The ADO.NET Entity Framework contains a powerful client-side query engine that allows you to execute queries against the conceptual model of data, irrespective of the underlying data store in use. This query engine works with a rich functional language called Entity SQL (or E-SQL for short), a derivative of T-SQL, that enables you to query entities or collection of entities.
In this chapter, we will take a look at both Entity Client and Entity SQL, and learn how to use them in our applications.
We will discuss the following areas:
An overview of the Entity SQL Language
Differences between Entity SQL and Transact SQL
When to choose Entity SQL over LINQ
Working with the Entity Client
Transaction Management in the Entity Framework
Before we get started with Entity Client, we should have a proper understanding of Entity SQL. This is, the T-SQL like query language used by the Entity Client provider. We will start this chapter with a discussion on the...