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EF 4.2 Model & Database First Walkthrough

2011-09-28T14:59:00Z

Entity Framework 4.2 Release Candidate is now available and contains a small update to the DbContext API & Code First runtime that were released as part of EF 4.1.

This post will provide an introduction to Model First and Database First development with the DbContext API, using the Entity Data Model Designer in Visual Studio.

You will need to have Visual Studio 2010 installed to complete this walkthrough.

1. Create the Application

To keep things simple we’re going to build up a basic console application that uses the DbContext to perform data access:

Open Visual Studio 2010
File -> New -> Project…
Select “Windows” from the left menu and “Console Application”
Enter “ModelFirstSample” as the name
Select “OK”

2. Create the Model

Let’s go ahead and add an Entity Data Model to our project;

Project –> Add New Item…
Select ‘Data’ from the left menu
Select ‘ADO.NET Entity Data Model’ from the list of available items
Name the model ‘PersonModel.edmx’
Click ‘Add’

We are going to use Model First for this walkthrough but if you are mapping to an existing database you would now select ‘Generate from database’, follow the prompts and then skip to step 4.

Select ‘Empty model’
Click ‘Finish’

Let’s add a Person entity to our model:

On the design surface; Right Click –> Add –> Entity
Name the entity ‘Person’
Click ‘OK’
On the Person entity; Right Click –> Add –> Scalar Property
Name the property ‘Full Name’

3. Create the Database

Now that we’ve defined the model we can generate a database schema to store our data:

On the design surface; Right Click –> Generate Database from Model
Click ‘New Connection…’
Specify the details of the database you wish to create
Click ‘OK’
If prompted to create the database; click ‘Yes’
Click ‘Next’ then ‘Finish’
On the generated script; Right Click –> Execute SQL…
Specify your database server and click ‘Connect’

4. Swap to DbContext Code Generation

The PersonModel is currently generating a derived ObjectContext and entity classes that derive from EntityObject, we want to make use of the simplified DbContext API.

To use DbContext we need to install the EntityFramework NuGet package:

Project –> Add Library Package Reference…
Select the “Online” tab
Search for “EntityFramework.Preview” and select the package
Click “Install”

Now we can swap to using DbContext code generation templates:

On the design surface; Right Click –> Add Code Generation Item…
Select ‘Online Templates’ from the left menu
Search for ‘DbContext’
Select ‘ADO.NET C# DbContext Generator’
Name the item ‘PersonModel.tt’
Click ‘Add’

You’ll notice that two items are added to your project:

PersonModel.tt
This template generates very simple POCO classes for each entity in your model
PersonModel.Context.tt
This template generates a derived DbContext to use for querying and persisting data

5. Read & Write Data

It’s time to access some data, I’m padding out the Main method in Program.cs file as follows;

class Program 
{ 
  static void Main(string[] args) 
  { 
    using (var db = new PersonModelContainer()) 
    { 
      // Save some data 
      db.People.Add(new Person { FullName = "Bob" }); 
      db.People.Add(new Person { FullName = "Ted" }); 
      db.People.Add(new Person { FullName = "Jane" }); 
      db.SaveChanges();

      // Use LINQ to access data 
      var people = from p in db.People 
        orderby p.FullName 
        select p;

      Console.WriteLine("All People:"); 
      foreach (var person in people) 
      { 
        Console.WriteLine("- {0}", person.FullName); 
      }

      // Change someones name 
      db.People.First().FullName = "Janet"; 
      db.SaveChanges(); 
    }

    Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit..."); 
    Console.ReadKey(); 
  } 
}

Summary

In this walkthrough we looked at Model First development using the DbContext API. We looked at building a model, generating a database, swapping to DbContext code generation and then saving and querying data.

Rowan Miller
Program Manager
ADO.NET Entity Framework

EF 4.2 Release Candidate Available

2011-09-28T15:01:00Z

We recently posted about our plans to rationalize how we name, distribute and talk about releases. We heard a resounding ‘Yes’ from you so then we posted about our plans for releasing EF 4.2. We then shipped EF 4.2 Beta 1.

