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In order to create an ERD diagram for new projects I have been using Visual Studio's entity framework designer. Essentially I'm creating a "dummy project", adding entity framework via Nuget and diagramming away (I don't use Microsoft's Entity Framework thus the dummy project).

Is there another way to create such diagrams natively within Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate?

Entity Framework Designer

Chidi Ekuma
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Jesse
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  • Hi, Any luck with your search? – Jakub Pawlinski Dec 22 '15 at 12:57
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    Hi Jakub, lately I have been using balsamiq mockups for my diagramming needs. Unfortunately nothing that directly plugs into visual studio however. – Jesse Dec 23 '15 at 04:36
  • I'm using yEd and trying to switch over to EntityFramework diagrams but it gets tricky to use diagramming functionality there without implementing it (and I can't as currently using home made ORM) – Jakub Pawlinski Jan 19 '16 at 08:20
  • I haven't done it myself but the following post suggests the "Entity Data Model Designer", available with either "SQL Server Data Tools" or the "Web Developer Tools", is the answer. Your mileage may vary :) https://stackoverflow.com/a/42489843/418950 – ScottWelker Feb 15 '18 at 23:42

1 Answers1

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Assuming you already have a database, you can easily generate an ERD following the steps below.

Ensure you installed either Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools or Microsoft Web Developer Tools in order to get the Entity Data Model Designer.

These are the steps to generate an entity relationship diagram. It was tested in VS2012

  1. Open Visual Studio
  2. Create a project or open an existing project (must be Visual Basic, Visual C# project, or Console Application)
  3. Right-click the project and choose Add -> New Item…
  4. Under Visual C# Items select “Data”
  5. Select the template “ADO.NET Entity Data Model”
  6. Give it a name and click “Add”
  7. Select “Generate from database” or “Empty model”
  8. If “Generate from database” selected enter connection info, choose the database objects and done!

The model is stored as a “.edmx” file.

Chidi Ekuma
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  • yeah, make sure you use the .net framework versions of said options. On net core projects the "ADO.NET Entity Data Model" is not an option – Miguel Hughes Apr 08 '22 at 17:33