ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics 365 with Entity Framework Support

ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics 365

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 (formerly Dynamics CRM) is an ADO.NET provider for working with Dynamics 365 data through the standard ADO.NET or Entity Framework interfaces. It allows you to easily integrate Dynamics 365 data into your .NET applications, and integrate Dynamics 365 services with widely used data-oriented technologies.

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 has the same standard ADO.NET classes as other standard ADO.NET providers: DynamicsConnection, DynamicsCommand, DynamicsDataAdapter, DynamicsDataReader, DynamicsParameter, etc. This allows you quickly get started with it and eliminates the need to study any Dynamics 365 data access specificities.

Work with Dynamics 365 Data Easily

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 makes it simple to create .NET applications in C#, VB, or other languages, working with Dynamics 365 data. It offers standard ADO.NET interface, and thus it's easy to master it. It's powerful design-time editors together with seamless Visual Studio integration allow you to work with Dynamics 365 data with less efforts and less code writing. See how easy it is with dotConnect for Dynamics 365.

Connecting to Dynamics 365 from Server Explorer

To create a Server Explorer connection, you just need to:

Click Connect to Database on the Server Explorer toolbar
Change Data Source to Dynamics 365 Data Source
Specify the login url to the data source, your Dynamics 365 user id and password

That's all, now you can work with Dynamics 365 data right in Visual Studio - select data from Dynamics 365 entities and edit it.

Dynamics 365 connection in Server Explorer

Dynamics 365 Data Binding

Build your data access layer without writing code manually
Configure dotConnect for Dynamics 365 components in powerful design-time editors
Bind data grids and other controls to Dynamics 365 data just by configuring the smart tags
Work with Dynamics 365 data just like with a database

Power of SQL

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 allows you to perform SQL queries against your Dynamics 365 data. Use SQL statements to work with Dynamics 365 accounts, contacts, leads, contracts, products, campaigns opportunities, and other objects.

Our provider offers full CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) support and allows you to get Dynamics 365 data with SELECT statements and manage data with INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements.

No need to study and use complex Dynamics 365 API, just use familiar SQL statements. You may use complex JOINs, WHERE conditions, etc. - all the SQL benefits, not available with Dynamics 365 API.

Entity Framework Support

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 allows you to access Dynamics 365 data via Entity Framework - Microsoft's recommended data access technology. It supports Entity Framework v4, v5, v6, and Entity Framework Core, and enables you to use the following Entity Framework features with Dynamics 365 data:

LINQ to Entities (no need for Dynamics 365 API)
Entity relations with lazy/eager loading
No need to post each edited/created object separately - a single SaveChanges() call to persist all the changed objects

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 provides enhanced Entity Framework support for Dynamics 365 data with a bundled visual designer for ORM models with Visual Studio integration - Entity Developer. Standard Visual Studio Entity Data Model designer is also supported.

How it Works

Advanced Queries

Simple Queries

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More complex queries are split in parts, and parts of query are executed against Dynamics 365

Simple queries are directly compiled to Dynamics 365 calls

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Our local SQL engine processes the results and applies advanced SQL features, used in the query

These API calls are executed on Dynamics 365 side providing the best performance

Data
Returned data are passed to the application

dotConnect for Dynamics 365 offers powerful local SQL engine for SELECT statement execution. It executes SQL statements in the following way:

Simple SQL statements are translated to Dynamics 365 API calls and executed on the Dynamics 365 side directly. However, dotConnect for Dynamics 365 also supports more advanced SQL features, such as SQL functions or expressions, complex WHERE conditions, joins, etc.

If you use these more advanced SQL features, dotConnect for Dynamics 365 queries all the data from the objects that participate in the query, and executes the statement locally.