{"id":122,"date":"2018-03-26T00:56:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kindsonthegenius.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/26\/restful-web-services-tutorial-6-how-to-create-an-entity-framework-class-diagram-in-visual-studio\/"},"modified":"2020-11-05T14:14:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T13:14:29","slug":"restful-web-services-tutorial-6-how-to-create-an-entity-framework-class-diagram-in-visual-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kindsonthegenius.com\/blog\/restful-web-services-tutorial-6-how-to-create-an-entity-framework-class-diagram-in-visual-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"RESTful Web Services Tutorial 6 – How to Create an Entity Framework Class Diagram in Visual Studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to generate your class diagram in Visual Studio. This is very interesting because I normally use Microsoft Visio or some other designer to manually draw class diagrams in the past. And the more interesting thing is that this diagram is in sync with your database design.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To generate the class diagram in Visual Studio, follow the steps below:<\/p>\n

Step 1<\/b>: Open Visual Studio
\nStep 2:<\/b> Open the Solution we created in the previous tutorial. You can create a new Solution if you did not follow the previous tutorial.
\nStep 3:<\/b> In the Solution Explorer, right-click on your project and select Add > New Item to open the New Item dialog.<\/p>\n

Under Visual C#, select Data as shown in Figure 1<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 1<\/b>: New EF Data Model<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Step 4:<\/b> In the list of items, select ADO.NET Entity Data Model
\nStep 5<\/b>: Give it a name like EmployeeDataModel.
\nStep 6: <\/b>Click Add to display the Entity Data Model wizard as shown in Figure 2<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0Figure 2:<\/b> Entity Data Model Wizard<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Step 7: <\/b>Make sure that ‘EF Designer from database<\/span>‘ is selected
\nStep 8: <\/b>Click on Next. The next Wizard Step is displayed as shown in Figure 3<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 3:<\/b> Choosing Database Connection<\/div>\n

<\/ins>
\nDefine Database Connection Parameters<\/b>
\nNow we need to connect to the database we created by specifying the name of the server, the instance and the name of the database.<\/p>\n

Step 9: <\/b>Click on New Connection<\/span> to display the Connection Properties dialog<\/p>\n

In the Connection Properties dialog box that appears, enter the Connection Properties as shown in Figure 4
\nStep 10: <\/b>Enter the Server Name
\nStep 11: <\/b>Select the name of the database you created under Select or enter database name <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 4: <\/b>Database Connection Parameter<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

You could also Click on Test Connection to ensure that the connection succeeds.<\/p>\n

Step 12: <\/b>Click on Ok to get back to the Data Model Wizard. A dialog box appears prompting you to select an Entity Framework.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 5:<\/b> Connnection Settings (ConnectionString)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 6:<\/b> Choose Entity Framework Version<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Step 13: <\/b>Select Entity Framework 6.0. Other versions would also work<\/p>\n

Step 14: <\/b>Click on Next<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 7: <\/b>Choose Database object(Tables)<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Step 15: <\/b>Select the checkbox for Tables (We discuss Views and Stored Procedures in subsequent lessons)
\nStep 16: <\/b>Click Finish to complete the task<\/p>\n

After a few seconds, the Class diagram is generated as you can see in Figure 8. Isn’t this amazing!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Figure 8: <\/b>Completed Class Diagram<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Notes About This Class Diagram<\/b>
\nNotice that there is a fifth object in the diagram with a name of sysdiagram. Delete it.
\nYou can also see that this diagram resembles the relationship diagram we created in Tutorial 5<\/a>, with the relationships labelled.<\/p>\n

Each of the classes is has two sections<\/p>\n