Entity Framework Tutorial

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Introducing the ADO.NET Entity Framework
  • What You should Know
  • Looking Back
  • What is ADO.NET Entity Framework?
    • Is It Just Another ORM?
  • The ADO.NET Entity Framework Architectural Components
  • The Entity Data Model (EDM)
    • How is the Entity Data Model Represented?
  • The Object Model (O-Space)
  • LINQ to Entities
  • Entity Client
  • Entity SQL
    • Avoiding Complex Joins
  • The Object Services Layer
  • ADO.NET Entity Framework—Features and Benefits at a Glance

• Installing the Prerequisites
  • Installing the ADO.NET Entity Framework and Its Tools
    • Downloading the Software
    • Installing the Software

• Designing the Payroll Database
• Summary
• Glossary

• Chapter 2: Getting Started
  • Creating an Entity Data Model
    • Creating the Payroll Entity Data Model Using the ADO.NET Entity Data Model Designer
    • Creating the Payroll Data Model Using the EdmGen Tool
  • The ADO.NET Entity Data Source Control
  • Implementing Our First Application Using the Entity Framework
  • Summary

• Chapter 3: Entities, Relationships, and the Entity Data Model
  • Entities, Entity Types, and Relationships in the ADO.NET Entity Data Model (EDM)
    • What is an Entity?
    • Defining Entity Sets in the Entity Data Model
    • Extending the Existing Entity Types to Create Derived Entity Types
    • Association Sets, Associations, Containment, and Multiplicity
    • What are Entity Containers?
  • Exploring the Payroll Entity Data Model
    • The Mapping Details Window
    • The Entity Model Browser
    • The Entity Data Model Layers
      • The CSDL Schema
      • The SSDL Schema
      • The MSL Schema
  • Summary

• Chapter 4: Working with Stored Procedures in the Entity Data Model
  • Mapping Stored Procedures to Functions in the EDM
    • Mapping Create, Update, and Delete Functions to Entities in the EDM
  • Mapping the Association Sets Consistently
  • Mapping Stored Procedures with No Entity Set

• Using Stored Procedures
• Mapping Stored Procedures that Return Custom Entity Types
• Summary

• Chapter 5: Working with Entity Client and Entity SQL
  • An Overview of the Entity SQL Language
    • From Transact SQL (T-SQL) to Entity SQL (E-SQL)
    • Why Entity SQL When I Already have LINQ to Entities?
    • Features of Entity SQL
    • Operators in Entity SQL
      • Arithmetic Operators
      • Comparison Operators
      • Logical Operators
      • Reference Operators
      • Type Operators
      • Set Operators
      • Operator Precedence
    • Expressions in Entity SQL
      • Query Expressions in Entity SQL
    • Identifiers, Variables, Parameters, and Types in Entity SQL
      • Row
      • Collection
      • Reference
    • Canonical Functions in Entity SQL
      • Mathematical Functions
      • Aggregate Functions
      • String Functions
      • Bitwise Functions
      • Date and Time Functions
  • Data Paging Using Entity SQL
  • Working with the ADO.NET Entity Client
    • Let's Get into Action
      • Building the Connection String
      • Creating an Entity Connection
      • Opening the Connection
      • Executing Queries Using the Entity Command
      • Closing the Connection
  • Other Operations with Entity SQL
    • Inserting a Record Using Entity SQL
    • Inserting a Record with a Foreign Key Constraint
    • Retrieving Native SQL from EntityCommand
    • Transaction Management in Entity SQL
  • Summary

• Chapter 6: Working with LINQ to Entities
  • Introducing LINQ
    • Why LINQ?
  • Understanding the LINQ Architecture
    • LINQ to XML
    • LINQ to SQL
    • LINQ to Objects
    • LINQ to Entities
      • Querying Data Using LINQ to Entities
      • LINQ to Entities and Entity Framework
      • Differences between LINQ to Entities and LINQ to SQL
  • Operators in LINQ
    • Aggregation
    • Projections
    • Ordering
    • Quantifiers
    • Restriction
    • Conversion
    • Element
    • Set

• Querying Data Using LINQ
  • Expressions in LINQ to Entities
    • Constant Expressions
    • Comparison Expressions
    • Initializing Expressions
    • Null Comparisons
    • Navigation Properties
    • Immediate and Deferred Query Execution
    • Improving Performance with Compiled Queries

• Summary

• Chapter 7: Working with the Object Services Layer
  • What are Object Services?
    • Features at a Glance
    • A Quick Look at the ObjectContext Class in our Payroll EDM
    • Querying Data as in-Memory Objects
  • Adding, Modifying, and Deleting Objects
  • Attaching and Detaching Objects to and from the Object Context
  • Serializing and De-Serializing Entity Instances
  • Change Tracking and Identity Resolution Using ObjectContext
    • Implementing a Sample Application
    • Creating the Form
    • Implementing a Custom DataContext
    • How is This Accomplished?
  • Inheritance in the Entity Framework
    • Table per Hierarchy
    • Table per Type

• Implementing Complex Types in the EDM
• Summary

• Chapter 8: Introducing ADO.NET Data Services
  • Introducing ADO.NET Data Services
    • How Do ADO.NET Data Services and Web Services Differ?
    • What is Representational State Transfer (REST)?
    • Why Use ADO.NET Data Services?
      • Features at a Glance
  • Prerequisites
  • Exposing Data as a Service Using ADO.NET Data Services
    • Creating an ADO.NET Data Service
    • Using a Relational Database as the Data Source
    • Using Data Sources Other Than a Relational Database
  • Understanding the System.Services.Data Namespace
  • Restricting Access to Resources
  • Working with the ADO.NET Data Service Client Library
    • Generating the Client-Side Entity Classes
    • Inserting a Record
    • Updating a Record
    • Deleting a Record
    • Consuming an ADO.NET Data Service Using LINQ
    • Exposing a Stored Procedure as a URI
  • Handling Exceptions in ADO.NET Data Services
  • Batching ADO.NET Data Services Requests to Improve Performance
    • Debugging Your Data Service
  • References
  • Summary

• Index

Joydip Kanjilal

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If you need to quickly get up and running with Entity Framework, try this book

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