Comments on: Top Ten New Features in Entity Framework 4.0 http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/ A glimpse into the lives of Tony & Zuzana Sneed Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:59:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Tony Sneed http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-265 Tony Sneed Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:06:31 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-265 @Sandy: There is a "using" element which can allow you to share entities in the CSDL between models (perhaps what you refer to as "manually hack" the XML files. Sadly, doing this will disable the designer support, forcing you to hand edit the XML for any future changes -- which is not something I recommend. So in the meantime, the recommended approach is to duplicate common tables among the various sub-models, meaning you would have to update all the models if there is a change in one of the common tables. So the answer is that EF4 does not offer any additional support in the area of large models. For a database with 100 or more tables, you should definitely use multiple models, both for performance and maintainability. For more information on this topic, see http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2008/11/24/working-with-large-models-in-entity-framework-part-1.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2008/11/24/working-with-large-models-in-entity-framework-part-2.aspx @Sandy: There is a “using” element which can allow you to share entities in the CSDL between models (perhaps what you refer to as “manually hack” the XML files. Sadly, doing this will disable the designer support, forcing you to hand edit the XML for any future changes — which is not something I recommend. So in the meantime, the recommended approach is to duplicate common tables among the various sub-models, meaning you would have to update all the models if there is a change in one of the common tables.

So the answer is that EF4 does not offer any additional support in the area of large models. For a database with 100 or more tables, you should definitely use multiple models, both for performance and maintainability. For more information on this topic, see
http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2008/11/24/working-with-large-models-in-entity-framework-part-1.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2008/11/24/working-with-large-models-in-entity-framework-part-2.aspx

]]> By: Sandy http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-264 Sandy Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:20:39 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-264 Hi All, One thing I was hoping to see on the top 10 list was an improvment to how EF copes with large models. We have 600+ tables and don’t want to have all 600 in the one model. It would make sense to break our model into multiple sub-models and have a common model for shared tables such as a Users table which would be used in most sub-models. But you can’t reference models in your models. The work-around for this is to add the common tables to each sub-model. If a common table changes you need to update it in each model. Another work-around was to manually hack the XML files but this detracts from the user experience. Does EF4 improve support for this scenario? Cheers, Sandy. Hi All,

One thing I was hoping to see on the top 10 list was an improvment to how EF copes with large models.

We have 600+ tables and don’t want to have all 600 in the one model. It would make sense to break our model into multiple sub-models and have a common model for shared tables such as a Users table which would be used in most sub-models. But you can’t reference models in your models. The work-around for this is to add the common tables to each sub-model. If a common table changes you need to update it in each model. Another work-around was to manually hack the XML files but this detracts from the user experience.

Does EF4 improve support for this scenario?

Cheers,
Sandy.

]]> By: Mike Wassermann http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-135 Mike Wassermann Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:59:55 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-135 After installing SP 3 for XP the EF designer won't load, what can I do? Thanks Mike After installing SP 3 for XP the EF designer won’t load, what can I do?

Thanks
Mike

]]> By: Learning resources for Entity Framework 4.0 new features « Bogdan Brinzarea’s blog http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-134 Learning resources for Entity Framework 4.0 new features « Bogdan Brinzarea’s blog Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:13:48 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-134 [...] http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161 [...] [...] http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161 [...]

]]> By: Tony and Zuzana’s World » Who is Improving LINQ to SQL? Plinqo by Code Smith! http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-133 Tony and Zuzana’s World » Who is Improving LINQ to SQL? Plinqo by Code Smith! Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:10:19 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-133 [...] SQL for real-world applications, especially since Microsoft has left it to languish in favor of the new version of the Entity Framework slated for release with .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. Nevertheless, I have a consulting client, [...] [...] SQL for real-world applications, especially since Microsoft has left it to languish in favor of the new version of the Entity Framework slated for release with .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. Nevertheless, I have a consulting client, [...]

]]> By: Tony http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-132 Tony Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:53:30 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-132 The links are working now. :) My blog had been hacked and I couldn't log in to easily edit the post. But that's corrected now and things are back to normal. The links are working now. :) My blog had been hacked and I couldn’t log in to easily edit the post. But that’s corrected now and things are back to normal.

]]> By: brix http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-131 brix Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:41:29 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-131 Hi, Great post.By the way all the links seems to be broken. Hi,
Great post.By the way all the links seems to be broken.

]]> By: Bindav N Pandya http://blog.tonysneed.com/2009/07/09/top-ten-new-features-in-entity-framework-4-0/#comment-130 Bindav N Pandya Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:50:55 +0000 http://blog.tonysneed.com/?p=161#comment-130 Great work by EF Team and ofcourse great work by Tony to categorise the top 10 New features in EF. This EF4 is going to be mind blowing STUFF !!! Great work by EF Team and ofcourse great work by Tony to categorise the top 10 New features in EF. This EF4 is going to be mind blowing STUFF !!!

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