Thanks to StackOverflow’s ability to link in other posts you would normally not think were related, I was able to solve this problem.
This issue also came about because of code-first workflows that I had adopted that I needed in order to prevent errors under code first using multi-project repository patterns. Specifically, I modified my *.csproj files to always delete the bin and obj directories of the project(s) that I build/publish:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<!-- Remove obj folder -->
<RemoveDir Directories="$(BaseIntermediateOutputPath)" />
<!-- Remove bin folder -->
<RemoveDir Directories="$(BaseOutputPath)" />
</Target>
Why? Because when I didn’t, any attempt to build/publish a code-first project would fail due to “multiple, conflicting web.config files”. Which I don’t have in the first place, but that’s what it complains about. So by habit, I just engineer each project to delete those two directories before building/publishing, so as to avoid that show-stopping error.
Essentially: the system was giving itself a fatal haircut every time it went to build or publish, by clearing out a bin file that was needed by the publish process. All thanks to me and code-first multi-project repository pattern solutions applied to a database-first project. Sweet. facepalm bridgepinch smh
And when I first made this post, I got one Related link shortly after posting. The first half of that reply made sense - select the *.edmx file and change the Build Action value, but the second half confused me until I actually opened up the *.edmx file and clicked on an empty part of the model diagram that came up -- suddenly, my properties sidebar changed to something completely different, which did have the Metadata Artifact Processing value that needed changing.
By following those instructions, then shutting down VS, then removing my *.csproj modifications, then opening the project back up, then building, then reversing those instructions and actually publishing, I was able to reverse the damage I had inadvertently done.
So, FYI for anyone else who has the same problem.
