JohnPapa.net

Tweener Weekend at TechEd

Wednesday, May 21 2008 - net, tweener, teched - 2 comments

You probably heard that this year Tech Ed will be 2 weeks long. This leaves a weekend (June 7th and June 8th) in between where there will be a lot of people hanging around. Fortunately there are a lot of events in the area already scheduled and raring to go. One of these events is the Tweener event also called the ]inBetween[ event run by the Florida .NET community. There will be presentations and open sessions for those who want even more. A full agenda can be seen on the inbetween web site.

There are also Open Space sessions where anyone who wants can sign up to speak at a session (first come first serve). These sessions are open flooring and run 30 minutes. You can sign up here for Open Space.

You can register for the sessions on the web site or by clicking this link.

Here is a sample of the agenda for those 2 days (click it for a link to the full agenda):

Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 SP 1 Beta Download

Monday, May 12 2008 - visual-studio, net, entity-framework, linq, sql-server, astoria - 1 comments

Soma announced this morning that Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 SP 1 is now ready and can be downloaded. This includes several updates, includes support for SQL Server 2008, and has a few new products including the Entity Framework, LINQ to Entities and ADO.NET Data Services (aka Astoria). ScottGu posted some notes regarding what's included in the service pack, as well.

Of course all of this is released 2 days before I have a demonstration on the Entity Framework and LINQ to Entities on Wednesday to the Sarasota .NET and SQL Server User groups. So I have a few modifications to make for my presentations.

I received an error when I first tried to install it. The problem was that the service pack was in conflict with Silverlight Tools Beta for Visual Studio 2008 which I was using to create/edit Silverlight 2 applications. Once uninstalling this i was able to get the service pack to install properly. Scott Gu's post discusses this issue as well as the importance of making sure you install Vista SP 1 first.

Check out ScottGu's post for full details.

.NET Development with the Wiimote

Monday, May 12 2008 - net, wiimote - 0 comments

My friend and colleague Brian Peek has been developing some awesome and fun applications for a while. As a contributing author to MSDN's Coding 4 Fun Bran has been creating some cool applications that you should really check out at his site at www.brianpeek.com.

Not his latest, but certainly one of his most famous, achievement is his Wiimote .NET Library and the uses that he is putting it to. Brian got the attention of Newsweek magazine for the Wiimote .NET library that he authored. They interviewed him and the article can be found on line at http://www.newsweek.com/id/136381.  The print article should be in the May 19th issue of the International Edition of Newsweek.

Best of Simple-Talk Coming Soon

Wednesday, April 30 2008 - asp-net, net - 0 comments

Tony Davis of Simple-Talk.com sent me a message today letting me know that they are releasing  an eBook called "Best of Simple-Talk" and that one of my articles regarding gathering RSS feeds will be in it as well as my colleague Jonas Stawski's articles. I do not believe it is released yet but I am told that it will be released through promotions, which means it likely will be free.

They sent me a preview of the eBook titled "Jit N' Run: The Best of Simple-Talk - ASP.NET Vol. 1". It has a lot of good stuff in it with authors like myself, Jonas Stawski, Jesse Liberty and Dan Wahlin.  I assume the eBook will be out in the wild in the near future.

Promising "Update Model" Feature Additions in Next EDM Release

Saturday, April 19 2008 - entity-framework, edm, net, ado-net - 0 comments

If you have tried the "Update Model from Database" feature in the Entity Framework's EDM tool (latest version is the EDM CTP 2) you probably have noticed that it currently does not fully update the DB model as well as you hoped. I know I got excited when I first saw the feature, but quickly had a let down as I knew I had to wait til the next release to get more out of this feature. This month Noam Ben-Ami gave us a preview of some of the new features that will be in the next release of the EDM. You definitely want to check this out.

I am thrilled to see that the Update Model from Database feature will not remove items from the conceptual model. Though instead of simply showing errors, I would not mind it asking me with some type of wizard that prompts me with suggestions. For example, when a column has been removed from a table in the database it would be awesome if a list of issues was presented and along with options to take action (such as remove property from the entity and refactor). yeah, yeah, I know its being picky :)

I also love how its smart enough to detect that a hierarchical relationship in the conceptual model may represent multiple tables in the the database.  Its getting much closer!!!

