Code-First Development with the Entity Framework

Presenter: Don Kiely

Session Details:

Entity Framework 4 used database-first and model-first styles of development wherein the database had to exist before you built the entity data model or you built a model in a designer. However, Microsoft has made available an update to EF 4 that supports code-first development, in which you create the model first using tools in Visual Studio 2010. With code-first development, you don't have to create entities in a designer or do any kind of XML mapping. Instead, you define model objects by writing regular .NET classes, including validation rules and a context class that handles retrieving and persisting data, and then create a database from your model. But how good is the resulting database? Are there any pitfalls to this style of development? Can a developer do real database development with code-first? During this session, you'll learn about this powerful feature in Entity Framework and see how to put it to use, as well as explore the issues involved with its development.

About the Speaker:

Don Kiely, MVP, MCSD, is a technology consultant who develops secure desktop and Web applications using tools including SQL Server, VB, C#, AJAX, and ASP.NET. He writes regularly for many industry journals, including Visual Studio Magazine, MSDN Magazine, CoDe Magazine, and asp.netPRO. Don trains developers and speaks regularly at industry conferences, including TechEd, PASS Summit, DevConnections, DevTeach, and others and is a member of the INETA and MSDN Canada speaker bureaus. He writes courseware and records videos for AppDev. In his other life, he roams the Alaska wilderness by foot, dog sled, skis, and kayak. Contact him at donkiely@computer.org.