VS2017中EF6 SQLAnywhere Database First无法显示提供商的问题求助

Let me break down what's happening here and why you're hitting this roadblock:

1. Your Setup Context

   • You've installed SQL Anywhere 17 Developer Edition per SAP's official docs, ran the VS integration installer manually, and added the Sap.Data.SQLAnywhere.EF6 (v17.0.7.3399) NuGet package to your project (it shows up in references correctly).
   • Despite this, when creating an EF6 model via Database First, only MSSQL providers appear in the list.
   • Reaching out to the package author led to documentation focused on EF4.3 Code First, which doesn't address your Database First use case.

2. Root Cause
   The core issue is a breaking change in Visual Studio 2017 that broke the way SQL Anywhere's integration installer registers EF designer providers. SAP hasn't yet released an updated installer that adapts to these VS2017 changes. Until that happens, the EF6 Database First designer support for SQL Anywhere in VS2017 is effectively unavailable.

3. Temporary Workarounds to Consider
   If you need to work with SQL Anywhere and EF6 in VS2017 right now, you might try these alternatives:

   • Code First Reverse Engineering: Use EF6's Code First from Database feature (if supported by the SQL Anywhere EF provider) to generate your model classes and context from an existing database. This skips the designer UI entirely.
   • Manual Model Configuration: Manually define your entity classes, DbContext, and connection string in configuration files. You'll need to reference the Sap.Data.SQLAnywhere.EF6 provider in your web.config or app.config explicitly, like this:

     <entityFramework>
       <providers>
         <provider invariantName="Sap.Data.SQLAnywhere" type="Sap.Data.SQLAnywhere.EF6.SAProviderServices, Sap.Data.SQLAnywhere.EF6" />
       </providers>
     </entityFramework>
     

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Peter Wone