ReSharper 4 EAP Roadmap

Friday, April 18 2008 - resharper, net - 0 comments

I've been downloading a new set of EAP bits for ReSharper 4 once a week since they opened access to the nightly builds and it really its coming together. The latest bits are much more stable than earlier versions and the features that are implemented are getting very close to being complete.

ReSharper v3 is in full release but does not support some of .NET 3.5 and VS.NET 2008's best features. Here is a roadmap that I grabbed from the ReSharper web site that outlines the highlights of Resharper v4.

If you have not grabbed the latest EAP bits, I suggest you give them a try. As a rule I only grab ones that are listed as tested successfully by JetBrains. Otherwise I avoid them :) I am now using EAP build 775 and have had not problems.

ReSharper 4.0 is the next major version of the product featuring a number of important enhancements:

• Support for both Visual Studio 2005 and 2008
• Comprehensive support for C# 3.0 language features, including:
  • New code analysis, context actions and quick-fixes
  • New refactorings (such as Convert to Extension Method, Convert to Automatic Property, Convert Anonymous Type to Named)
  • Updated IntelliSense
• Many more intelligence and productivity features
  • Full set of refactorings available for VB.NET
  • New quickfixes and context actions for XAML files
  • Referenced assemblies are now taken into account in null-reference analysis thanks to external annotations. ReSharper is packaged with annotations for the .NET Framework assemblies
  • Code Cleanup — a tool for ensuring compliance with code guidelines and enhancing code structure
  • Complete Statement — a feature that will complete language constructs and get you ready to write the next statement

Cars, Planes, Cars, Planes, and Cars

Tuesday, April 08 2008 - net, training - 1 comments

This past weekend I went online to check in for my flight on Sunday. I've used online check-ins for as long as they have been around. I have not been to a ticket counter in years. Yet for some reason I could not check in online this past weekend. So I call Orbitz and they tell me they know nothing and that I must call the airline directly to find out how to check in. So I call the airline and they tell me there are no problems with my reservation but I must check in at the airport. So I, being very very stupid in hindsight, believed them. I went to the Sarasota, FL airport on Sunday and they tell me I cannot check in because my my flights have been delayed and canceled. Um ... What!?!?!?!?!?!

There were no alternatives out of Sarasota to get to my destination that evening. I was furious when they told me that they knew this for hours yet did not post it on their web site nor tell me any of this when I called them a few hours ago! The best they could do was get me out the following day which would cause me to miss half the day at a .NET training class where I was the supposed to be training this week.

I found a flight out of Tampa, which is a 1 hour 15 minute drive from the Sarasota airport that was leaving in 1 hour and 20 minutes. I decided to try it. I got back in my car, drove up to Tampa, and of course a thunderstorm with the fury of Heaven poured down on me. It took me 1 hour and 25 minutes to get there, I figured it was too late. Then I saw that the flight was delayed by 15 minutes! I ran to the ticket counter to get my ticket ... 50 people were in line ahead of me! Somehow that line moved so fast I got my ticket (they actually let me buy it!). I ran up the escalator, to the shuttle, into security who gave this sweaty little Italian man some interesting looks, and to the gate as they were closing the doors. i was literally yelling for them to wait as they stepped into the doorway. It was crazy.

I made it. I made it.

Next up, Orlando DevConnections!

Tuesday, April 08 2008 - entity-framework, mobile, net, devconnections - 0 comments

DevConnections in Orlando is just around the corner and I'll be there presenting 4 sessions on mobile development, the Entity Framework and SQL Server. So much has changed with these technologies in the past few months so I have all new code samples for new techniques using the latest bits, especially with the Entity Framework. if you are going to be at DevConnections in April in Orlando, please stop by one of my sessions and say hi.

Here are the 4 session abstracts:

VMD302: Data Access Techniques and LINQ in Mobile Applications
John Papa
Data access layers, domain entities, and databases are all integral components of dealing with data in an enterprise application. Mobile applications also rely heavily on these types of data vehicles and stores. This session will delve into different ways of handling data in mobile applications using ADO.NET objects and domain entities. I will demonstrate different data binding techniques in mobile applications using both domain entities and DataSets as well as techniques using LINQ to interact with data on a mobile device.

