Some time ago I created T4 templates for creating pre-generated views for Entity Framework Code First applications. I wanted to make them available as soon as possible so I just uploaded them as a zip file to one of my sites and provided a link. This worked as a short-term solution but long-term I wanted something better. Something that would not require manual work. Something that would integrate with Visual Studio seamlessly. Something that is actually called Visual Studio Code Gallery. And it happened yesterday. Yesterday I published the templates on the Visual Studio Code Galery.
Using the templates
First you need to download the templates. You can do it directly from Visual Studio. Right click on your project and select Add -> New Item (Ctrl+Shift+A). In the Add New Item dialog go to “Online templates”:
and search for “EF Views”. This should make the “EF CodeFirst View Generation T4 Template for C#/VB” show up (note: only the template for the language of the current project will show up).
Change the name of the file at the bottom to {Context}.Views.tt where {Context} is the name of the class derived from DbContext you want to create pre-generated views for.
Click “Add” to add the template to your project. Wait for the views to be generated (note: for bigger models view generation may take an extended amount of time).
You can also install templates manually just by downloading vsix files from Visual Studio Code Gallery and pressing “Enter”. Here are direct links to the templates:
- Template for C#: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/ae7730ce-ddab-470f-8456-1b313cd2c44d
- Template for VB.Net: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/118b44f2-1b91-4de2-a584-7a680418941d
Once you installed the templates you can find them in the “Code” category. Right click on your project and select Add -> New Item (Ctrl+Shift+A). In the “Add New Item” dialog go to the “Code” section:
If needed the templates can be uninstalled from Extension Manager (Tools -> Extension Manager):
Happy coding.
Pawel Kadluczka
