)
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.UpdateEntitySetMappings()
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.TryUpdateEntitySetMappingsForType(Type entityType)
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.GetEntitySetAndBaseTypeForType(Type entityType)
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.Initialize()
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.get_InternalContext()
Solution found. It appears in some cases (randomly) there is a mix up in the code generated by the entity framework. This is apparently a known bug and a fix should be coming in future releases. In the mean time the way around this is to move the efm to a separate class within the solution.
One possible explanation is that if you use the database first approach and forget to add the Entity classes, you will get this error.
i.e. (from the guide linked below)
Right click on the model’s designer surface.
From the context menu, choose Add Code Generation Item.
In the Add New Item dialog that opens, select Data from the list of installed templates types on the left.
Choose the ADO.NET DbContext Generator then click the Add
button.
I normally use Julie Lerman's guide; https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj206878(v=vs.113).aspx
Solved this by updating EntityFramework to the latest version (6.0)
http://nuget.org/packages/EntityFramework/.
After installing it regenerate the models and it will work ;)
I had the same problem with 2 different .edmx files in the same project.
For the first .edmx model I had used "Add Code Generation Item", for the second model I hadn't. The project was building correctly but throwing that exception on runtime.
I solved generating the .tt classes for the second .edmx model as well.
Well I just installed EF 4.1 and tried to combine DbContext with a EMDX - When I tried to pass back a view I got the same error - that's why I ended up here... I think the way around this is to separate the functionality out into separate asemblies in the solution...
This can also be resolved by generating the new edmx in visual studio 2010 so it matches the older ones... (And copying over the files it generates)
Using Visual Studio 12, the issue has still not been resolved. As an alternative workaround, I set up the second SQL data model using "old fashioned" Data Classes that pre-date entity models - they're still there and they still work. Use Add - New Item - (Data Category) - LINQ To SQL Classes, open the ServerExplorer, locate the server and database, then drag and drop it onto the data classes pane. Old school - but conveniently overcomes this highly inconvenient issue when the full functionality of entity models is not needed.
I removed the edmx models, removed the Entity package, re-install the entity 5.0 and works.
I was working with some legacy software and was not keen on upgrading EF. For me, the below setting on my newly added .edmx needed to be changed to match the .edmx that already existed in the project. My new one said "T4" and I changed it to "Legacy Object Context". I did have to delete the .tt templates that were generated previously in order to get it to build. Otherwise, the old generated files stay there and the new files are also there, causing "property already defined" errors. Thx to all the answers above that helped me figure this out!
(Properties panel, after clicking in the entity designer)
In my current job we are not allowed to use databinding. I’m currently using a code generator (ORM) to generate the data layer objects. In the past I usually generated a data source (from the object) and do a drag and drop to automatically add the controls (with the correct databinding to the WinForm).
Is there is a way to do something similar (programmatically) using Visual Studio?
I tried to use the a copy and paste approach (by analyzing the data of the control, in the clipboard, generated by VS), but unfortunately the format used by VS to serialize the control to the clipboard is binary (I was hoping that the format was XML because I can easy modify that). Other approaches I tried was generating the designer code using a code generator. Unfortunately this only works if I want to create a new form but it is, from a practical point, unworkable if you want to add new controls to an existing form.
Controls are just objects. Any properties you can set in the designer can be set in code as well. And event handlers are just delegates. You can build the entire GUI without using the designer at all -- just write the code. I've done this several times with dynamically-generated GUI elements.
Spend some time reading through the code that the Visual Studio designer generates, and you'll quickly see how to do the same things by hand.