 

VDA203: Getting Started with the Entity Framework
John Papa
The Entity Framework can be used to architect applications against a conceptual model that is mapped to the logic model. The Entity Framework has many components including EntityClient, Entity SQL, Object Services, the Entity Data Model, and LINQ to Entities. This session will discuss the architecture of the Entity Framework and explain the roles of each of its different components. It will also demonstrate how to write queries using the different options as well as how to evaluate which options within Object Services to use or if to use the EntityClient provider directly.

 

VDA202: Customizing Entity Data Models in the Entity Framework
John Papa
Designing the Entity Data Model with the Entity Framework is a critical aspect in developing an architecture. Once the model has been created it is beneficial to know how to customize the model to adapt to the business problems. This session will explore the different XML files that map the objects to the database schema and show how to modify them when needed. I will explain how you can design an object model with the Entity Framework using both the Entity Data Model Wizard as well as  by manually editing the XML files. I will demonstrate how to implement inheritance, how to merge multiple entities within  a conceptual model, how to take advantage of features such as conditions in the mapping layer, how to implement complex types, and how to hook into stored procedures. This session will demonstrate how to interact with the conceptual model using EntityClient, Entity SQL, and LINQ to Entities to perform queries and make updates to a database.

 

.NET 3.5 Language Enhancements

Friday, February 01 2008 - net - 0 comments

After what feels like a year of h#ll that it took me and my family to move to Florida, I finally made it. It is still ongoing to get everything settled, but once I do get all set up I will get back to blogging and writing and speaking a bit more. I took 2 months off of writing and speaking, but now things are kicking back in gear.

You can find my latest article on Simple-Talk. This one explains some of the new features in C# that are coming in VS 2008 and .NET 3.5 including anonymous types, object initializers, collection initializers, automatic properties, and implicitly typed variables. Many of these useful features are also the foundation for using LINQ. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this article. I will be speaking at several conference later this summer and this fall. I hope to see some of you there.

New EF CTP! ADO.NET Entity Framework June 2007 CTP is Available

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 4 comments

The ADO.NET team has released the latest bits for the ADO.NET Entity Framework with the June 2007 CTP. There are samples on CodePlex, too. It claims many changes and support for a lot of new features ... I grabbed this partial list from their post:

• Changes in: 
• Object Services
• Query
• Entity Client
• the Entity Data Model Wizard in Visual Studio 
• no more default constructors in code-generated classes
• improvements to stored procedure support

• New Features:
• IPOCO
• detaching from long-running ObjectContext instances
• multiple entity sets per type
• support for referential integrity constraints
• span support
• transactions
• serialization

Notice the IPOCO support. This is something that is a step in the right direction for getting the entities in the EDM to move towards full POCO. I am downloading the bits now and can't wait to unwrap the candy!

Data Access "Practically Done"

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq, ent-lib, sql - 3 comments

I will be kicking off my move to South Florida in a few weeks with a 1 day event for the “Practically Done” event series. On Wednesday August 1^st and on Saturday August 4^th I will be presenting “Data Access Done Right”, a full day event in Orlando.

Register here for Wednesday, August 1^st – 9am to 5pm

ADO.NET Entity Framework Overview

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

My July 2007 Data Points column has been posted to the MSDN Magazine web site. This edition is titled "ADO.NET Entity Framework Overview".

I wrote this using the March CTP and then revised it using the Orcas Beta 1, so the code included works in the most recently available bits. Knowing that changes are on their way, I tried to focus the article on the concepts and technical aspects of the EF that make ups its foundation. The components such as Object Services, Entity Client, and LINQ to Entities will evolve but are fairly well baked. Aspects I expect to change (although I have no evidence to support it) are the way the entities are implemented. For example, I expect they may evolve into more of a POCO style with no interface nor base class required. This topic has been beaten pretty hard, so I won't add anything further to it for now since I agree with most of what has already been blogged about. There is one piece which I know is on its way, however late to the game it may be ... the EDM Designer. 

Anyway ... this article is an overview of how the EF is structured and how its pieces work. I inlcuded some examples as well. It was difficult to keep the word count down on this one ... my first draft had over 7000 words in it (supposed to be about 3000). So we cut it down to a reasonable and digestable size. I hope you enjoy it!

