Table of Contents

 

Copyright

Brief Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

About this Book

About the Cover Illustration

1. Redefining your data-access strategy

Chapter 1. Data access reloaded: Entity Framework

1.1. Getting started with data access

1.2. Developing applications using database-like structures

1.2.1. Using datasets and data readers as data containers

1.2.2. The strong coupling problem

1.2.3. The loose typing problem

1.2.4. The performance problem

1.3. Using classes to organize data

1.3.1. Using classes to represent data

1.3.2. From a single class to the object model

1.4. Delving deep into object/relational differences

1.4.1. The datatype mismatch

1.4.2. The association mismatch

1.4.3. The granularity mismatch

1.4.4. The inheritance mismatch

1.4.5. The identity mismatch

1.4.6. Handling the mismatches

1.5. Letting Entity Framework ease your life

1.5.1. What is O/RM?

1.5.2. The benefits of using Entity Framework

1.5.3. When isn���t O/RM needed?

1.6. How Entity Framework performs data access

1.6.1. The Entity Data Model

1.6.2. Object Services

1.6.3. Entity Client data provider

1.6.4. LINQ to Entities

1.6.5. Entity SQL

1.7. Summary

Chapter 2. Getting started with Entity Framework

2.1. Introducing the OrderIT example

2.2. Designing the OrderIT model and database

2.2.1. Bottom-up vs. top-down design

2.2.2. Customers and suppliers