Third party EF provider writers tried out EF 4.2 Beta 1 and identified a couple more areas that were causing issues for them. We have been working to improve these areas and today we are making EF 4.2 Release Candidate available. The final release of EF 4.2 will be available in the near future.

EF 4.2 = Bug Fixes + Semantic Versioning

When we released ‘EF 4.1 Update 1’ we introduced a bug that affects third party EF providers using a generic class for their provider factory implementation, things such as WrappingProviderFactory<TProvider>. We missed this during our testing and it was reported by some of our provider writers after we had shipped. If you hit this bug you will get a FileLoadException stating “The given assembly name or codebase was invalid”. This bug is blocking some third party providers from working with ‘EF 4.1 Update 1’ and the only workaround for folks using an affected provider is to ask them to remain on EF 4.1. Third party provider writers then identified some areas in EF where it was hard to get EF to work with their providers, so we decided to address these issues in the EF 4.2 release. These provider related changes will be the only changes between ‘EF 4.1 Update 1’ and ‘EF 4.2’.

Obviously a single bug fix wouldn’t normally warrant bumping the minor version, but we also wanted to take the opportunity to get onto the semantic versioning path rather than calling the release ‘EF 4.1 Update 2’.

Getting Started

The following walkthroughs are available for EF 4.2:

Getting EF 4.2 Release Candidate

EF 4.2 Release Candidate is available via NuGet as the EntityFramework.Preview package. If you already have the EntityFramework package installed then updating to the latest version will give you EF 4.2.

Model First & Database First Templates

The templates for using the DbContext API with Model First and Database First are now available under the “Online Templates” tab when “Right-Click –> Add Code Generation Item…” is selected on the EF Designer.

Support

This is a preview of features that will be available in future releases and is designed to allow you to provide feedback on the design of these features. It is not intended or licensed for use in production. If you need assistance we have an Entity Framework Pre-Release Forum.

What’s Not in This Release?

As covered earlier this release is just a small update to the DbContext & Code First runtime. The features that were included in EF June 2011 CTP require changes to the Core Entity Framework Libraries that are part of the .NET Framework and will ship at a later date. Note that Code First Migrations is not compatible with the EntityFramework.Preview package. Please continue to use the most recent EntityFramework package when working with Migrations. Our Code First Migrations work is continuing and we are working to get the next release in your hands soon.

ADO.NET Entity Framework Team

Google takes steady aim at web programming with Dart

2011-10-10T19:53:00Z

Google has brought its arm up, narrowed its focus and let Dart fly. The new programming language focuses on web apps, and the internet giant is hoping that Dart will feel "familiar and natural" to developers raised on a diet of rival programming languages. The ability to execute code in either a native virtual machine (which emulates how it'd work in real-life) or a JavaScript engine means that anything can be compiled to run on current web browsers. Dart devs are also exploring the idea of cramming a virtual machine inside future versions of Chrome. Eager coders can now get their teeth into all of Google's open source development tools by targeting the second source link below.

Google takes steady aim at web programming with Dart originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TNW | Google Code, Dartlang | Email this | Comments

ASP.NET MVC 4.0 Mobile Template

2011-10-09T08:22:23Z

Microsoft has released the much awaited ASP.NET MVC 4.0 developer preview and there are lots of features bundle with it. One of the greatest features is a mobile website. Yes, Now with ASP.NET MVC 4.0 you can create mobile site also. So let’s create a simple application and let’s see how it works.

To create mobile site first you need to click File->New Project->ASP.NET MVC 4.0 Web application. Like following.

Now once you click OK it will open a new another dialog like following where we have to choose the Mobile site.

As you can see in above post I have selected Razor view Once you click it will create a new application like following. As you can see similar structure as normal MVC Application application below.

This view are based on the standard jQuery Mobile. So this can be viewed in any tablet or mobile device. So if you have IPad and IPhone both then it will work on both. You need not to different application for both. see the browser first I have selected standard IPad size of browser.

Now lets see how it look in mobile. So I have made my browser same site as mobile. As you can see its working in both.

If you see the code of view you can see the razor syntax over there. Nothing change in razor syntax. But as you can see in below code you need to use Jquery mobile attributes like data-Role and other stuff which will convert standard HTML into mobile or device compatible website.

