EF not seeding database on creation - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am using Entity Framework to create and seed my database using Code First and the MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion initializer. The issue I am having is when I launch the ASP.NET MVC app without a database create EF will create the database but will not seed on the first run through. If I kill iisexpress and relaunch the app after creating the database my seeds go in fine. I would expect my seeds to be ran after the database gets created but I don't even hit a break point in my seeds method on the first run through. I hit break points on the second run through without problems but it is annoying to have to run the app twice after killing the DB just to get my seeds to work.
Below is my Configuration class:
public sealed class Configuration : DbMigrationsConfiguration<CompassDb>
{
public Configuration()
{
AutomaticMigrationsEnabled = true;
AutomaticMigrationDataLossAllowed = true;
}
protected override void Seed(CompassDb context)
{
ModuleSeed.Seed(context);
PermissionGroupSeed.Seed(context);
var permissions = PermissionSeed.Seed(context);
var roles = RoleSeed.Seed(context, permissions);
UserSeed.Seed(context, roles, permissions);
OcmPluginSeed.Seed(context);
SCACSeed.Seed(context);
ModuleConfigurationSeed.Seed(context);
}
}
I am calling this in my Global.asax file.
Database.SetInitializer(new MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<CompassDb, Configuration>());
using (var db = new CompassDb())
{
db.Database.Initialize(true);
}
I did have a query to get a version number from the db on page load to create the database but calling the initializer directly seems a little cleaner. I was having the issue before when I was making a DB call through EF as well. I moved away from the DB call because I am only using EF for the automatic DB creating and migration then I switch to Dapper for any database communication.
I found this post here where people were having the same issue as me but it doesn't seem like it was ever resolved.
UPDATE
I found out that the issue is related to my migration files. I updated the primary keys of all my models from int to long and had to delete my current migration files. After deleting the files everything started working as normal, the database would be created and seeded on the same request. I then created my initial schema migration and am back at the same issue where the database does not seed until the 2nd time launching the site. I am using ELMAH in the project and have to update the first migration file to execute the sql file that is included when installing ELMAH via nuget. This could be related to the issue and I will do more testing to see if this is the cause.

Answer 1

I think I had the same or similar problem. Try to make a manual initializer. It's clean, simple and short. See this example:
Public Class CustomDbInit
Implements IDatabaseInitializer(Of MyContext)
Public Sub InitializeDatabase(context As MyContext) Implements System.Data.Entity.IDatabaseInitializer(Of MyContext).InitializeDatabase
If Not context.Database.Exists Then
context.Database.CreateIfNotExists()
' Some other processes, such as WebMatrix initialization if you're using SimpleMembership like I do
End If
End Sub
End Class
Then on the Global.asax Application_Start method, initialize it like this:
Dim context As New MyContext()
If Not context.Database.Exists Then
Database.SetInitializer(New CustomDbInit())
context.Database.Initialize(False)
End If