Mastering Entity Framework

Mastering Entity Framework

By : Rahul Rajat Singh

Buy this Book

Mastering Entity Framework

By: Rahul Rajat Singh

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

<p>Data access is an integral part of any software application. Entity Framework provides a model-based system that makes data access effortless for developers by freeing you from writing similar data access code for all of your domain models.</p> <p>Mastering Entity Framework provides you with a range of options when developing a data-oriented application. You’ll get started by managing the database relationships as Entity relationships and perform domain modeling using Entity Framework. You will then explore how you can reuse data access layer code such as stored procedures and table-valued functions, and perform various typical activities such as validations and error handling. You’ll learn how to retrieve data by querying the Entity Data Model and understand how to use LINQ to Entities and Entity SQL to query the Entity Data Model.</p>

Mastering Entity Framework

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

Introduction to Entity Framework

Entity Framework modeling and persistence

Development styles and different Entity Framework approaches

Comparing the development styles

Entity Framework Database First approach

Entity Framework Model First approach

Entity Framework Code First approach

Performing CRUD operations using Entity Framework

Choosing persistence approaches

Summary

Entity Framework DB First – Managing Entity Relationships

Understanding database relationships

Creating the Entity model

Modeling a one-to-many relationship

Modeling a one-to-one relationship using Entity Framework

Modeling a many-to-many relationship using Entity Framework

Using navigation properties for data access

Entity Framework – behind the scenes

Summary

Entity Framework DB First – Performing Model Validations

Model validations using Entity Framework

Model validations using data annotations

Summary

Entity Framework DB First – Inheritance Relationships between Entities

Domain modeling using inheritance in Entity Framework

The Table per Type inheritance

The Table per Class Hierarchy inheritance

The Table per Concrete Class inheritance

Choosing the inheritance strategy

Summary

Entity Framework DB First – Using Views, Stored Procedures, and Functions

Using views, procedures, and functions

Using Entity Framework with views

Using Entity Framework with stored procedures

Using Entity Framework with functions

Summary

Entity Framework Code First – Domain Modeling and Managing Entity Relationships

Understanding the Entity Framework Code First approach

Understanding the Code First conventions and configurations

Implementing Entity Framework Code First

Managing Entity relationships using the Code First approach

Inheritance with the Entity Framework Code First approach

Summary

Entity Framework Code First – Managing Database Creation and Seeding Data

Managing database connections

Managing database initialization

Seeding data

Summary

Querying the Entity Data Model – LINQ to Entities

Understanding LINQ to Entities

Querying data using LINQ to Entities

Using LINQ to Entities – an example-based approach

Lazy loading and eager loading

Summary

Querying the Object Model – Entity SQL

Understanding Entity SQL

Understanding EntityConnection

Using Entity SQL with EntityCommand

Summary

Managing Concurrency Using Entity Framework

Understanding concurrency

Implementing optimistic concurrency using Entity Framework

Entity Framework and pessimistic concurrency

Summary

Managing Transactions Using Entity Framework

Understanding transactions

Setting up the test environment

Entity Framework's default transaction handling

Managing transactions using Entity Framework 6

Choosing the appropriate transaction management

Summary

Implementing a Small Blogging Platform Using Entity Framework

Understanding the application requirements

Visualizing our database design

Creating the Entity Data Model

Performing data access

Using other Entity Framework approaches

Summary

Index

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Comparing the development styles

Before we start looking at these development styles in detail, let's try to do a comparative analysis of these styles. It will help us in understanding these styles in detail.

The Database First approach

In a Database First approach, the main benefit that the developers have is that if the database is created, they will spend very little time writing the data access layer. The EDM can be created from the database and then we can change it as per our application needs; our data access layer is ready to use. Here are a few scenarios where the Database First approach is very useful:

When we are working with a legacy database.
When we are working in a scenario where the database design is being done by another team of DBAs, and once the database is ready, the application development starts.
When we are working on a data centric application, that is, the application domain model is the database itself, and it is being changed frequently to cater to new requirements. For instance, when the tables are being updated regularly and new columns are being added to it frequently then we can simply use this approach, and the application code will not break. We simply have to write the code to cater to the newly added columns.

The Model First approach

Similar to the Database First approach, in the Model First approach, we ultimately end up with the EDM. Using this EDM, we can create our conceptual model and the database. The only reason to choose the Model First approach is that we really want to use the Visual Entity Designer. There is no other strong reason to choose this approach over the other two.

The Code First approach

The Code First approach is usually helpful where all the business logic is implemented in terms of classes, and the database is simply being used as a persistence mechanism for these models. Here are a few reasons why one might want to choose the Code First approach:

The database is simply a persistence mechanism for the models, that is, no logic is in the database.
Full control over the code, that is, there is no auto-generated model and context code.
The database will not be changed manually. The model classes will always change and based on this, the database should change itself.

Mastering Entity Framework

By : Rahul Rajat Singh

Mastering Entity Framework

By: Rahul Rajat Singh

Overview of this book

Related Content you might be interested in

Current Title:

Mastering Entity Framework

Comparing the development styles

The Database First approach

The Model First approach

The Code First approach