MetadataException: Unable to load the specified metadata resource

Question

All of a sudden I keep getting a MetadataException on instantiating my generated ObjectContext class. The connection string in App.Config looks correct - hasn't changed since last it worked - and I've tried regenerating a new model (edmx-file) from the underlying database with no change.

Anyone have any ideas?

Further details: I haven't changed any properties, I haven't changed the name of any output assemblies, I haven't tried to embed the EDMX in the assembly. I've merely waited 10 hours from leaving work until I got back. And then it wasn't working anymore.

I've tried recreating the EDMX. I've tried recreating the project. I've even tried recreating the database, from scratch. No luck, whatsoever.

If an question SO about a specific product that has over 200k views, then the product is not functioning the way users are expecting. I would like to see Microsoft address this. Here's a link to give them suggestions if you have time: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio. — Tony L., May 05 '15 at 19:27
My problem solved, by replacing connection-string copied from db-layer project. — Hardik, Apr 15 '18 at 16:07
I also face this issue, I just clean and rebuild solution which works fine. — Yogesh Sharma, Jan 18 '19 at 00:47
The Marquis de Sade is alive & well, and works at Microsoft. This really is Entity Framework hell. — pwrgreg007, Apr 14 '21 at 13:45
See the comment under the accepted answer. In the end it was nothing but an incorrect connection string. — Gert Arnold, Apr 18 '22 at 14:16
I had the same error (and lots of hanging) seemingly _"out of the blue"_ using VS2022. I restarted PC. Compared and checked the EDMX connection string/settings as per @Craig Stuntz (one of the answers below) and other we.config settings - still no dice. I started VS2022 in SAFE MODE: `devenv /SafeMode`, the solution wouldn't run (not all projects loaded - reasons provided in 'output') - but afterwards opening VS2022 normally (without making any changes), the issue was gone. _**Everything was working again.**_ Definitely worth a try opening in safe mode. — Jonno, Dec 22 '22 at 07:59

score 884 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 16 '18 at 13:48

884

This means that the application is unable to load the EDMX. There are several things which can cause this.

You might have changed the MetadataArtifactProcessing property of the model to Copy to Output Directory.
The connection string could be wrong. I know you say you haven't changed it, but if you have changed other things (say, the name of an assembly), it could still be wrong.
You might be using a post-compile task to embed the EDMX in the assembly, which is no longer working for some reason.

In short, there is not really enough detail in your question to give an accurate answer, but hopefully these ideas should get you on the right track.

Update: I've written a blog post with more complete steps for troubleshooting.

edited Jan 16 '18 at 13:48

Stephen Turner

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answered Mar 27 '09 at 12:02

Craig Stuntz

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The connectionstring, despite my efforts to compare it with a content-compare utility last time, *was* wrong. – J. Steen Apr 29 '09 at 11:26
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It was the connectionstring for me too. When you have Integration Tests that also need connectionsting in its own App.config, things may go out of sync when you update your edmx. – Ray Oct 24 '10 at 22:45
yes, I did change the settings of the MetadataArtifactProcessing and the post-compile etc. so how do I fix the problem? – Shimmy Weitzhandler Dec 07 '10 at 02:50
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OK, I fixed it by simply setting "Embed"; compiling, then reseting it to the other one. That solved my problem. – Shimmy Weitzhandler Dec 07 '10 at 03:12
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If it is the connection string, and you are doing "DB first" you can tell easily enough (in most cases) by comparing what you get when you "update from database" in the edmx designer with what you have in your web.config or app.config. – MemeDeveloper Aug 07 '11 at 20:54
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Awesome guide. For me, I'd copied another connection string which used res://*/Database.MyModel2..., when I REALLY wanted res://*/MyModel1... (Database is a folder inside my Integration Tests project) – emragins May 25 '13 at 00:25
How to know the Assemblie file ? – Chlebta Apr 22 '14 at 22:52
Check for entityframework dlls are referenced and copy&paste the connection string from the library as is. – user836107 Jun 24 '14 at 14:27
after following this steps, i got this error _"The entity type Department is not part of the model for the current context."_ – Baby Aug 18 '14 at 08:41
I moved the EDMX file to a sub-folder, but am unsure how to fix it. I've ran `Run Custom Tool` on the TT file, but it hasn't resolved it. – PeterX Jan 05 '15 at 01:21
In my case it was a db table column of type geography, which is not supported – Legends Apr 05 '15 at 22:21
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Going off of what Shimmy said, I changed MetadataArtifactProcessing from embed (which was correct) to copy (which is wrong), rebuilt the project, cleaned the bin folder manually, changed it back to embed, rebuilt, and it worked. As a side note, get to the MetadataArtifactProcessing by right clicking in an open area of the edmx designer and selecting "Properties" from the context menu. – Nathan Jan 21 '16 at 15:49
After I have refactored database name and replaced it in code at all places have got mentioned exception. Was able to easily update model from database at database tier related project, however after deployment exception always was thrown as there was used different config file. Have used connection string from from project with model at project for deployment and issue was fixed. – Volodymyr Mar 02 '16 at 18:42
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While creating the ADO data model, I didn't accept the default naming values and modified some. This caused the connection string to have strange values. I repeated the same process, accepting all default values this time. Works perfect. Thanks – Dr. MAF Mar 09 '17 at 12:33
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Your blog helped me understand the problem. Specifically its not that the edmx is not found, its that the embedded Metadata resources generated from the edmx are not found. At complile time Visual Studio uses a MsBuild task to compile the metadata as 3 embedded resources in the output assembly (which you can see in ILSpy). If the assembly can be found AND it contains the resources then all is well and good - but what about if you're using NANT as the compiler?... well its fixable... https://akutz.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/nant-and-processing-edmx-files/ – James S Nov 29 '17 at 16:47
Fixed by updating the EDMX (edmx > right-click > update model from database) – ElliotSchmelliot Jul 06 '18 at 17:23
In our case, it was resolved by performing a "Clean Solution" and a rebuild all. – Keith Jul 10 '18 at 14:35

