Entity Framework 6 Power Tools

Entity Framework 6 Power Tools are design-time utilities used in Visual Studio when working with the code-first development approach. As you know, the code-first approach does not support visual designer for the Entity Framework model. These power tools allow you to generate designer, XML and DDL SQL for your entities.

Download and install EF 6 Power Tools for Visual Studio 2015/2017 from Visual Studio Marketplace.

After installing it, right-click on a file containing a derived DbContext class. The following context menu functions are supported:

  • View Entity Data Model (Read-only) - Displays a read-only view of the Code-First model in the Entity Model Designer.
  • View Entity Data Model XML - Displays the EDMX XML representing the underlying Code-First model.
  • View Entity Data Model DDL SQL - Displays the DDL SQL corresponding to the SSDL in the underlying EDM Model.
  • Generate Views - Generates pre-compiled views used by the EF runtime to improve start-up performance. Adds the generated views file to the containing project.
entity framework power tools menu

Click on View Entity Data Model to generate a read-only view of all your entities in the code-first approach.