How do I update a Linq to SQL dbml file

Question

How do I update a Linq to SQL  dbml file

User · Answer

There is a nuance to updating tables then updating the DBML... Foreign key relationships are not immediately always brought over if changes are made to existing tables. The work around is to do a build of the project and then re-add the tables again. I reported this to MS and its being fixed for VS2010.

DBML display does not show new foreign key constraints

Note that the instructions given in the main answer are not clear. To update the table

Open up the dbml design surface
Select all tables with Right->Click->Select All or CTRLa
CTRLx (Cut)
CTRLv (Paste)
Save and rebuild solution.

User · Answer

Here is the complete step-by-step method that worked for me in order to update the LINQ to SQL dbml and associated files to include a new column that I added to one of the database tables  You need to make the changes to your design surface as suggested by other above  however  you need to do some extra steps  These are the complete steps   Drag your updated table from Server Explorer onto the design surface  Copy the new column from this  quot new quot  table to the  quot old quot  table  see M463 answer for details on this step   Delete the  quot new quot  table that you just dragged over  Click and highlight the stored procedure  then delete it  Drag the new stored procedure and drop into place   Delete the  designer vb file in the code-behind of the  dbml  if you do not delete this  your code-behind containing the schema will not update even if you rebuild and the new table field will not be included   Clean and Rebuild the solution  this will rebuild the  designer vb file to include all the new changes

User · Answer

In the case of stored procedure update  you should delete it from the  dbml file and reinsert it again  But if the stored procedure have two paths  ex  if something  display some columns  else display some other columns   make sure the two paths have the same columns aliases    Otherwise only the first path columns will exist

User · Answer

You could also check out the PLINQO set of code generation templates  based on CodeSmith  which allow you to do a lot of neat things for and with Linq-to-SQL    generate one file per class  instead of a single  huge file  update your model as needed many more features   Check out the PLINQO site at  http   www plinqo com   and have a look at the intro videos   The second tool I know of are the Huagati DBML EDMX tools  which allow update of DBML  Linq-to-SQL  and EDMX  Entity Framework  mapping files  and more  like naming conventions etc     Marc

User · Answer

I would recommend using the visual designer built into VS2008  as updating the dbml also updates the code that is generated for you  Modifying the dbml outside of the visual designer would result in the underlying code being out of sync

User · Answer

There are three ways to keep the model in sync    Delete the modified tables from the designer  and drag them back onto the designer surface from the Database Explorer   I have found that  for this to work reliably  you have to   a   Refresh the database schema in the Database Explorer  right-click  refresh  b   Save the designer after deleting the tables c   Save again after dragging the tables back   Note though that if you have modified any properties  for instance  turning off the child property of an association   this will obviously lose those modifications nbsp  mdash  you ll have to make them again  Use SQLMetal to regenerate the schema from your database   I have seen a number of blog posts that show how to script this    Make changes directly in the Properties pane of the DBML   This works for simple changes  like allowing nulls on a field    The DBML designer is not installed by default in Visual Studio 2015  2017 or 2019  You will have to close VS  start the VS installer and modify your installation  The LINQ to SQL tools is the feature you must install  For VS 2017 2019  you can find it under Individual Components   Code Tools

User · Answer

We use a custom written T4 template that dynamically queries the information schema model for each table in all of our  DBML files  and then overwrites parts of the  DBML file with fresh schema info from the database   I highly recommend implementing a solution like this - it has saved me oodles of time  and unlike deleting and re-adding your tables to your model you get to keep your associations   With this solution  you ll get compile-time errors when your schema changes   You want to make sure that you re using a version control system though  because diffing is really handy   This is a great solution that works well if you re developing with a DB schema first approach   Of course  I can t share my company s code so you re on your own for writing this yourself   But if you know some Linq-to-XML and can go to school on this project  you can get to where you want to be

User · Answer

To update a table in your  dbml-diagram with  for example  added columns  do this    Update your SQL Server Explorer window  Drag the  new  version of your table into the  dbml-diagram  report1 in the picture below        Mark the added columns in the new version of the table  press Ctrl C to copy the added columns       Click the  old  version of your table and press Ctrl V to paste the added columns into the already present version of the table

[linq-to-sql] How do I update a Linq to SQL dbml file?

Examples related to linq-to-sql