score 388 · Answer 2 · edited May 12 '22 at 16:02

388

A minor amendment helped me with this problem.

I had a solution with 3 project references:

connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model.Project.csdl|res://*/Model.Project.ssdl|res://*/Model.Project.msl;

which I changed to:

connectionString="metadata=res://*/;

edited May 12 '22 at 16:02

SharpC

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answered Jul 16 '09 at 12:12

MicTech

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It fixed it for me, but what the heck does it mean? – Lance Fisher Aug 05 '10 at 02:34
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@Lance: I explain this in detail in [this blog post](http://blogs.teamb.com/craigstuntz/2010/08/13/38628/) – Craig Stuntz Aug 13 '10 at 18:08
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@jocull: No, it won't work in many cases, and will be slow in others. Read my blog post to understand why. – Craig Stuntz Apr 06 '12 at 18:17
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Moved my .edmx to Model folder and forgot to update the connection string. Great pointer. Thanks. Would have taken me hours to figure out. – muruge Jun 20 '12 at 05:35
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I've done it, and id solved one problem but gives me another `All artifacts loaded into an ItemCollection must have the same version. Multiple versions were encountered.` - at last for Npgsql. Only full path solved both. – Michał Powaga Aug 25 '13 at 07:19
@MichałPowaga because this solution makes no sense when you have same named class under different namespace. it just ignores the namespace – Emil Jun 21 '17 at 16:33
this trick fixed my problem, I didn't remember that I've had this problem before unitl I read this solution, now I'm sure I won't forget it again – pepitomb Jun 28 '17 at 20:31
'No connection string named 'xyz' could be found in the application config file.' – Shad Jan 11 '18 at 13:28
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@CraigStuntz, the link to your blog is broken – Michael Freidgeim Jan 22 '19 at 01:03
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@MichaelFreidgeim I can't edit the comment, but [here's a newer link](https://www.craigstuntz.com/posts/2010-08-13-troubleshooting-entity-framework-connection-strings.html). – Craig Stuntz Jan 22 '19 at 18:30
Get this error: *Argument 'xmlReader' is not valid. A minimum of one .ssdl artifact must be supplied.* – Alireza Jul 14 '20 at 06:17

score 117 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 19 '10 at 05:41

You can get this exception when the Edmx is in one project and you are using it from another.

The reason is Res://*/ is a uri which points to resources in the CURRENT assembly. If the Edm is defined in a different assembly from the code which is using it, res://*/ is not going to work because the resource cannot be found.

Instead of specifying ‘*’, you need to provide the full name of the assembly instead (including public key token). Eg:

res://YourDataAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=abcdefabcedf/YourEdmxFileName.csdl|res://...

