Installing and Configuring the .NET Connector

This chapter describes how to install and configure the Advanced Server .NET Connector.

Installing the .NET Connector

You can use the EnterpriseDB .NET Connector Installer (available from the EnterpriseDB website) to add the .NET Connector to your system. After downloading the installer, right-click on the installer icon, and select Run As Administrator from the context menu. When prompted, select an installation language and click OK to continue to the Setup window.

The .NET Connector Installation wizard

The .NET Connector Installation wizard

Click Next to continue.

The Installation dialog

The Installation dialog

Use the Installation Directory dialog to specify the directory in which the connector will be installed, and click Next to continue.

The Ready to Install dialog

The Ready to Install dialog

Click Next on the Ready to Install dialog to start the installation; popup dialogs confirm the progress of the installation wizard.

The installation is complete

The installation is complete

When the wizard informs you that it has completed the setup, click the Finish button to exit the dialog.

You can also use StackBuilder Plus to add or update the connector on an existing Advanced Server installation; to open StackBuilder Plus, select StackBuilder Plus from the Windows Apps menu.

Starting StackBuilder Plus

Starting StackBuilder Plus

When StackBuilder Plus opens, follow the onscreen instructions. Select the EnterpriseDB.Net Connector option from the Database Drivers node of the tree control.

Selecting the Connectors installer

Selecting the Connectors installer

Follow the directions of the onscreen wizard to add or update an installation of the EnterpriseDB Connectors.

Configuring the .NET Connector

Please see the following environment-specific sections for information about configuring the .NET Connector:

  • Referencing the Library Files. General configuration information applicable to all components.

  • .NET Framework 4.0. Instructions for configuring for use with .NET Framework 4.0.

  • .NET Framework 4.5. Instructions for configuring for use with .NET Framework 4.5.

  • .NET Framework 4.5.1. Instructions for configuring for use with .NET Framework 4.5.1.

  • .NET Standard 2.0. Instructions for configuring for use with .NET Standard 2.0.

  • Entity Framework 5/6. Instructions for configuring for use with Entity Framework.

  • EnterpriseDB VSIX. Instructions for configuring for use with EnterpriseDB VSIX.

Referencing the Library Files

To reference library files with Microsoft Visual Studio:

  1. Select the project in the Solution Explorer.

  2. Select Add Reference from the Project menu.

  3. When the Add Reference dialog box opens, browse to select the appropriate library files.

Optionally, the library files can be copied to the specified location.

Before you can use an Advanced Server .NET class, you must import the namespace into your program. Importing a namespace makes the compiler aware of the classes available within the namespace. The namespace is:

EnterpriseDB.EDBClient

If you are using Entity Framework 6, the following additional namespace is required:

EntityFramework6.EntepriseDB.EDBClient

The method you use to include the namespace varies by the type of application you are writing. For example, the following command imports a namespace into an ASP.NET page:

<% import namespace="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient" %>

To import a namespace into a C# application, write:

using EnterpriseDB.EDBClient;

.NET Framework Setup

The following sections describe the setup for various .NET versions.

.NET Framework 4.0

If you are using .NET Framework version 4.0, the data provider installation path is:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\net40\

The following shared library files are required:

EDBDataProvider.2.0.2.dll

Mono.Security.dll

see Referencing the Library Files for information about referencing library files.

Depending upon the type of application you use, you may be required to import the namespace into the source code (see Referencing the Library Files).

.NET Framework 4.5

If you are using .NET Framework version 4.5, the data provider installation path is:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\net45\

The following shared library files are required:

EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll

System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll

System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe.dll

System.ValueTuple.dll

System.Memory.dll

You must also add the following dependencies to your project:

System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll

System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe.dll

System.ValueTuple.dll

System.Memory.dll

See Referencing the Library Files for information about referencing library files.

Depending upon the type of application you use, you may be required to import the namespace into the source code (see Referencing the Library Files).

.NET Framework 4.5.1

If you are using .NET Framework version 4.5.1, the data provider installation path is:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\net451\

The following shared library files are required:

EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll

System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll

System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe.dll

System.ValueTuple.dll

System.Memory.dll

You must also add the following dependencies to your project:

System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll

System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe.dll

System.ValueTuple.dll

System.Memory.dll

See Referencing the Library Files for information on referencing library files.

Depending upon the type of application you use, you may be required to import the namespace into the source code (see Referencing the Library Files).

.NET Standard 2.0

For .NET Standard Framework 2.0, the data provider installation path is:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\netstandard2.0\

The following shared library files are required:

EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll

System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll

System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe.dll

System.ValueTuple.dll

You must also add the following dependencies to your project:

System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe.dll

System.ValueTuple.dll

Note

If your target framework is .Net Core 2.0, then include the following file in your project:

System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll

See Referencing the Library Files for information about library files.

Depending upon the application type you use, you may be required to import the namespace into the source code (see Referencing the Library Files).

Entity Framework 5/6

To set up .NET Connector for usage with Entity Framework, the data provider installation path is:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\EF\

The following shared library files are required:

EntityFramework5.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll

EntityFramework6.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll

Note

Entity Framework can be used with EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll available in the net45 and net451 subdirectories.

See Referencing the Library Files for information about referencing library files.