Code to Gather RSS Feeds

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net - 2 comments

I recently wrote an article for SimpleTalk.com titled Gathering RSS Feeds Using Visual Studio and RSS.NET. The article is now online and available to read. Here is the abstract for this article:

Integrating RSS feeds into applications has become very popular. There are several tools (such as Microsoft Outlook 2007) available to read blogs and news from RSS feeds. There are also some tools available (such as RSS.NET and the ASP.NET team's RSS Toolkit) that can aid you in the development of customizing feeds in your applications. This article will use the RSS.NET assembly, which can be freely downloaded and used from http://www.rssdotnet.com/.

For those who are not familiar with SimpleTalk, it is a web site that publishes articles on various technology topics. The site is operated by Red Gate Software, which has some popular database tools that many of us use.

Orcas Beta 1 - VPC Images and New Patch Available

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net - 0 comments

Last week the Orcas Beta 1 was made available for download by Microsoft. It is madeup of 8 large RAR files and can be downlaoded from here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx

Some of my excitement was tempered a bit when a bug was found that caused problems with the EDM Wizard. The team was quick to respond and they have already released a patch for it, as posted on their web site:

Late last week, after bits had been finalized, we found a bug in the ADO.NET Entity Data Model Wizard that shipped with Visual Studio “Orcas” beta 1. The problem has now been corrected.

 Please download and install the patch available at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f69e9eb8-0ebd-4fba-a4cc-2050297ba75b&displaylang=en to fix the problem.

I have been busy editing my slides for VSLive Orlando where I am doing a full day workshop on data access. Only 1.5 hours of which is focussed on Orcas ... but I still had to review all of the beta 1 tools to make sure my samples still work for May 10th's workshop. So far everything seems fine, but I am glad the patch came out so I can fully test the walk throughs, too. That is the fun of presenting beta topics (or pre-beta topics). :)

Entity Framework: CSDL, MSL and SSDL Schemas

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

Due to the lack of a designer and because I am very curious, I’ve been digging through the XML for the CSDL, MSL and a little bit into the SSDL schemas for the Entity Framework’s Entity Data Model. Even if you are waiting for the Designer to be released (date TBD) it cannot hurt to get familiar with these XML file structures. For example, the MSDL’s schema supports the following for the mapping Conditions:

<!-- Type for Condition Element-->

  <xs:complexType name="TCondition">

    <xs:attribute ref="tns:Value" use="optional" />

    <xs:attribute ref="tns:Name" use="optional" />

    <xs:attribute ref="tns:ColumnName" use="optional" />

    <xs:attribute ref="tns:IsNull" use="optional" />

  </xs:complexType>

Currently the conditions in mapping only allow you to compare a column to a scalar value or to check for NULL. You can create multiple conditions, which will create an AND situation. However you cannot combine the conditions with OR’s (i.e. you can’t say get all orders > $10,000 or  orders < $100).  In fact, nor can you compare values at this point (i.e. < ). These features are surely going to be in future versions, though.

By having the XSD’s for the CSDL, MSL AND SSDL you can explore what options are available even if the intellisense is not working in the latest CTP J (which has happened to me at times). For example, I noticed that complex properties are in the schema, however they are not fully supported at this time. But at least this gives me a glimpse at what might be supported in the future.

I open the XSD’s in Visual Studio.NET Orcas, but of course you can use other tools like XML Spy. Here is a snapshot of the TableMappingFragment’s schema from the MSL file:

If you are looking for the XSD’s, you can find them in the March Orcas CTP located at this folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Xml\Schemas

And the file names are:

-          CSDLSchema.xsd

-          CSMSL.xsd

-          SSDLSchema.xsd

Friday - Tampa - .NET University

Friday, February 01 2008 - net - 2 comments

A few weeks go I mentioned that many of my colleagues and I from ASPSOFT will be presenting several topics in Tampa, Florida on April 6^th, 2007. There are still seats left for this event (and its free). All topics are covered at a 100-level, and labs will be included with the courseware.

This 1 day training event is titled “.NET University” and will cover:

- Windows Communication Foundation

- Windows Presentation Foundation

- Windows Workflow Foundation

- CardSpace 

If you are interested, make sure you register for the event.