A better way to construct connection strings is with EntityConnectionStringBuilder:

public static string GetSqlCeConnectionString(string fileName)
{
    var csBuilder = new EntityConnectionStringBuilder();

    csBuilder.Provider = "System.Data.SqlServerCe.3.5";
    csBuilder.ProviderConnectionString = string.Format("Data Source={0};", fileName);

    csBuilder.Metadata = string.Format("res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.csdl|res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.ssdl|res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.msl", 
        typeof(YourObjectContextType).Assembly.FullName);

    return csBuilder.ToString();
}

public static string GetSqlConnectionString(string serverName, string databaseName)
{
    SqlConnectionStringBuilder providerCs = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();

    providerCs.DataSource = serverName;
    providerCs.InitialCatalog = databaseName;
    providerCs.IntegratedSecurity = true;

    var csBuilder = new EntityConnectionStringBuilder();

    csBuilder.Provider = "System.Data.SqlClient";
    csBuilder.ProviderConnectionString = providerCs.ToString();

    csBuilder.Metadata = string.Format("res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.csdl|res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.ssdl|res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.msl",
        typeof(YourObjectContextType).Assembly.FullName);

    return csBuilder.ToString();
}

If you still encounter the exception, open the assembly in reflector and check the filenames for your .csdl, .ssdl and .msl files. When the resources have different names to the ones specified in the metadata value, it’s not going to work.

Please consider that "YourEdmxFileName" must be the qualified name e.g. "YourNamespace.YourEdmxFileName", if you use namespaces in your assembly. However, you must remove the part of the namespace that equals to the name of your assembly. — Marcel, Jun 24 '10 at 09:32
[MSDN says the second paragraph is wrong.](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc716756.aspx) "When you use wildcard (*), the Entity Framework has to look through all the assemblies for resources with the correct name." — Craig Stuntz, Aug 12 '10 at 21:20
I'm pretty sure that the namespace is not relevant, but the embedded file path is. So even if you inspect the *.Designer.cs file of the associated edmx file and notice that the auto-generated class namespace is MyCompany...whatever, it's not what you should use. Instead the path is assemblyname, solution folder(s) names/file name. For example: "metadata=res://*/EntityModels..csdl|" + "res://*/EntityModels..ssdl|" + "res://*/EntityModels..msl;" — Daniel, Mar 29 '11 at 18:57
@Daniel, that's mostly correct, but note that the namespace and the embedded file path are sometimes the same. You have to look with Reflector (or free alternative to that) to be sure. — Craig Stuntz, Mar 30 '11 at 15:43
it looks like it works using only the assembly name, without version, publickeytoken, etc. Like: `res://MyAssembly/folder..csdl...` — Ivan Ferrer Villa, Dec 09 '15 at 11:08
Confirming that @Craig Stuntz is correct. The wildcard works even when the EDMX is referenced in another assembly. — Sentinel, Sep 11 '16 at 10:51

score 72 · Answer 4 · edited May 26 '16 at 17:22

72

I had a similar error. I had recreated the project (long story), and pulled everything over from the old project. I hadn't realized that my model had been in a directory called 'Model' before, and was now in a directory called 'Models'. Once I changed the connection in my Web.Config from this:

<add name="RecipeManagerEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model.Recipe.csdl

to this:

<add name="RecipeManagerEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Models.Recipe.csdl

Everything worked (changed Model to Models). Note that I had to change this three places in this string.

edited May 26 '16 at 17:22

qakmak

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answered Dec 04 '09 at 05:55

Rick Arthur

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I moved my Entity Framework model from Model to DAL. But then when I wrote a test (a week later) in the test project to test the Linq predicatebuilder. I got this error. I corrected the test projects App.config with how it looked in the main project's web.config - as you said in three places. So your simple answere got me on track. – Patrik Lindström Jan 15 '12 at 15:28
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Is there a difference between the two?! – user2609980 Dec 02 '13 at 14:05
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@ErwinRooijakkers Model vs ModelS – Marc Aug 06 '15 at 14:54
Figured out I'd done the same from after reading Craig's blog, but +1 for learning it's important to remember that changes made in your "entities" class library are not automagically made in the config files of projects that reference it. /sigh Glad I'm not alone. – ruffin Mar 01 '16 at 20:47

score 30 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 13 '13 at 16:57

30

And a quick way to check the model name without Reflector.... look for the directory

...obj/{config output}/edmxResourcesToEmbed

and check that the .csdl, .msl, and .ssdl resource files are there. If they are in a sub-directory, the name of the sub-directory must be prepended to the model name.

For example, my three resource files are in a sub-directory Data, so my connection string had to be

metadata=res://*/Data.MyModel.csdl|res://*/Data.MyModel.ssdl|res://*/Data.MyModel.msl;

(versus metadata=res://*/MyModel.csdl|res://*/MyModel.ssdl|res://*/MyModel.msl;).

answered Nov 13 '13 at 16:57

leqid

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This was EXACTLY my problem. Lost several hours on this. Thank you so much for this easy explanation – Fernando Carvalhosa Sep 29 '15 at 18:51
Great answer, actually explains how to find what your string is. And shows that subfolders have '.' as delimiters and not '\' or '/'. – cjb110 Feb 12 '18 at 08:06

score 18 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 25 '18 at 01:48

This happens to me when I do not clean solution before build new .edmx designer. So just don’t forget to clean solution before you build new .edmx designer. This helps me to skip lot more issues with this one. Bellow the navigation details provided incase you are new in visual studio.

