The connection string 'MyConnection' in the application's configuration file does not contain the required providerName attribute."

Question

I use Entity Framework Code First,

My connection string is in a configuration file:

<connectionStrings>
    <clear/>
    <add name="ApplicationServices" connectionString="Data Source=PC-X;Initial Catalog=MYdb;Integrated Security=True"/>
  </connectionStrings>

When I try to access the data (something that should create the DB) is falling with the following error:

The connection string 'ApplicationServices' in the application's configuration file does not contain the required providerName attribute."

What am I missing?

Solution 1

You're missing the following piece of code after the connectionString attribute (assuming that you're using SQL):

providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"

Solution 2

Sometime in the future. the complete code

<add name="YouContext" connectionString="Integrated Security=True;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=YourDatabaseName;Data Source=YourPCName;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>

Solution 3

Go down in your web.config until you reach the providers tag. For instance, here's my providers statement:

<providers><provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" ... /></providers>

you should add this System.Data.SqlClient as a provider name in your connection string so your connection string should look like this:

  <connectionStrings>
 <add name="ApplicationServices" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Data Source=PC-X;Initial Catalog=MYdb;Integrated Security=True"/>
  </connectionStrings>

Comments

[Dr1Ku]

If using Entity Framework: providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"

[Sean B]

I was trying to add this to the connection string. Rather it is a new attribute to the <add /> element. A sibling attribute to the connectionString attribute.

[Zia Ul Rehman Mughal]

@IronMan84 i got type cast error after using SqlClient and EntityClient worked

[apoteet]

+1 for mentioning this is in the web.config, as someone using a product with dozens of different config files