ADO.NET Entity Framework on Channel 9

Channel 9 published a very interesting video about Microsoft's O/R Mapping tool that will be included in a future version of ADO.NET. It is actually a remake of a video that was published a couple of months, also in Channel 9, only to be shutted down soon after.

As almost every .NET developer does, I use ADO.NET every day, and have been a fan from the first hour.

But as an architect -in a limited sense I must add- I have to deal a lot with both theoretical and empirical aspects of multi-tier development, so I have been looking for the silver bullet for the Data Access Layer for years.

Pablo Castro, Technnical Lead of ADO.NET (and a native from Buenos Aires!) was very nice answering the comments I posted to Channel 9. I will reproduce my own writting here, but you can read his very interesting answer directly on the site.

As I mentioned before, one of my great concerns is how team development will look like with the Entity Framework. I took some time to detail my thoughts:

First, many real life projects are partitioned in modules, so their data layers are partitioned likewise.

Often, there are sets of tables that are used exclusively in each module, and a set of tables that are common to all. Yet, there are some tables that are reused in more than one application (typical examples are security, navigation, etc).

Besides, building a useful data layer is not done in one step nor does it take a single day. It is more often an evolutionary and error-prone process in which a programmer “imports” objects from the database each time he/she realizes they are mentioned in the specification.

During this process, errors that affect maintainability (duplications, improper use of naming standards, etc.) are very usual.

So, here is a short list of features that I would like to see in the Entity Framework (some are actually hard requirements). Of course I ignore if any of these are already included:

1. Partitioning of the conceptual model in multiple files and assemblies.
2. Referencing and extending (entity inheritance) between entities defined in separate files and assemblies.
3. Creating reusable “libraries” containing entities and mappings that can be reused by different modules or different applications.
4. "Incremental" reverse engineering of databases (I think this one is already in the graphical design tool).
5. Support for basic refactorings (unification, replacement, renaming, etc).
6. Very readable and maintainable XML (it should be easy to merge two files with a source code comparison tool).
7. Efficient and easy serialization of entities and entity sets outside the database.
8. Separation of the conceptual model from the persistence logic (take a look at what Steve Lasker does with typed datasets).
9. A migration tool for typed datasets XSDs.
10. A degree of resiliency to some schema changes.

If you can answer any of my doubts, I will be grateful. My boss is pressing me to evaluate O/RM products, and I am telling him to way for your framework everyday :).

All in all, I am very enthusiastic about this new piece of technology. I think it could make my life and the life of many other developers a lot easier and also more interesting!