Entity Framework 4 In Action

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
About this book
About the cover illustration

Part 1: Redefining your data-access strategy
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

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
3. Querying the object model: the basics
-One engine, many querying methods
-The query engine entry point: Object Services
-Summary

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

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

6. Understanding the entity lifecycle
-The entity lifecycle
-Managing entity state
-Managing change tracking with ObjectStateManager
-Summary

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

8. Handling concurrency and transactions
-Understanding the concurrency problem
-Handling concurrency in Entity Framework
-Managing transactions
-Summary

Part 3: Mastering Entity Framework
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

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

11. Working with functions and views
-Views in the storage model: defining queries
-User-defined functions and scalar-valued functions
-Summary

12. Exploring EDM metadata
-Metadata basics
-Retrieving metadata
-Building a metadata explorer
-Writing generic code with metadata
-Summary

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

Part 4: Applied Entity Framework
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

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

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

17. Entity Framework and Windows applications
-An example application
-Designing model classes for binding
-Binding in Windows Forms applications
-Binding in WPF applications
-Summary

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

19. Keeping an eye on performance
-Testing configuration and environment
-Database-writing comparison
-Query comparisons in the default environment
-Optimizing performance
-Summary

Appendix A : Understanding LINQ
Appendix B : Entity Framework tips and tricks

Index