Entity Framework Tutorial

The ADO.NET Entity Framework is a new way to build the data access layer of your Windows or web applications. It's an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) technology that makes it easy to tie together the data in your database with the objects in your applications, by abstracting the object model of an application from its relational or logical model.

This clear and concise book gets you started with the Entity Framework and carefully gives you the skills to speed up your application development by constructing a better data access layer. It shows you how to get the most from the ADO.NET Entity Framework to perform CRUD operations with complex data in your applications.

This tutorial starts out with the basics of the Entity Framework, showing plenty of examples to get you started using it in your own code. You will learn how to create an Entity Data Model, and then take this further with Entity types. You will also learn about the Entity Client data provider, learn how to create statements in Entity SQL, and get to grips with ADO.NET Data Services, also known as Project Astoria.

Learn to build a better data access layer with the ADO.NET Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services

• Explore the features of the ADO.NET Entity Framework
• Understand the concepts of entities and their relationships
• Create an Entity Data Model using the ADO.NET Entity Data Model Designer as well as the EdmGen tool
• Get started with the Entity Framework and implement your application using it
• Extend the existing Entity Types to create your own Entity Types
• Write programs against the Entity Data Model to perform CRUD operations
• Explore ADO.NET Data Services and learn how they can be used with the Entity Framework

Chapter 1, Introducing the ADO.NET Entity Framework, introduces the reader to the basics of ADO.NET EF, why it is useful, and its features and benefits. It also covers designing the Payroll Database that is used by the model application developed in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 2, Getting started with the Entity Framework, discusses how to get started with EF – creating the Payroll Entity Data Model (EDM) and mapping the model to the database and writing a program to query data.

Chapter 3, Entities, Relationships, and the Entity Data Model, gives a detailed explanation of entities, relationships, and of each of the sections of the Payroll EDM.

Chapter 4, Working with Stored Procedures in the Entity Data Model, explains how we can map stored procedures in the EDM and use them in our applications.

Chapter 5, Working with Entity Client and Entity SQL, discusses the ESQL query language and how to work with the Entity Client provider. It also explains the differences between Entity SQL and Transact SQL.

Chapter 6, Working with LINQ to Entities, includes a detailed discussion on using Language Integrated Query (LINQ) to retrieve data from Entities, with lots of code examples.

Chapter 7, Working with Objects Services, provides a detailed discussion on the Object Services Layer and its powerful features for reading, inserting, editing, deleting, and serializing objects and binding them to data controls.

Chapter 8, Working with ADO.NET Data Services, provides an introduction to ADO.NET Data Services and using them with EDM to perform CRUD operations.

This book is written as a tutorial, leading you through examples to illuminate the main theory and get you working with the Entity Framework as quickly as possible.

This book is for C# developers who want an easier way to create their data access layer. You will need to be comfortable with ADO.NET, but you don't need to know anything about the Entity Framework. Along the way we will create some ASP.NET applications, so being familiar with this will also help.