Click->Build->Clean Solution

Then Click->Build->Rebuild Solution

Hope this helps. Thanks everyone

score 17 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 27 '12 at 09:02

I also had this problem and it was because the connectionstring in my web.config was slightly different than the one in the app.config of the assembly where my EDMX is located. No idea why it changed, but here are the two different versions.

App.config:

<add name="SCMSEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model.SMCSModel.csdl|res://*/Model.SMCSModel.ssdl|res://*/Model.SMCSModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=SANDIEGO\sql2008;initial catalog=SCMS;integrated security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

Web.config:

<add name="SCMSEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model.SCMSModel.csdl|res://*/Model.SCMSModel.ssdl|res://*/Model.SCMSModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=SANDIEGO\sql2008;initial catalog=SCMS;integrated security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

What fixed it was simply copying the app.config string (notice the small difference at the end - instead of "App=EntityFramework" it wanted "application name=EntityFramework") into the web.config and problem was solved. :)

Thanks, this was indeed my problem. I had 1 project that access DB with EF and another project WCF. After changing the name of the first project, the connectionString has been changed in the App.config of my first project. So i had to change the connectionString in the project WCF aswell in the web.config :) — Volkan, Jan 29 '18 at 11:00
From MSDN documentation about https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/data/adonet/connection-strings: `The .NET Framework data provider for SQL Server (SqlClient) supports many keywords from older APIs, but is generally more flexible and accepts synonyms for many of the common connection string keywords.` Entity Framework connection strings do not share that flexibility, so you must use only the keywords it expects. — Suncat2000, Dec 07 '18 at 12:46

score 16 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 17 '09 at 10:11

16

This happened to me when I accidentally switched the Build Action of the edmx file (appears under Properties in the IDE) from 'EntityDeploy' to 'None'. EntityDeploy is what populates the metadata for you: see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc982037.aspx

answered Dec 17 '09 at 10:11

hgcummings

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This was my fix - I renamed my edmx to .old as I copied it and was trying a few things out, afterwards when I renamed it back the Build Action set it self to none and thus got this error, setting it back to EntityDeploy resolved my issue :) – eth0 Mar 21 '11 at 22:26
I had moved my EDMX file to another folder and had to change the build action to get the embedded resource names to be updated as well. Thanks! – David Aug 07 '12 at 17:40
This was the solution for me; I'd lost that setting in the process of upgrading to .NET Standard. Thank you for saving my sanity! – NetherGranite Dec 09 '19 at 19:57
This was my fix too. Had to set the same property settings of the edmx file than the older project : EntityDeploy / Do not copy / EntityModelCodeGenerator – Flou Oct 28 '21 at 10:27

score 10 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 24 '18 at 16:39

10

If you are using the edmx from a different project, then in the connection string, change...

metadata=res://*/Data.DataModel.csdl

...to...

metadata=res://*/DataModel.csdl

answered Jan 24 '18 at 16:39

Graham Laight

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This is true, If you want to move it to your new project sub folder, you need to add the `folder.subfolder` before it. – qakmak May 10 '19 at 22:22
Thanks, this solution worked for me. I had moved my .edmx file from a dir in one project, to the root of another project, and needed to remove the dir name from all connection strings across my solution. – Chris Oct 22 '19 at 12:03

MOH3N · Answer 10 · 2019-04-04T07:33:38.660

9

Sometimes i see this error in my project. I solve that by

1 - Right click on EDMX file

2 - Select Run Custom Tool option

3 - Rebuild project

edited Apr 04 '19 at 07:33

answered Aug 06 '18 at 05:06

MOH3N

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This worked for me but I also had to rebuild afterwards – rdans Mar 20 '19 at 13:52

score 8 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 12 '10 at 16:37

I've just spent a happy 30 minutes with this. I'd renamed the entities object, renamed the entry in the config file, but there's more ... you have to change the reference to the csdl as well

very easy to miss - if you're renaming, make sure you get everything ....

score 7 · Answer 12 · edited Jun 02 '23 at 21:04

I spent a whole day on this error.

If you are working with n-tier architecture, or you tried to separate Models generated by EDMX form DataAccessLayer to DomainModelLayer, then you will get this error.

The first troubleshooting step is to make sure the Connection strings in webconfig (UILayer) and appconfig (DataAccessLayer) are the same

The second, which is very important, is the connection string .

connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model.csdl|res://*/Model.ssdl|res://*/Model.msl;provid.....

