Changing connection setting when deploying

[Noam Berda]

Hi,
This is a basic question but i couldn't find the answer on the forum or the help site.

I have a ORM model that i am developing on SQL Server 2008 R2 and the connection string is in the Web.Config. No problem with that.
Then i have a Web.Deploy.Config that i am using when i am deploying my site to Azure. the deploy config alter the web.config and change the connection string for the azure. no problem with that as well.

the problem is that i need to set somewhere (BackendConfiguration Backend=Azure) i assume that it need to be in the Web.Config and then i could change it via the deploy configuration. Were and how do i set the backend type on the web.config? Noam


 

[Noam Berda]

Hi, Can someone help me on that please. How do I set up backend configuration in web.config when I am using a connection string? Noam

[Jan Blessenohl]

Hello Noam Berda,
At the moment you have to add the logic. The easiest way is to use the app settings part in your web.config Just add a:

<appSettings>
   <add key="OpenAccessBackend" value ="mssql"/>
   <!--add key="OpenAccessBackend" value ="azure"/-->
 </appSettings>

to your web.config. Now you can use this setting in the static ctor of your generated context class. Please add a partial class and add code like this:

using System.Configuration;

namespace ConsoleApplication19
{
    public partial class EntitiesModel
    {
        static EntitiesModel()
        {
            string backendString = "azure"; //fallback
            try
            {
                string value = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings ["OpenAccessBackend"];
                if (value != null)
                {
                    backendString = value;
                }
            }
            catch
            {
                //todo: error reporting
            }
            backend.Backend = backendString;
        }
    }
}

Kind regards,
Jan Blessenohl
the Telerik team

[Noam Berda]

Ok thanks, I will give it a try. I was expecting something like that. Noam

[Gary]

Is this still the recommended approach?  It seems like I have to modify the generated code to make the property backend protected instead of private to get this to work.

Thanks,
Gary

[Jan Blessenohl]

Hello Noam,
If you use Azure this is still the only way to do it, but you do not have to change the generated code.

Please add a partial class to your generated context and override the OnDatabaseOpen method. Before calling the base class method you can now modify the passed in backend configuration object and set the right backend.

Kind regards,
Jan Blessenohl
the Telerik team

[Gary]

Thanks Jan, that works.

Gary

  For those interested, this is what I have now:

       

protected string BackendString
{
    get
    {
        string backendString = "azure";
        try
        {
            string value = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["OpenAccessBackend"];
            if (value != null)
                backendString = value;
        }
        catch { }
        return backendString;
    }
}

protected override void OnDatabaseOpen(BackendConfiguration backendConfiguration, Telerik.OpenAccess.Metadata.MetadataContainer metadataContainer)
{
    base.OnDatabaseOpen(backendConfiguration, metadataContainer);
    backendConfiguration.Backend = BackendString;
}

[Jan Blessenohl]

Hi Noam,

We have a new way to integrate settings from the app or web.config. You can now easily specify all backend configuration settings in the app.config file and use them by merging with the coded settings by calling

BackendConfiguration.MergeBackendConfigurationFromConfigFile

For more information, please have a look here.

Sorry that I did not remember our new features.

Regards,
Jan Blessenohl
the Telerik team