April Fools Day Idea - Coding For Fun

Friday, February 01 2008 - net - 0 comments

Being the mischievous sort that I am, I am always interested in a creative (yet harmless) prank. A friend of mine, Brian Peek, is a master at creating interesting hardware based solutions with .NET. Recently he has come up with some great ideas for the holidays such as an application that will drip blood on a computer screen, his motion detecting blood squirting skull, or the less demonic and more cheerful Holiday light show. Brian also has several other neat ideas (some of which involve minor hardware and some of which do not) that he writes about in his column with MSDN Coding For Fun.

Anyway … Brian came out with a neat idea for an April Fools Day joke. The article in Coding For Fun that Brian wrote describes how to make an application lay in wait til an assigned day and time and then it will take a screenshot of the monitor(s) and rotate then and/or zoom them in and out. I won’t give out all of the details here as Brian did a great job at explaining them in his article. All of the code is included in both VB and C# and it requires nothing but .NET. So go check out his article and stay away from my computer!

Oh … and I love the disclaimer message that appears when you download the code. It basically says you run this at your own risk J I guess they were covering themselves in case Brian was the next great virus creator. Can’t blame them really. But it is funny J

Rotating Screen for April Fools Day

Motion Detecting, Blood Squirting Skull

Entity Framework Thoughts

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 13 comments

Stored Procedures and CUD (minus the R) in the Entity Framework

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

The Data Access Team published a great post that has some superb explanations on how to make the Entity Framework use stored procedures for inserts, udpates and deletes. (It does not yet support stored procedures for retrieving data.)   Obviously there are pieces missing, as Shyam states (such as retrieving data via sprocs), but to see CUD (minus the R) working in the EF with sprocs is great.

One knock I can already hear though is how people will have to change the existing sprocs. Specifically in the example where the additional parameter must be added to support the EF's  determination of which entities/sprocs to execute in which order. Obviously it would be better if a future evolution could do without this.

Fantastic to see sproc support born in the Entity Framework!

On a related note, I am having a heck of a time trying to get an overview of ADO.NET Orcas to fit into a publishable article. There is just sooooo much to it and so little space to write about it. I could go on for days on this topic :)

LINQ to Entity Samples added to 101 Samples!

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 1 comments

Earlier in March I posted that some samples intended for use with the March CTP of Orcas were available for download. These samples replace the samples that are linked from the MSDN docs in the CTP. One thing these samples lacked was the LINQ to Entities samples. Today, Charlie Calvert posted a link to updated samples that include LINQ TO Entities samples inside the SamplesQueries example project. Inside the SamplesQueries project you will find a 101 LINQ to Entities samples.

This is great news! Previously there were tons of examples in this project for LINQ to SQL, LINQ to XML, LINQ to Objects and LINQ to DataSets. With the additin of LINQ to Entities, it means I have plenty of material to play with and keep my head buried in ADO.NET and the Entity Framework.

You can download the new samples here.

Entity Framework and Object Services Primer

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

As I am sure you have read by now, the Entity Framework is a huge leap forward in the next iteration of ADO.NET in Orcas.  Currently the implementation has a conceptual layer represented by a CSDL file. This CSDL file contains the XML that represents conceptual model (the objects). The conceptual layer is mapped to the database through a series of lower layers (the Mapping and the Source). The Source is represented by a SSDL file which contains XML that represents the database schema. The MSL file contains the XML that maps the CSDL to the SSDL. All 3 of these files can be generated using the EDM Model Wizard in the Orcas Feb/March CTP.

Once the model has been generated (or created by hand), the data can be manipulated and interrogated through the conceptual model. Thus a level of abstraction is created where an application can interact with data through an object model that is mapped to the underlying data source. LINQ to Entities or Entity SQL can be used to interact with the EDM. LINQ to Entities is great when you can define your query expressions at design time and enhance them with parameters. Entity SQL can also be sued to achieve the same goals, however since Entity SQL is string based it can support more dynamic queries where queries can be built on the fly.

There is quite a bit to chew with the Entity Framework, more than enough for a entire series of articles. And I have not even touched on the other ADO.NET components such as LINQ to SQL or LINQ to DataSets, much less the designers, LINQ to objects, LINQ to XML, EntityClient and much much more.

