Contents

foreword
preface
acknowledgments
about this book
about the cover illustration

Part 1 Redefining your data-access strategy

Chapter 1 Data access reloaded: Entity Framework: Getting started with data access; Developing applications using database-like structures; Using classes to organize data; Delving deep into object/relational differences; Letting Entity Framework ease your life; How Entity Framework performs data access; Summary
Chapter 2 Getting started with Entity Framework: Introducing the OrderIT example; Designing the OrderIT model and database; Structuring the application; A sneak peek at the code; Summary

Part 2 Getting started with Entity Framework

Chapter 3 Querying the object model: the basics: One engine, many querying methods; The query engine entry point: Object Services; Summary
Chapter 4 Querying with LINQ to Entities: Filtering data; Projecting results; Grouping data; Sorting; Joining data; Querying with inheritance; Using functions; Executing handmade queries; Fetching; Summary
Chapter 5 Domain model mapping: The Entity Data Model; Creating consumable entities; Defining relationships in the model; Mapping inheritance; Extending the EDM with custom annotations; Summary
Chapter 6 Understanding the entity lifecycle: The entity lifecycle; Managing entity state; Managing change tracking with ObjectStateManager; Summary
Chapter 7 Persisting objects into the database: Persisting entities with SaveChanges; Persisting changed entities into the database; Persisting entities graphs; A few tricks about persistence; Summary
Chapter 8 Handling concurrency and transactions: Understanding the concurrency problem; Handling concurrency in Entity Framework; Managing transactions; Summary

Chapter 9 An alternative way of querying: Entity SQL: Query basics; Filtering data; Projecting results; Grouping data; Sorting data; Joining data; Querying for inheritance; Using query-builder methods; Working with the Entity Client data provider; Summary
Chapter 10 Working with stored procedures: Mapping stored procedures; Returning data with stored procedures; Embedding functions in the storage model; Updating data with stored procedures; Summary
Chapter 11 Working with functions and views: Views in the storage model: defining queries; User-defined functions and scalar-valued functions; Summary
Chapter 12 Exploring EDM metadata: Metadata basics; Retrieving metadata; Building a metadata explorer; Writing generic code with metadata; Summary
Chapter 13 Customizing code and the designer: How Visual Studio generates classes; Customizing class generation; How Visual Studio generates database DDL; Customizing DDL generation; Creating designer extensions; Summary

Chapter 14 Designing the application around Entity Framework: The application design process; A typical three-layer architecture; Principles of domain-driven design; Retrieving references to a domain’s entities; Summary
Chapter 15 Entity Framework and ASP.NET: EntityDataSource, a new approach to data binding; Using Dynamic Data controls with Entity Framework; The ObjectContext lifecycle in ASP.NET; Common scenarios involving ASP.NET and Entity Framework; Summary
Chapter 16 Entity Framework and n-tier development: n-Tier problems and solutions; Developing a service using entities as contracts; Developing a service using DTOs; Developing a service using STEs; Summary
Chapter 17 Entity Framework and Windows applications: An example application; Designing model classes for binding; Binding in Windows Forms applications; Binding in WPF applications; Summary
Chapter 18 Testing Entity Framework: Unit tests at a glance; Writing a test suite in Visual Studio 2010; Isolating dependencies; Unit-testing the data access layer; Testing the persistence and retrieval of an entity; Summary
Chapter 19 Keeping an eye on performance: Testing configuration and environment; Database-writing comparison; Query comparisons in the default environment; Optimizing performance; Summary