How do I setup ASP.NET Identity to use my own connection string?

Question

I have an MVC5 app that's using EF. I would like to add ASP.NET Identity and I've noticed that the connection string for ASP.NET identity is using "DefaultConnection". What Do I need to do so that ASP.NET Identity tables are created in my already existing db (source=DILS-S1301;initial catalog=MVC5;) as specified in MVC5Entities and NOT DefaultConnection => (LocalDb)\v11.0?? thanks

<connectionStrings>
    <add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)\v11.0;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnet-MySuperAwesomeMVCApp-20131105011429.mdf;Initial Catalog=aspnet-MySuperAwesomeMVCApp-20131105011429;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"      />
    <add name="MVC5Entities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Models.Mvc5Model.csdl|res://*/Models.Mvc5Model.ssdl|res://*/Models.Mvc5Model.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=DILS-S1301;initial catalog=MVC5;integrated security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
</connectionStrings>

I tried modifying "DefaultConnection" like so:

<connectionStrings>
    <add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=DILS-S1301;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\MVC5.mdf;Initial Catalog=MVC5;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
    <add name="MVC5Entities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Models.Mvc5Model.csdl|res://*/Models.Mvc5Model.ssdl|res://*/Models.Mvc5Model.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=DILS-S1301;initial catalog=MVC5;integrated security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
</connectionStrings>

but now i get an error:

Database 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\MVC5.mdf' already exists. Choose a different database name.
Cannot attach the file 'C:\Users\blah\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MySuperAwesomeMVCApp\MySuperAwesomeMVCApp\App_Data\MVC5.mdf' as database 'MVC5'.

Answer 1

The actual question shall be "How do I setup ASP.NET Identity to use my own connection string?"

If above is the correct summary of your question, below is the answer.

ASP.NET Identity uses EntityFramework for database related tasks. So you can use following option as suitable.

Option 1: EntityFramework's default connection string can be setup using following code snippet in web.config

<entityFramework>
  <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">
    <parameters>
      <parameter value="Data Source=(localdb)\v11.0; Integrated Security=True; MultipleActiveResultSets=True" />
    </parameters>
  </defaultConnectionFactory>
</entityFramework>

Option 2: Programatically, you can also pass ConnectionString name to the DbContext's constructor. like new ApplicationDbContext(MyConnectionString)

Answer 2

Actually all you have to do is change the DefaultConnection connectionString to be your desired connection string. If you used the normal settings for a new MVC 5 project, and the identity tables do not exist in the new DB they will be created there automatically.

You do not have to edit the portion of the connection string and you do not have to edit the DbContext constructor unless you want to change the conntectionString name and are not OK with replacing the default connection string.

If you are OK with replacing the default connection string, you should be able to just replace it... this worked for me.

I found this article helpful as well: http://www.typecastexception.com/post/2013/10/27/Configuring-Db-Connection-and-Code-First-Migration-for-Identity-Accounts-in-ASPNET-MVC-5-and-Visual-Studio-2013.aspx