Batch Updates
Read about new features of EF support in our providers.
read more
Code First Sample
See how to use Code-First approach in dotConnect for Oracle.
read more
EF Query Samples
Try our EF support on EF Query Samples application.
read more
DbContext Template
Read about our EF dbContext template with fluent mapping.
read more
ADO.NET Entity Framework Support
The latest ADO.NET evolution focuses on raising the level of abstraction from the logical
(relational) level to the conceptual (entity) level. For this purpose Microsoft introduces
the Entity
Framework, designed to simplify data - object conversion and embed data access queries
into program code.
The Devart dotConnect product line supports the ADO.NET Entity Framework for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
Entity Framework features:
dotConnect data providers offer the most complete support for LINQ to Entities and Entity SQL.
Database-specific features:
dotConnect product line offers wide support for database types including Oracle CURSORs. Users can add support for more datatypes, e.g. PostGIS types in PostgreSQL.
dotConnect product line offers wide support for stored procedures. 
Database specific functions can be used in LINQ to Entities and Entity SQL.
Performance:
Our providers support configurable batch updates, grouping several INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE statements into one SQL block, which increases ObjectContext.SaveChanges performance substantially, because of reducing number of server calls and producing more compact SQL code.
A number of SQL optimizations allows generating high-performant SQL. Additionally, you may optionally disable SQL formatting to reduce SQL statement size.
Database-First
You may generate an Entity Framework model, based on an existing database, and then update the model if the database was changed. This can be done both with Entity Data Model Wizard and Update Model Wizard in Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 and with our own ORM model designer - Entity Developer, which is supplied with the providers.
Model-First
You may create a model in Visual Studio 2010 Entity Model Designer and then generate database DDL script with Create Database Wizard. The same can be done with Entity Developer in both Visual Studio 2008 and 2010.
Code-First
You may create a set of POCO classes and set up mapping with attributes or fluent mapping and specify the database creating/deleting and filling with initial data. Our ADO.NET providers support this approach completely and allow additional tweaking.
| Features |
Entity Developer |
EDM designer |
| Advanced mapping support with all kinds of inheritances |
|
|
| Database-First approach support with preserving manual mapping and storage changes while updating a model from a database |
|
|
| Model-First approach support with synchronization of storage part and database with the model |
|
|
| Advanced large model support splitting model into several diagrams |
|
|
| Robust and easy-to-use drag n' drop mechanism |
|
|
| Editable storage model |
|
|
| Association support with automatic mapping of many-to-many associations |
|
|
| Advanced CUD-mapping with stored functions support |
|
|
| Function import and code generation with support for stored routines, returning entity collections and collections of comlex types |
|
|
| Background design-time model validating and testing the model with Entity SQL and LINQ to Entities queries |
|
|
| Code generation with support for design-time custom attributes of model objects |
|
|
* Some of the advanced features are available only in Entity Developer
** Visual Studio EDM designer is supported in dotConnect for Oracle, MySQL and PostgreSQL. Use Entity Developer for dotConnect for SQLite.