The first part of the connection string is the problem. To see the place where the file names for the .csdl, .ssl, and .msl files come from, look in the solution folder as shown in the picture:

I hope this helps you!

score 6 · Answer 13 · edited Apr 09 '15 at 14:50

6

I had the same problem. I looked into my complied dll with reflector and have seen that the name of the resource was not right. I renamed and it looks fine now.

edited Apr 09 '15 at 14:50

PiotrWolkowski

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answered Oct 12 '09 at 09:42

Pitming

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score 6 · Answer 14 · edited Jul 29 '15 at 09:55

6

For my case, it is solved by changing the properties of edmx file.

Open the edmx file
Right click on any place of the EDMX designer
choose properties
update Property called "Metadata Artifact Processing" to "Embed in Output Assembly"

this solved the problem for me. The problem is, when the container try to find the meta data, it cant find it. so simply make it in the same assembly. this solution will not work if you have your edmx files in another assembly

edited Jul 29 '15 at 09:55

ben

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answered Oct 02 '10 at 09:09

user464507

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+1,000,000 this was the underlying issue for me today. Pains of reorganizing a products namespaces and consolidating assemblies. – Mike Sep 20 '13 at 14:24

score 5 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 29 '15 at 10:27

After hours of googling and trying to solve none of the solutions suggested worked. I have listed several solution here. I have also noted the one that worked for me. (I was using EF version 6.1.1, and SQL server 2014 - but an older DB)

Rebuilding the project and try again.
Close and open VS - I don't know how this works
make sure if you have placed the .EDMX file inside a Directory, make sure you include the Directories in your ConnectionString. for example mine is inside DAL folder. SO it looks like this: connectionString="metadata=res://*/DAL.nameModel.csdl|res://*/DAL.nameModel.ssdl|res://*/DAL.nameModel.msl;(these are files. to see them you can toggle Show All Files in solution explorer, under ~/obj/.. directory)

...and many more which I had tried [like: reverting the EntityFramework version to a later version(not sure about it)]

what worked for me:

from this article here, it helped me solve my problem. I just changed my ProviderManifestToken="2012" to ProviderManifestToken="2008" in the EDMX file. To do this:

Solution Explorer

Right click over file .edmx
Open with..
Editor XML
Change ProviderManifestToken="XXXX" with 2008

I hope that helps.

I recently had this problem after making seemingly no changes. Tried restarting VS to no avail, but then it was fixed by cleaning and rebuilding. So, to others, if you made no changes and none of the rest of this seems relevant, then give a clean/rebuild a try. — Greg, Jul 14 '17 at 19:29

score 5 · Answer 16 · edited May 24 '11 at 09:24

5

I was able to resolve this in Visual Studio 2010, VB.net (ASP.NET) 4.0.

During the entity model wizard, you will be able to see the entity connection string. From there you can copy and paste into your connection string.

The only thing I was missing was the "App_Code." in the connections string.

entityBuilder.Metadata = "res://*/App_Code.Model.csdl|res://*/App_Code.Model.ssdl|res://*/App_Code.Model.msl"

edited May 24 '11 at 09:24

Adnan

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answered Aug 31 '10 at 19:31

Internet Engineer

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Unfortunately, the connecting string in wizard is not correct for app.config. @leqid suggested good way to fix path to the model. – Der_Meister Jul 04 '14 at 07:10

score 4 · Answer 17 · answered Sep 29 '14 at 16:23

My issue and solution, the symptoms were the same "Unable to load the specified metadata resource" but the root cause was different. I had 2 projects in solution one was the EntityModel and the other the solution. I actually deleted and recreated the EDMX file in the EntityModel.

The solution was that I had to go back to the Web Application project and add this line into the config file. The new model had changed a few items which had to be duplicated in the "other" project's Web.Config file. The old configuration was no longer good.

     <add name="MyEntities"
     connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model1.csdl|res://*/Model1.ssdl|res://*/Model1.msl;
                    provider=System.Data.SqlClient;
                    provider connection string=&quot;
                    data source=Q\DEV15;initial catalog=whatever;
                    user id=myuserid;password=mypassword;
                    multipleactiveresultsets=True;
                    application name=EntityFramework&quot;"
     providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

Janmon · Answer 18 · 2010-06-23T07:57:34.010

In my case, this issue was related to renaming my model's edmx file... correcting the app.config connection string for the csdl/ssdl/msl files fixed my issue.

If you're using the EF 4.0 designer to generate your csdl/ssdl/msl, these 3 "files" will actually be stored within the model's main edmx file. In this case, the post by Waqas is pretty much on the mark. It's important to understand that "Model_Name" in his example will need to be changed to whatever the current name of your model's .edmx file (without the .edmx).