<ul data-role="listview" data-inset="true">
    <li data-role="list-divider">Navigation</li>
    <li>@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home")</li>
    <li>@Html.ActionLink("Contact", "Contact", "Home")</li>
</ul>

That's it. It’s very easy you can create mobile compatible site in few hours. Hope you like it. Stay tuned for more.. Till then happy programming.

Namaste!!

new solution explorer feature in visual studio11 developer preview

2011-10-09T18:16:32Z

Microsoft Visual Studio11 Developer preview comes with bunch of new features and Solution explorer is also get some new features in it. There are few new icons added at top of solution explorer like below.

Create new window with copy of this Window Feature:

Now there is a one feature given with solution explorer you can create a another instance of solution explorer via clicking on last icon on solution explorer. Once you click the Last Icon for create copy. It will open a new solution explorer windows as below.

Properties in Solution Explorer:

Now only you can not only the see the properties of class but you can also see the methods property. Once you double-click class then it will show all methods available when you double-click method it will load the code in editor like in below.

Now once you click Page_load method you will see the page_load highlighted in code editor

Previous next view in solution explorer:

You can move previous and next with solution explorer. For example you have search with about like following .

It will search and load About us view like following.

As you can see in above image this is About us view and you can also see that first previous button is enabled. Now once you click that it will return to default view.

Search in Solution Explorer:

Now in Solution explorer search is also provided you can search specific item in solution explorer.

As you can see in above image it is a incremental search so when you start typing it will start searching.

That’s it. Hope you like it. Stay tuned for more.. Till then happy programming..

Namaste!!

Windows PowerShell Command Builder Getting Started Guide

2011-10-07T13:44:29Z

The Windows PowerShell Command Builder for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products and Microsoft Office 365 is a Silverlight 4 application that is designed to help IT professionals and power users learn how to use Windows PowerShell for administrative tasks.

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3

2011-10-07T13:43:22Z

Download SQL Server 2008 SP3

.NET 4.5: Oleg Lvovitch and Kevin Ransom - Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) 2.0

2011-10-05T19:53:02Z

The Managed Extensibility Framework (or MEF for short) simplifies the creation of extensible applications. MEF offers discovery and composition capabilities that you can leverage to load application extensions. In the upcoming release of .NET 4.5, MEF will ship version 2.0. Recently, I got a chance to meet and chat with MEF developers Oleg Lvovitch and Kevin Ransom. What is MEF? What problems does MEF solve? What improvements have been made in v2.0? How are people using MEF in the real world? What changes in BCL 4.5 helped shape new features or improvements/refinement? These questions and more get answered by those who know best. Great meeting and chatting with you, Oleg and Kevin.

Great work going on in MEF world! Tune in. Enjoy.

Squish your CSS and JS files in your ASP.NET web apps

2011-10-03T19:20:00Z

SquishIt is a nice library that helps you nicely minify your CSS and JavaScript files with very small effort.

The tool works perfectly fine in both ASP.NET WebForms and ASP.NET MVC and is available to get & install using NuGet package manager.

Open NuGet package manager or NuGet Manager PowerShell Console..

NuGet package manager:

As you can see, SquishIt is available for both ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC.

NuGet PowerShell Console:

Now, lets add our CSS and JS files that we want to Squish.

SquishIt has two functions for CSS and JavaScript. The method Render does the squishing. As you can see, we use ‘#’ where the method will auto-generate unique id for the script.

Once you run your web, open source code and check the rendered CSS/JS files

Since SquishIt works based on the Debug setting in Web.config

<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"/>

change the debug setting to false and run the web again…

Now, if you open the source code in your browser, you will see two files for both, CSS and JS files squished!

You will see that SquishIt has created the new files in the respective folders

If we open the squished file, you will see it is minified

SquishIt works exactly the same way for ASP.NET MVC!

Hope this was helpful.

