Foreign Key constraint error when performing fresh install of Piranha CMS

Question

Piranha CMS is a programmer oriented CMS (I prefer to write it since I've been downvoted last time!). I've spent all the afternoon trying to fix this problem : Whether I try to migrate from a Sql Compact Server Database to a SQL Server Database, or to start everything from scratch with an empty SQL Server Database, I get the following error :

Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint 'FK_dbo.category_dbo.sysuser_category_updated_by' on table 'category' may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints.

I am able to pass the first step (admin account and password creation), but this exception is thrown whenever I try to log in.

What am I doing wrong ?

Thanks for your help !

UPDATE

The stack indicates where the error is coming from :

[HttpException (0x80004005): The pre-application start initialization method 
Start on type Piranha.Web.ApplicationModule threw an exception with the following
error message: Introducing FOREIGN KEY constraint
 'FK_dbo.category_dbo.sysuser_category_updated_by' on table 'category' 
may cause cycles or multiple cascade paths. Specify ON 
DELETE NO ACTION or ON UPDATE NO ACTION, or modify other FOREIGN KEY constraints.
Could not create constraint. See previous errors..]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +9915300
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +101
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, 
HttpContext context) +254

There seem to be a problem with the Method Start of Piranha.Web.ApplicationModule.

Also I have noticed the configuration of Entity Framework is :

<entityFramework>
<defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework" />
<providers>
  <provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />
</providers>

I wonder about the :

invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient

Since System.Data.SqlClient is the Provider mentionned in my connection string. But I don't know if it's relevant since it may just mean that EF is used to retrieve the data. But I wonder if there might not be a conflict since both your internal scripts and EF use this connection string with this provider that is mentionned. Also, I'm not sure, but I know that with code-first EF also creates meta-data when it creates a database. Perhaps since your internal scripts doesn't create them, EF considers that the DB doesn't exist ?

Update 2

I have some news, I have added

Database.SetInitializer<Piranha.DataContext>(null);

In Application_Start to avoid Database recreation. It seems to have solved the database re-creation problem. I no longer see the exception concerning the constraint. However now the PageController throws a null reference exception after trying to log in, and I still can't see anypage of the public website (The publc site throws an internal server error). My guess is that when I set the Initializer to null, it also prevents EF from populating the DB with the basic data of the Framework. That's a good step further, so it seems that the problem comes from the Piranha DataContext Configuration.

Update 3

Just to give more details :

When trying to log in, I'm redirected to manager/page which throws a null reference exception as I said before. This exception is thrown when I try to access most of the pages of the manager (I have tried template/pagelist, setting/userlist) however, when I try "manager/post" I get the following error :

Invalid object name 'dbo.post'.  
Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Invalid object name 'dbo.post'.

But the 'post' Table do exist in the Database... It's a fresh install, I only changed two things : the connection string, and the Database Initializer code I added in Global Asax.

Answer 1

Reason for error is Schema name in my case.

Solution: You require to have database objects belonging to dbo schema, if you've installed on fresh database with different schema name, it will throw this error. To fix it, change schema name of those tables to dbo and it will work like a charm.

Answer 2

As far as i can see, in version 2.2.0 there is not a constraint for table "category" with the name "FK_dbo.category_dbo.sysuser_category_updated_by". I guess something went wrong installing a fresh version.

If you have access to SQL server with a management tool (like 'SQLServer Management Studio'), try to run to following query against your Piranha-database:

SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='category' AND CONSTRAINT_TYPE='FOREIGN KEY'

You should see three constraints, none of them with the word 'sysuser' in its name.

You might want to try a fresh install again, following the instructions here: http://piranhacms.org/docs/introduction/getting-started

Before you proceed with the web installer, you should create a clean empty database using SQL Server Management Studio. You can run these SQL-commands in the Management Studio:

-- create new user
CREATE LOGIN piranha2 WITH PASSWORD = 'piranha2' 
GO
-- create new empty database
CREATE DATABASE piranha2 
GO
-- select new database
USE piranha2
GO
-- assign user to database
CREATE USER piranha2 FOR LOGIN piranha2
GO
-- add role to user
EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_owner', 'piranha2'
GO

After that, open Web.config, look for section "connectionStrings". You should see a couple of lines. Add a new line in this section with this content (don't forget to use your own servername or ip-address after "server="):

<add name="piranha" connectionString="server=192.168.1.1;database=piranha2;user id=piranha2;password=piranha2;multipleactiveresultsets=true;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

Start the installer. It should find your database and create tables and constraints. Hope that will help.

Answer 3

The error message you're providing is a typical Entity Framework error when trying to create a DbContext in the database. The only problem is that Entity Framework is not responsible for creating the tables in Piranha CMS, this is done by internal SqlScripts embedded in the framework dll.

If the tables are created successfully in the database and you still get this error when trying to log in, my only guess is that Entity Framework is for some reason using an incorrect Connection String trying to create the database somewhere else. Although I'm puzzled how this could happen through misconfiguration.

Can you access the public site after install?

UPDATE

I've created a new Blank MVC Application, installed PiranhaCMSMvc into it, installed the database and logged into the manager without problems. I've pushed the blank project to this repo:

https://github.com/tidyui/Blank

Download this source code and see if it works for you after you've modified the connection string. If it works, try to compare the projects to see what is causing your error. If it doesn't work then there's something else wrong with your setup that is conflicting somehow. Keep me updated!

Regards

Answer 4

Well, I spent 2 days on it so I had no choice but to change CMS. I'm running late because of this problem. Fortunately I only had created a couple of pages. I'm currently moving to Umbraco. I've played with it this afternoon and it's actually less complicated than what I heard so it should do the trick. It's also perfectly working on my production server.

However, I still have an other project that I would like to keep on Piranha CMS. Since I've planned to move it from Compact SQL to SQL Server too, I'm really concerned with this issue.

Answer 5

I cannot add a comment yet, so have to give a second answer: My previous answer didn't make sense so i have to make something up with you. If you still want to investigate some time: to re-produce your problem i've created a VHD with Windows 7 Pro-N (un-activated), MS SQL 2012 Express and VS 2013 Express Web. You can run this as virtual machine either under Windows 7 Virtual PC or Windows 8 Hyper-V. With the Blank project of Hakan I was not able to reproduce your problem. However, if you manage to re-produce your problem in this virtual machine, you can share the VHD with Hakan so he can take a look what is happening (of course if he's willing to do so). Also, what i'm wondering: if you rename the affected table or drop it, is the error-message moving to another table and/or constraint? Of course it is not a solution to drop the table, but it might tell more about what is going on.