Also, if your edmx file is not at the root level of your project, you need to preface Model_Name with the relative path, e.g.

res://*/MyModel.WidgetModel.csdl|res://*/MyModel.WidgetModel.ssdl|res://*/MyModel.WidgetModel.msl

would specify the csdl/ssdl/msl xml is stored in the model file 'WidgetModel.edmx' which is stored in a folder named 'MyModel'.

J. Steen · Answer 19 · 2013-01-16T07:40:06.583

The ultimate solution (even after recreating the database on two other machines, as well as the EDMX and other sundries) was to not use the first edition of Entity Framework. Looking forward to evaluating it again in .NET 4.0.

After running into the same problem again and searching all over for an answer, I finally found someone who'd had the same problem. It appears that the connection string wasn't correctly generated by Visual Studio's wizard, and the link to the metadata resources was missing an important path.

v1.0 BUG?: Unable to load the specified metadata resource. Scripts != Models

Update 2013-01-16: Having transitioned to almost exclusively using EF Code First practices (even with existing databases) this problem is no longer an issue. For me, that was a viable solution to reducing the clutter from auto-generated code and configuration and increasing my own control over the product.

score 3 · Answer 20 · answered Oct 22 '13 at 13:17

3

With having same problem I re-created edmx from Database. Solves my problem.

answered Oct 22 '13 at 13:17

صفي

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Unfortunately that addresses and treats the symptom, not the cause. – Clarice Bouwer Jan 16 '14 at 06:03

score 3 · Answer 21 · answered Jul 06 '10 at 16:29

I have written this helper class to create instances of ObjectContext objects when they are defined in a different project than the project using it. I parse the connection string in the config file and replace '*' by the full assembly name.

It is not perfect because it uses reflection to build the object, but it is the most generic way of doing it that I could find.

Hope it helps someone.

public static class EntityHelper<T> where T : ObjectContext
{
    public static T CreateInstance()
    {
        // get the connection string from config file
        string connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[typeof(T).Name].ConnectionString;

        // parse the connection string
        var csBuilder = new EntityConnectionStringBuilder(connectionString);

        // replace * by the full name of the containing assembly
        csBuilder.Metadata = csBuilder.Metadata.Replace(
            "res://*/",
            string.Format("res://{0}/", typeof(T).Assembly.FullName));

        // return the object
        return Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(T), csBuilder.ToString()) as T;
    }
}

Robocide · Answer 22 · 2010-08-08T21:16:41.693

For all of you SelftrackingEntities Users , if you have followed the Microsoft Walk-through and separated the Object context class into the wcf service project (by linking to the context .tt) so this answer is for you :

part of the shown answers in this post that includes code like :

... = string.Format("res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.csdl|res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.ssdl|res://{0}/YourEdmxFileName.msl", 
        typeof(YourObjectContextType).Assembly.FullName);

WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU !! the reason is that YourObjectContextType.Assembly now resides in a different Assembley (inside the wcf project assembly) ,

So you should replace YourObjectContextType.Assembly.FullName with -->

ClassTypeThatResidesInEdmProject.Assembly.FullName

have fun.

score 3 · Answer 23 · answered Jul 12 '16 at 12:28

3

Exception is because compiler pointing to non existing Metadata so just Copy app.config connectionstring to Web.config ConnectionString

answered Jul 12 '16 at 12:28

Krishna shidnekoppa

1,011
13
20

score 2 · Answer 24 · answered Feb 12 '16 at 19:31

2

Just type path as follows instead of {Path.To.The.}: res:///{Path.To.The.}YourEdmxFileName.csdl|res:///{Path.To.The.}YourEdmxFileName.ssdl|res://*/{Path.To.The.}YourEdmxFileName.msl

answered Feb 12 '16 at 19:31

Pavel Nazarov

723
6
10

score 2 · Answer 25 · answered May 23 '11 at 12:29

2

I was having problems with this same error message. My issue was resolved by closing and re-opening Visual Studio 2010.

answered May 23 '11 at 12:29

Adam

21
1

score 2 · Answer 26 · answered Mar 29 '12 at 15:28

2

Had same issue because I renamed an assembly.

I had to also rename it in AssemblyTitle and AssemblyProduct attributes in project Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs, and also deleting and re adding the reference to the edmx file.

Then it worked just fine.

answered Mar 29 '12 at 15:28

Antoine Meltzheim

9,579
6
35
41

score 1 · Answer 27 · answered Nov 02 '12 at 02:59

As for me, I had separated Data Access Layer and User Interface layer. So I have entity connection string for each layer.

Before I modify these two separated connection strings to be the same, I still found that below error.

