EF4.3.1 on .NET 4 - The mapping of CLR type to EDM type is ambiguous because multiple CLR types match the EDM type

Question

Update: Subject updated - this is now reproducible on EF 4.3.1 under .NET 4 running with VS2012 installed under Windows 8. Any ideas why this would start happening now?

The subject says it all really. We just upgraded from EF 4.3 code-first to EF 5 running under .NET 4.0. We have a query that looks similar to the following:

ctx.Set<Entities.A>().Select(a => new DTO.A { Id = a.Id, Name = a.Name }).ToArray();

Entities.A is defined in an assembly called Entities and DTO.A is defined in an assembly called DTO. In EF 4.3 this worked fine, but under EF 5.0 it throws the following exception:

Schema specified is not valid. Errors: 
The mapping of CLR type to EDM type is ambiguous because multiple CLR types match the EDM type 'A'. Previously found CLR type 'Entities.A', newly found CLR type 'DTO.A'.

Stack trace is

at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.ObjectItemCollection.LoadAssemblyFromCache(ObjectItemCollection objectItemCollection, Assembly assembly, Boolean loadReferencedAssemblies, EdmItemCollection edmItemCollection, Action'1 logLoadMessage)
at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.ObjectItemCollection.ImplicitLoadAssemblyForType(Type type, EdmItemCollection edmItemCollection)
at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.MetadataWorkspace.ImplicitLoadAssemblyForType(Type type, Assembly callingAssembly)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TryGetValueLayerType(Type linqType, TypeUsage& type)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.GetCastTargetType(TypeUsage fromType, Type toClrType, Type fromClrType, Boolean preserveCastForDateTime)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.CreateCastExpression(DbExpression source, Type toClrType, Type fromClrType)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.ConvertTranslator.TranslateUnary(ExpressionConverter parent, UnaryExpression unary, DbExpression operand)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.UnaryTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, UnaryExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.UnaryTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, UnaryExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MemberInitTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, MemberInitExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateLambda(LambdaExpression lambda, DbExpression input)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateLambda(LambdaExpression lambda, DbExpression input, DbExpressionBinding& binding)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.OneLambdaTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call, DbExpression& source, DbExpressionBinding& sourceBinding, DbExpression& lambda)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.SelectTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.SequenceMethodTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call, SequenceMethod sequenceMethod)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MemberInitTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, MemberInitExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateLambda(LambdaExpression lambda, DbExpression input)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateLambda(LambdaExpression lambda, DbExpression input, DbExpressionBinding& binding)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.OneLambdaTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call, DbExpression& source, DbExpressionBinding& sourceBinding, DbExpression& lambda)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.SelectTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.SequenceMethodTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call, SequenceMethod sequenceMethod)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateSet(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.UnarySequenceMethodTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.SequenceMethodTranslator.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression call, SequenceMethod sequenceMethod)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.MethodCallTranslator.TypedTranslate(ExpressionConverter parent, MethodCallExpression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TypedTranslator`1.Translate(ExpressionConverter parent, Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.TranslateExpression(Expression linq)
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ExpressionConverter.Convert()
at System.Data.Objects.ELinq.ELinqQueryState.GetExecutionPlan(Nullable`1 forMergeOption)
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectQuery`1.GetResults(Nullable`1 forMergeOption)

I'd understand the problem if the types were in the same assembly (a long documented issue with EF whereby it cannot disambiguate using just the entity name), but from a different assembly?

Any ideas where to go from here? I can't see any way of telling EF to effectively disregard the DTO assembly and I'm guessing query expression generation requires knowledge of the DTO in order to project the results into the right thing upon materialization.

Thanks, Dean

Answer 1

I think I got to the bottom of it today.

It looks to me that the enum type lives in a separate assembly and the cast triggers loading types from this assembly. This assembly happens to contain the type 'DTO.A' which matches the 'Entities.A' type. This cause the ambiguity which in turn causes an exception to be thrown. Note that did not happen in .NET Framework 4 since enum types in EF4 were not supported and cast operation did not cause loading types from the other assembly so for projects targeting .NET Framework 4 this is a regression in .NET Framework 4.5. In EF6 the behavior will be the same regardless of .NET Framework version - we will always throw.

Answer 2

Dean,

This is a known issue as reported in the following links:

http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/483

http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/589

The namespace is ignored by the Entity Framework so the same tables in multiple databases cause the problem because the Entity Framework only looks at the table name.

Apparently, the Entity Framework team doesn't understand the importance of supporting whatever database schema customers have. They also have lost sight of the fact that clean compiling code should also run.

If you look at the links I mentioned above, you will see that correcting their errors have a low priority. I don't know about you but I'd be fired over that attitude.