Add the <DbProviderFactories> entries for the ADO.NET driver for Postgres to the app.config file. Add the following entries:

<add name="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"
  invariant="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"
  description=".NET Data Provider for EnterpriseDB PostgreSQL”
  type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBFactory, EnterpriseDB.EDBClient, Version=4.0.10.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=5d8b90d52f46fda7"
  support="FF"/>

In the project’s app.config file add the following entry for provider services under the EntityFramework/providers tag:

<provider invariantName="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"
  type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBServices, EntityFramework6.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient">
</provider>

The following is an example of the app.config file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false"/>
  </configSections>

    <startup>
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" />
    </startup>

 <entityFramework>
   <providers>
     <provider invariantName="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient" type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBServices, EntityFramework6.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"></provider>
   </providers>
 </entityFramework>

 <system.data>
   <DbProviderFactories>
     <remove invariant="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"/>
     <add name="EnterpriseDB Data Provider" invariant="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient" support="FF" description=".Net Framework Data Provider for Postgresql" type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBFactory, EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"/>
   </DbProviderFactories>
 </system.data>

</configuration>

Note

The same entries for <providers> and <DbProviderFactories> are valid for the web.config file and the app.config file.

Depending upon the type of application you are using, you may be required to import the namespace into the source code (see Referencing the Library Files).

For usage information about Entity Framework, refer to the Microsoft documentation.

EnterpriseDB VSIX for Visual Studio 2015/2017/2019

EDB Data Designer Extensibility Provider (EnterpriseDB VSIX) is a component that integrates Advanced Server database access into Visual Studio, thus providing Visual Studio integrated features.

It allows connecting to Advanced Server from within Visual Studio’s Server Explorer, creating a model from an existing database, etc. Therefore, if Visual Studio features are desired, then EnterpriseDB VSIX must be utilized.

EnterpriseDB VSIX is located in the following directory:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\vsix\

The files available at the above location are the following:

EnterpriseDB.vsix
SSDLToPgSQL.tt

Installation and Configuration for Visual Studio 2015/2017/2019

The following are the steps to install and configure EnterpriseDB VSIX.

Step 1: Install EnterpriseDB VSIX to the desired version of Visual Studio with the EnterpriseDB.vsix installer at the following location:

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\vsix\EnterpriseDB.vsix

If you already have an earlier version of the VSIX installed, it’s highly recommended that you uninstall them to avoid conflicts.

It is no longer necessary or recommended to have EnterpriseDB.EDBClient in your global assembly cache (GAC).

Step 2: Relaunch Visual Studio and verify from Tools > Extensions and Updates… menu that the EnterpriseDB extension is installed.

Step 3: Add the System.ValueTuple.dll assembly in the global assembly cache (GAC) with the gacutil utility using the Visual Studio Developers Command line from the following location.

C:\Program Files\edb\dotnet\vsix\System.ValueTuple.dll

For example:

> gacutil.exe /i System.ValueTuple.dll

Step 4: From Server Explorer, right-click on Data Connections, click Add Connection, and verify the Enterprisedb Postgres Database data source is available.

Model First and Database First Usage

Step 1: Add the EntityFramework5.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll assembly in the global assembly cache (GAC) with the gacutil utility using the Visual Studio Developers Command line.

For example:

> gacutil.exe /i EntityFramework5.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll

Step 2: Add the <DbProviderFactories> entries for the ADO.NET driver of EDB Postgres in the machine.config file. The following are the entries:

<add name="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"
  invariant="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"
  description=".NET Data Provider for EnterpriseDB PostgreSQL"
  type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBFactory, EnterpriseDB.EDBClient, Version=4.0.10.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=5d8b90d52f46fda7"
  support="FF"/>

For the attribute-value pairs, the double-quoted strings should not contain excess white space characters, but be configured on a single line. The examples shown in this section may be split on multiple lines for clarity, but should actually be configured within a single line such as the following:

description=".NET Data Provider for EnterpriseDB PostgreSQL"

For 64-bit Windows, the machine.config file is in the following location:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Config\machine.config

For 32-bit Windows, the machine.config file is in the following location:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config\machine.config

Step 3: Place the DDL generation template SSDLToPgSQL.tt in the Visual Studio EntityFramework Tools\DBGen\ folder as in the following example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\EntityFramework Tools\DBGen\

Note

Select this template SSDLToPgSQL.tt in your EDMX file properties.

Step 4: Add files EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll and EntityFramework6.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.dll in project references. see Referencing the Library Files for information about referencing library files.

Step 5: In the project’s app.config file add the following entry for provider services under the EntityFramework/providers tag.

<provider invariantName="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"
  type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBServices, EntityFramework6.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient">
</provider>

The following is an example of the app.config file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false"/>
  </configSections>

    <startup>
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" />
    </startup>

  <entityFramework>
    <providers>
      <provider invariantName="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient" type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBServices, EntityFramework6.EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"></provider>
    </providers>
  </entityFramework>

  <system.data>
    <DbProviderFactories>
      <remove invariant="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"/>
      <add name="EnterpriseDB Data Provider" invariant="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient" support="FF" description=".Net Framework Data Provider for EDB Postgres" type="EnterpriseDB.EDBClient.EDBFactory, EnterpriseDB.EDBClient"/>
    </DbProviderFactories>
  </system.data>

</configuration>