Testing an Entity Framework database connection

Question

I have an app that connects to a MYSQL database through the entity framework. It works 100% perfectly, but I would like to add a small piece of code that will test the connection to the database upon app startup.

I had the idea of simply running a tiny command to the database and catching any exceptions, however if there is a problem (eg App.Config missing or Database server down) the app takes a huge amount of time to run this code and then throw the exception (~1 min). I imagine this is due to connection timeouts etc but I have fiddled with such properties to no avail.

Would anyone be able to assist with any ideas as to where to go?

Answer 1

Are you just wanting to see if the DB connection is valid? If so take a look at the

using (DatabaseContext dbContext = new DatabaseContext())
{
     dbContext.Database.Exists();
}

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg696617(v=vs.103).aspx

and for checking if a server machine is up, DB server or web services server , try this:

public PingReply Send( string hostNameOrAddress )

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7hzczzed.aspx