Unable to load the specified metadata resource

So I make to be the same connection strings for those two layers (DAL , UI), It work perfect.

My solution is to make all connection string to be the same no matter where they already presented.

score 1 · Answer 28 · answered Feb 07 '10 at 04:27

I also had the same problem and solution as per Rick, except that I was importing an existing .edmx to a new project, and while the base namespace didn't matter it was imported into a different subdirectory so I also had to update the connection string inside Web.Config in three places, to include the different subdirectory naming:

score 1 · Answer 29 · answered Mar 20 '14 at 08:21

I had this problem yesterday and was looking at my code in debug and the output from SQL Profiler.

What I couldn't understand, before I read and understood this post, was why EntityFramework was throwing this error as it was calling the DB. I was looking through hundreds of lines in SQL Profiler trying to work out what was wrong with the database model. I couldn't find anything like the call I was expecting, and to be honest I wasn't certain what I was looking for.

If you are in this position, check the connection string. My guess is that before EntityFramework creates its SQL it will check the model, specified in the metadata part of the connection string. In my case it was wrong. EntityFramework wasn't even making it as far as the DB.

Make sure the names are correct. Once I got that sorted out, I was then seeing calls in SQL Profiler where the ApplicationName was 'EntityFramework' with SQL calling the expected tables.

score 1 · Answer 30 · answered Apr 18 '14 at 08:27

A poor app.config or web.config file can do this.. I had copied the app.config connection string to my web.config in my UI and ended up entering:

<connectionStrings>
    <connectionStrings>
          <add name="name" connectionString="normalDetails"/>
    </connectionStrings>
</connectionStrings>

score 1 · Answer 31 · answered Jun 27 '14 at 06:18

1

I simply hadn't referenced my class library that contained the EDMX file.

answered Jun 27 '14 at 06:18

PeterX

2,713
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This really helped my particular circumstances, thanks @PeterX. – Moby's Stunt Double Mar 21 '16 at 23:34

score 1 · Answer 32 · answered Sep 15 '14 at 16:01

Using the info from this blogpost:

Like others have said, res:\\ is a pointer to your resources. To check and make sure your resource names are correct you can use a decompiler like DotPeek by JetBrains to open up your .dll file and see your Resources files.

Or you could open up the watch window while you're debugging and paste in this code to get an array of the resource names in the currently executing assembly.

System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceNames()

That being said, the format of your metadata paths should be something like:

{my-assembly-name}/{possibly-a-namespace}.{class-name}.{csdl or ssdl or msl}

score 1 · Answer 33 · edited May 24 '18 at 19:44

In my case none of the answers listed worked and so I'm posting this.

For my case, building on Visual studio and running it with IIS express worked fine. But when I was deploying using Nant scripts as a stand-alone website was giving errors. I tried all the suggestions above and then realized the DLL that was generated by the nant script was much smaller than the one generated by VS. And then I realized that Nant was unable to find the .csdl, .msl and .ssdl files. So then there are really two ways to solve this issue, one is to copy the needed files after visual studio generates them and include these files in the build deployment. And then in Web.config, specify path as:

"metadata=~/bin/MyDbContext.csdl|~/bin/MyDbContext.ssdl|~/bin/MyDbContext.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;...."

This is assuming you have manually copied the files into bin directory of the website which you are running. If it's in a different directory, then modify path accordingly. Second method is to execute EdmGen.exe in Nant script and generate the files and then include them as resources like done in the example below: https://github.com/qwer/budget/blob/master/nant.build

score 1 · Answer 34 · answered Jan 13 '12 at 18:26

I had the same problem with a solution which contained projects in a Solution Folder, when they were moved to the Solution Root (in order to overcome a suspected bug with the Mvc3AppConverter due to project locations).

Although the solution compiled after all* project references were re-added as needed, the error was thrown when the website was fired up.

The EDMX is in one of the projects which was moved (the 'Data' project), but of course the lack of a reference to the Data project didn't cause a compile error, just a run-time error.

Simply adding the missing reference to the primary project resolved this problem, no need to edit the connection at all.

I hope this helps someone else.

Jeff Dunlop · Answer 35 · 2013-10-01T21:22:43.700

When I got the metadata issue sorted out, I had a follow-on problem in the form of an invokation exception unable to find a connection string for XXXEntities in app.config (where my goal was no dependency on app.config). Through sheer luck I found that referencing System.Data in my unit test project cleared this final hurdle. So to summarise:

Use nuget to install Entity Framework to your unit test project.
Ensure System.Data.Entity and System.Data are referenced.
Sort your connection string as described very well here.
Pass the connection string to your partial class constructor.