It is an exciting time to be involved with data access technologies! And some unforeseen changes are yet to come as many have already experienced the changes through the CTP’s of LINQ and Orcas. But it seems evident that the data access team is making its biggest change to data access in a very long time.

Updated Samples for Orcas March 2007 CTP

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

Charlie Calvert has posted some samples intended for use with the March CTP of Orcas. These samples replace the samples that are linked from the MSDN docs in the CTP (which is good since I have had mixed result wth them so far). Charlie also posted a video on the samples here that helps explain them.

Entity Framework Terminology

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

I have some articles to write on the Entity Framework and LINQ to ADO.NET, so I will be busy in the depths of EF for a while. I have been spending the past few days immersing myself in the Orcas March CTP. While there are features I am still longing for (such as the EDM Designer) this is the most EF & LINQ complete CTP in a long time. While the MSDN Documentation is not complete by any means, there is some great information in there. For example, I found this fantastic page in the help docs that is a glossary of the Entity Framework terminology. I pulled this directly from their documentation, which you can find at this link (ms-help://MS.MSDNQTR.v90.en/MS.MSDN.v90/MS.VisualStudio.v90.en/WD_ADONET/html/fa2a1bd1-6118-487b-8673-eebc66b92945.htm ) in the March CTP's help docs. This is a great reference to lean on when learning the EF ... kudos to the data team for creating and including this information in the CTP.

Entity Framework terminology:

alias

 An attribute of the Schema element in CSDL and SSDL schemas that can be substituted for the full namespace to shorten element references in the schema.

association

 The definition of a relationship between entity types.

association set

 A logical container for instances of associations of the same type.

base type

 A parent type or super-type in the EDM from which derived types inherit some of their properties.

complex type

 An entity type whose properties have internal properties. Used as a property of an entity type or of another complex type.

conceptual schema definition language (CSDL)

 XML-based dialect used to define the entity types, associations, entity containers, entity sets, and association sets of a conceptual model.

conceptual model

 Abstract specification for the entity types, associations, entity containers, entity sets, and association sets comprising an application domain.

constraint

 Restricts the possible values of a property and ensures that a value is valid.

container

 A logical grouping of entity and association sets.

degree

 The number of entity types in a relationship. Relationships are classified as unary, binary, ternary, or n-ary.

direction

 Refers to the asymmetrical nature of some associations. Direction is specified with FromRole and ToRole attributes of ReferentialConstraint elements in entity data models.

end

 A participating entity in an association.

entity

 An instance of an entity type.

EntityClient

 A storage-independent ADO.NET data provider containing classes such as EntityConnection, EntityCommand, and EntityDataReader. Works with Entity SQL and connects to storage specific ADO.NET Data Providers, such as SqlClient.

entity container

 Specifies the sets of entity types and associations that will be available in a specified namespace.

Entity Data Model (EDM)

 A system for defining application data as sets of entities and relationships.

Entity Framework

 A set of technologies that supports development of data-oriented software applications by allowing developers to work with conceptual models that are mapped to logical schemas in data sources.

entity-relationship model

 A data model that uses relationships between entities as the basis for describing application data schemas.

entity set

 A logical container for entities of the same type, mapped to tables in a database.

Entity SQL

 A storage-independent dialect of SQL that works directly with conceptual entity schemas and that supports entity data model features such as inheritance and relationships.

entity type

 A named set of properties representing a top-level item in a data model.

enumeration

 A simple type whose single value is selected from a specified set of options.

facet

 A constraint, such as Nullable, MaxLength, or Precision, that limits the allowable values for a property.

helper method

 User-defined operations implemented in partial classes that add functionality to objects generated from entity data models.

key

 The attribute of an entity type that specifies which property or set of properties is used to identify unique instances of the entity type.

language integrated query (LINQ)

 A query syntax that defines a set of query operators that allow traversal, filter, and projection operations to be expressed in a direct, declarative way in C# and Visual Basic.

LINQ to Entities

 The use of language integrated query operators with objects representing a conceptual model.

mapping

 A set of correspondences between items in a conceptual model and items in a storage model.

mapping specification language (MSL)

 An XML-based dialect used to map items defined in a conceptual model to items in a storage model.

metadata

 Data used to describe the structure of other data, including the SSDL XML file, which describes the structure of data in a data store.

