How do I view the SQL generated by the Entity Framework?

You can do the following:

IQueryable query = from x in appEntities
             where x.id == 32
             select x;

var sql = ((System.Data.Objects.ObjectQuery)query).ToTraceString();

or in EF6:

var sql = ((System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectQuery)query)
            .ToTraceString();

or in EF6.3+:

var sql = ((dynamic)flooringStoresProducts).Sql;

That will give you the SQL that was generated.

For those using Entity Framework 6 and up, if you want to view the output SQL in Visual Studio (like I did) you have to use the new logging/interception functionality.

Adding the following line will spit out the generated SQL (along with additional execution-related details) in the Visual Studio output panel:

using (MyDatabaseEntities context = new MyDatabaseEntities())
{
    context.Database.Log = s => System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(s);
    // query the database using EF here.
}

More information about logging in EF6 in this nifty blog series: http://blog.oneunicorn.com/2013/05/08/ef6-sql-logging-part-1-simple-logging/

Note: Make sure you are running your project in DEBUG mode.

Starting with EF6.1 you can use Interceptors to register a database logger. See chapters "Interceptors" and "Logging Database Operations" to a File here

<configuration>
  <entityFramework>
    <interceptors> 
      <interceptor type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Interception.DatabaseLogger, EntityFramework"> 
        <parameters> 
          <parameter value="C:\Temp\LogOutput.txt"/> 
          <parameter value="true" type="System.Boolean"/> 
        </parameters> 
      </interceptor> 
    </interceptors>
  </entityFramework>
</configuration>