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Using Entity SQL As Your Data Access Layer

  • Dec 2, 2008
Almost every project that uses a database layer has what is generally referred to as a "data access layer." Paul Kimmel suggests letting the ADO.NET Entity Framework be your data access layer, thereby removing the impedance mismatch between logical data and the way you want to use the data.
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Introduction

I've seen a lot of custom data access layers—some good and some not so good. Writing a custom data access layer is busywork that generally moves data from a logical schema into a conceptual collective of objects. The mismatch between the needs of the database and the needs of the solution is referred to as an impedance mismatch.

The ADO.NET Entity Framework handily plays the role of data access layer, letting you focus on the solution rather than a database schema. The Entity Framework converts the database's view of the data, the logical schema, normalized for the database's needs into a conceptual model representing your problem-space's needs.

In my article "Writing LINQ Queries with the Entity Framework," I covered using LINQ to Entities. Here we'll explore Entity SQL. LINQ to Entities and Entity SQL are competing technologies. You probably don't need to learn both, but familiarity with both will help you to decide which approach may work best for you in a given scenario.

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