Metadata Workspace

 A class that represents the metadata runtime service component that provides support for retrieving metadata.

multiplicity

 The number of entities that can exist on each side of a relationship.

navigation property

 A property of entity types that uses an association to reference related entities.

object services

 Services provided by the Entity Framework to classes generated from a set of metadata.

object context

 A base class that provides object services such as tracking and saving changes, and that contains a connection to the underlying data store.

referential constraint

 An element of an SSDL entity data model that specifies the direction of an association with FromRole and ToRole attributes. Corresponds to a CSDL navigation property.

relational model

 The logical model used to define the tables, columns, and constraints in a database.

relationship

 A logical connection between entities.

role

 The name given to each end of an association to clarify the semantics of the relationship.

simple type

 Primitive type used for defining properties in entity data models.

store schema definition language (SSDL)

 XML-based dialect used to define the entity types, associations, entity containers, entity sets, and association sets of a storage model, often corresponding to a database schema.

table-per hierarchy (TPH)

 A method of modeling a type hierarchy in a database that includes the attributes of all the types in the hierarchy in one table.

table-per-type (TPT)

 A method of modeling a type hierarchy in a database that uses multiple tables with one-to-one relationships to model the various types.

XML (simple type)

 Can contain well-formed XML or valid XML data. The facets of this type control which kind of XML data can be contained within it.

31 Days of Resharper Tips

Friday, February 01 2008 - net - 0 comments

In case you have not caught his series already, Joe White is blogging his 31 favorite Resharper tips in his series of posts called 31 days of Resharper. Resharper has saved me a ton of time in coding in .NET with its Find Usages, live templates, compiler warnings, and many of its navigation features. If you love using Resharper like I do or you are considering finding out what all the fuss is about, check out his series so far. He is about half way through his tips as he has posted the following entries so far:

Day 0: Basics and installation
Day 1: The gray, the red, and the squiggly
Day 2: The color bar and the green box
Day 3: ReSharper survival guide, or, What's up with my keybindings?
Day 4: Auto closing delimiters
Day 5: Integrated unit-test runner
Day 6: Shared options in the .resharper file
Day 7: Code formatting
Day 8: Find Usages
Day 9: Parameter Info
Day 10: Go To Type
Day 11: Code navigation
Day 12: Type Hierarchy view
Day 13: File Structure view
Day 14: Suggested variable names
Day 15: The Ctrl+Space family
Day 16: Importing namespaces with Alt+Enter
Day 17: Change All with Alt+Enter (and, Introducing the red light bulb)
Day 18: Adding things with Alt+Enter
Day 19: Implement Members with Alt+Enter
Day 20: Fix errors and warnings with Alt+Enter
Day 21: Code transformations with Alt+Enter
Day 22: Generating code with Alt+Ins
Day 23: Introduce Variable (and, introducing Ctrl+Shift+R to refactor)

Day 24: Introduce Field 

Day 25: Introduce Parameter

Day 26: Change Signature
Day 27: Extract Method
Day 28: Really Extract Static Method and Extract Property

Day 29: Refactoring with interfaces

Day 30: Rename, including Viral Rename

Day 31: Safe Delete

 

.NET University in Tampa (Free Event)

Friday, February 01 2008 - net - 2 comments

Many of my colleagues and I from ASPSOFT will be presenting several topics in Tampa, Florida on April 6^th, 2007. The free 1 day training event is titled “.NET University” .We will be presenting an overview of the .NET Framework (.NET 3.0), including Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows CardSpace. All topics are covered at a 100-level, and labs will be included with the courseware. Upon completion, attendees will receive their official .NET University alumni T-Shirt and a Certificate of completion. Space is limited, so register early to get your seat at .NET University!

OK, so I copied some of the text above from the .NET University web site J.  It should be a fun day. If you are interested, make sure you register for the event.

Entity SQL & the EntityClient Provider in ADO.NET vNext and Orcas

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, sql, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 0 comments

Interesting Orcas & LINQ Links

Friday, February 01 2008 - net, ado-net, entity-framework, linq - 3 comments