Why do my projects connect to different data sources?

Question

I have 2 solutions, using EF 6.0 and both use the exact same default configuration. Still, they connect to 2 different data sources!? (localdb)\mssqllocaldb and .\SQLEXPRESS.

My configuration:

  <entityFramework>
    <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.LocalDbConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">
      <parameters>
        <parameter value="mssqllocaldb" />
      </parameters>
    </defaultConnectionFactory>
    <providers>
      <provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />
    </providers>
  </entityFramework>

The DbContext is also similar for both:

public class PlusUltraContext : DbContext
{
    public PlusUltraContext() : base("PlusUltra")
    {

    }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();

        base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
    }

    public DbSet<Models.Article> Articles { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Models.ArticleComment> Comments { get; set; }
}

vs

public class InvoicingContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Address> Addresses { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Company> Companies { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Country> Countries { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Currency> Currencies { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Invoice> Invoices { get; set; }
    public DbSet<InvoiceLine> InvoiceLines { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Person> Persons { get; set; }
    public DbSet<Unit> Units { get; set; }

    public InvoicingContext() : base("Invoicing")
    {

    }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
        base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
    }
}

However, when I run the Update-Database command, the first project connects to .\SQLEXPRESS, while the other connects to (localdb)\mssqllocaldb

Target database is: 'PlusUltra' (DataSource: (localdb)\mssqllocaldb, Provider: System.Data.SqlClient, Origin: Convention).

vs

Target database is: 'Invoicing' (DataSource: .\SQLEXPRESS, Provider: System.Data.SqlClient, Origin: Convention).

My Question

What are some things I can check to see why they behave differently?

Peter Peter · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-24T12:39:31

I found the answer, thanks to this post:

EF6 can't find LocalDBConnectionFactory

In the solution where .\SQLEXPRESS was used, the startup project was another class library, which DIDN'T contain the EF configuration files. As soon as I set my startup project to the one containing the configuration files, everything worked as expected, and mssqllocaldb was used.

Why do my projects connect to different data sources?

3 Answers