I now have my metadata in a class library which can update from a reference db, and I can point my application and unit tests to any db on any server at runtime.

Addendum: When I moved my edmx to a folder, I got the error again. After a bit of research, I found that you want your metadata string to look like: metadata=res://EPM.DAL/Models.EPM.csdl, where EPM.DAL is the name of the assembly and EPM.edmx is in the models folder.

score 0 · Answer 36 · answered Feb 13 '14 at 13:06

0

Similar problem for me. My class name was different to my file name. The connectionstring generated had the class name and not the file name in. Solution for me was just to rename my file to match the class name.

answered Feb 13 '14 at 13:06

Rob Sedgwick

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score 0 · Answer 37 · answered Feb 16 '10 at 17:10

My theory is that if you have more than one edmx file with same name (Model1 for example), it will give that exception. I've got same problem when I decided to name all my edmx files (sitting in different projects) as Model1 because I thought they should be independent.

score 0 · Answer 38 · answered Feb 09 '16 at 15:05

0

I got this error when my emdx file was deleted by a prebuild command, quite simply. Took me a while before realizing it was that simple.

answered Feb 09 '16 at 15:05

f.cipriani

3,357
2
26
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score 0 · Answer 39 · answered Sep 29 '10 at 14:30

0

Another cause for this exception is when you include a related table in an ObjectQuery, but type in the wrong navigation property name.

Example:

var query = (from x in myDbObjectContext.Table1.Include("FKTableSpelledWrong") select x);

answered Sep 29 '10 at 14:30

soslo

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2
8

score 0 · Answer 40 · answered Mar 07 '17 at 17:43

0

In my case this was because I was building the connection string using a EntityConnectionStringBuilder. Make sure your Metadata property is using the Model name (including the namespace)

answered Mar 07 '17 at 17:43

Christopher Townsend

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1
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score 0 · Answer 41 · answered Oct 05 '17 at 08:19

I got this problem after moving a large solution from one folder in Source Control Explorer to another. We don't check the package folder into Team Foundation and so I think VS downloaded packages automatically. This upgraded my EF form v6.1.2 to v6.1.3.

The problem went away when I downgraded to the original v6.1.2.

score 0 · Answer 42 · answered Sep 27 '19 at 04:39

I had same issue on 27 Sep 2019.

My API is in Dot net core Targeting to .net framework. edmx is in a different class library which is in .net framework only.

I observed that when I try to call that edmx from API .. for some reason I got that error.

What I did is, go to the obj folder of API and delete everything. then clean the API project and try again and that worked for me.

score 0 · Answer 43 · edited Aug 10 '11 at 18:49

Sometimes the assembly that contains the model is not loaded:

    [TestMethod]
    public void TestOpenWithConfigurationAfterExplicit()
    {
        String dummy = typeof(MallApp).Assembly.FullName;  
        //force the assembly loaded.
        using (DbContext ctx = new DbContext("name=MyContainer))
        {
        }
    }

The type MallApp lives in the same assembly as the entity model. Without the explicit loading, an System.Data.MetadataException will be thrown.

score 0 · Answer 44 · answered Apr 11 '22 at 16:18

I was reflecting an old program, I faced the same problem. I went through previous answers, and I succeeded to solve it by putting the 3 files of "Model.csdl", "Model.ssdl" and "Model.msl" in the bin directory, and also beside the entities class. After that change the metdata part of the entities connection string in web.config to be:

metadata=~/bin/Model.csdl|~/bin/Model.ssdl|~/bin/Model.msl

and the program ran successfully withput displaying this exception.

score 0 · Answer 45 · answered Oct 12 '22 at 00:19

0

Also in my case syntax error in the XML structure of the EDMX was the reason. I recognized that after VS was not able to show the graph diagram and opened the XML editor instead.

An earlier merge was the root cause of the syntax error.

answered Oct 12 '22 at 00:19

Spongebob Comrade

1,495
2
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score 0 · Answer 46 · answered Dec 14 '22 at 15:53

I also received this error upon upgrading my project to .NET 6, and none of the previous solutions solved my issue.

You may want to check if your .edmx file has the following two properties set as follows:

Build Action: EntityDeploy
Copy to Output Directory: Copy Always

Ultimately my issue was that the files referenced in my .edmx file were not being generated.

score -1 · Answer 47 · answered Apr 18 '22 at 12:07

-1

i deleted the \bin and \obj folders from all of the projects in the solution, then rebuilt the soluition and it worked fine

answered Apr 18 '22 at 12:07

thehill

93
11

Did you go through *all* 44 (!) answers before adding your answer? – Gert Arnold Apr 18 '22 at 14:12

MetadataException: Unable to load the specified metadata resource

47 Answers47

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