What is Entity Framework?
Entity framework is an Object/Relational Mapping (O/RM) framework. It is the best improvements to ADO.NET. EF is an open source. It gives developers an automated mechanism for accessing & storing the data in the database.
If you are new to Entity Framework, I recommend you to read Dot Net Concepts here.
As we already said, the Microsoft ADO.NET Entity Framework is an Object/Relational Mapping (ORM) framework that enables developers to work with relational data as domain-specific objects, eliminating the need for most of the data access plumbing code that developers usually need to write.
EF ORM implementation provides services like
- Change tracking
- Identity resolution
- Lazy loading
- Query translation
Developers can concentrate can focus on application-specific business logic and create domain objects rather than concentrating on data access fundamentals.
Lets take a look at some Useful Scenarios Entity Framework at first,
- First, you already have an existing database or you want to design your database ahead of other parts of the application.
- you want to focus on your domain classes and then Entity framework creates the database from your domain classes.
- you want to design your database schema on the visual designer and then create the database and classes.
Now, we have some basic idea about EF, Let us take a look at EF7 New Features
Initially, Entity framework came with fewer features and some functionality. There were continuous changes made in the Entity framework as a result. EF has become more popular and comes with lots of new features in every release.
According to the published roadmap, the next major version 7.1, should be out in the first quarter of 2018.
Check out the Entity Framework Version 7 Features below,
- Lightweight and extensible
- New Data Stores
- Unique Constraints
- New Platforms
- Shadow Properties
The major goals of Entity Framework 7 include its support for new platforms and new data stores. So, support for additional providers will also be included in Entity Framework 7:
Here we are going to discuss New Features of Entity Framework 7
Lightweight and Extensile:
In Entity Framework 7 You can use only that extensions which are useful to your project. But the concepts are same as previous versions of EF also, here we use DbContext/DbSet same way as you are currently using. The advantage of extensible is you can replace and extend it.
New Data Stores:
Before Entity Framework 7 data’s are tied to relational database Management. EF provides great support to nonrelational data stores also. Relational & non-Relational, like Azure table storage.
Note that, before Entity Framework 7, there were two storage models the EDMX file format based on XML schema or code. With Entity Framework 7, the EDMX file format will be dropped. we will have only the code based format. Interestingly, this approach is also termed the “code-first only” approach.
Unique Constraints:
Entity Framework 7 allowed to identify additional unique keys within our entities in addition to the primary key. Here we are using these alternate keys as the target of foreign key relationships. In Entity Framework 7 a unique constraint is introduced for each alternate key in the model.
New Platforms:
This is one of the great features in EF7. Many Technologies supported in Entity framework version 7. Such as ASP.NET, WinForms, WPF and also includes Windows Store and Cloud Optimized Dot Net Framework.
Shadow Properties:
Shadow properties are properties that do not exist in entity class, but within the class, this is also one of the parts. Change Tracker is used to maintaining the value and state of the Properties. These can participate in all database operations. Currently, we can declare shadow properties using fluent API only.
Conclusion:
I hope this article provided a clearer understanding of Entity Framework. This new version has interesting new stuff. It gives you a platform to learn Recent Trends in Dot NET language, you get some basic idea and become job ready.