Thanks for your suggestions on the Entity Designer CTP2. Here are some responses to your feedback.

RE suggestion #1: Ignore the sysdiagrams table when importing by default. Those of us who actually want this can check this box when we import the tables. SQL2005 is kind enough to hide it in the System Tables folder, please do something similar.

>> We recently fixed a bug in the designer where we do not select any tables, views or stored procedures by default. Thus, sysdiagrams will be unchecked by deault to make this experience easier.

RE suggestion #2: How do I view the XML code? The only time I can easily get access to it is when there is an error. I can’t view it by right clicking on the .edmx file. (Like one can with a Data Access Layer .xsd file.)

>> You can right-click the EDMX file in Solution Explorer and choose “Open With…” and select XML Editor.

RE suggestion #3: Return types of Navigation Properties are not displayed at all in the designer and difficult to ascertain without plowing through generated code.

>> Yes, we want to make this better and are looking into some ideas

RE suggestion #4: Foreign key naming conventions are completely ignored for imported tables. Please don’t ignore them, or make it easier to see what they were.

>> We have filed a bug to make this better

Please let us know if you have more feedback.

Regards,
Sanjay Nagamangalam
Lead PM, Entity Designer
Microsoft Corporation