Regards,
Hajan

Fitbit Ultra review

2011-10-03T10:00:00Z

Oh, hey, Fitbit. Nice to see you again. Although we thought the original fitness tracker did too little for a $100 gadget, enough people apparently begged to differ, as the the outfit just trotted out a second-gen model, dubbed the Fitbit Ultra. Like its predecessor, this little guy analyzes eating, exercise and sleep patterns (largely with the help of an accompanying website). If you've been following along, you know that design hasn't changed much, while that website and hundred-buck price should be mighty familiar, too. This time around the company is adding a few new features, including Foursquare-esque badges and an altimeter for counting how many steps you've climbed. But does this series of minor enhancements add up to a significant improvement? Time to lace up your running shoes, kids, and meet us after the break.

Gallery: Fitbit Ultra

Gallery: Fitbit Ultra review

Continue reading Fitbit Ultra review

Fitbit Ultra review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Why NuGet for Visual Studio 2010 is so useful!

2011-09-30T14:20:43Z

Recently I delivered a session at Virtual TechDays on why NuGet is so useful. As a part of the demonstration, I was showcasing how it automatically allows us to update some of the external reference libraries. Point in case, here is jQuery. Starting Visual Studio 2008 SP1, we have been shipping jQuery and intellisense for jQuery thereof. With Visual Studio 2010, out of the box, when we create a “File – New Project – ASP.NET Web Application” (which would create a Webforms application) it would automatically add the jQuery script files for jQuery 1.4.1 version. This was the then latest version of jQuery when we shipped Visual Studio 2010 way back in early 2010. With the new ASP.NET MVC 3 Tools Update that was shipped in April, this year, when...(read more)

Episode 60 - Introducing the Windows Azure Platform PowerShell Cmdlets 2.0

2011-09-30T16:00:00Z

Join Wade and Steve each week as they cover the Windows Azure Platform. You can follow and interact with the show at @CloudCoverShow.

In this episode, Michael Washam, Technical Evangelist for Windows Azure, joins Steve and Wade to discuss the Windows Azure Platform PowerShell Cmdlets.

In the news:

Tweet to Michael at @MWashamMS.

HTML5: Writing a Business-Oriented JavaScript Web Application

2011-09-26T00:00:00Z

October 2011

Microsoft sees HTML5 and JavaScript as key for Windows developers. To help you learn to write production-ready JavaScript, we walk you through creating a basic business application.

HTML5: Browser and Feature Detection

2011-09-26T00:00:00Z

October 2011

If you’re building a Web site, you don’t just want it to look terrific today; you want it to dazzle for a long time to come. That means your site has to work not only in today’s browsers, but also in future versions. Tthis article presents tips and best practices to help you achieve this goal.

F# Programming: Authoring an F#/C# VSIX Project Template

2011-09-26T00:00:00Z

October 2011

Encourage reuse and cut out those repetitive, time-wasting setup chores by creating a Visual Studio Extension project template composed of a C# ASP.NET MVC 3 Web app and two F# libraries.

Asynchronous Programming: Async Performance: Understanding the Costs of Async and Await

2011-09-26T00:00:00Z

October 2011

It’s easy to get started writing asynchronous methods in C# and Visual Basic, but there can be hidden performance costs. Stephen Toub explores the ins and outs of asynchronous methods to give you a solid understanding of how they’re implemented under the covers and show some of the more nuanced costs involved.

Asynchronous Programming: Pause and Play with Await

2011-09-26T00:00:00Z

October 2011

Asynchronous methods in the upcoming versions of Visual Basic and C# are a great way to get the callbacks out of your asynchronous programming. Mads Torgersen takes a closer look at what the new await keyword actually does, starting at the conceptual level and working down to the iron.

Asynchronous Programming: Easier Asynchronous Programming with the New Visual Studio Async CTP

2011-09-26T00:00:00Z

October 2011

There are many different techniques for achieving a responsive user interface in a program that performs high-latency operations, but the difficulty factor of doing so is high. The next version of C# and Visual Basic will include a new form of asynchronous control flow that avoids both the dangers of multithreading and the pain of writing callback methods.

Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 1.5 (September 2011)

2011-10-01T01:59:25Z

This page is intended for advanced manual installation of the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. You can install everything you need for Windows Azure development using the Web Platform Installer here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=156784

Expression Design September 2011 Preview

2011-10-01T01:59:04Z

Microsoft Expression Design September 2011 Preview provides new features, bug fixes, and stability enhancements for Expression Design 4.