View of data at entity level

Could you clarify a bit what you mean by "a view where one can see the data based on entity framework and entity mappings"? Do you mean a tool with some UI where you can browse data modelled this way? Or do you mean a database view that you can query against? Or did you mean something else?

If you mean at a tool with UI for browsing, the answer is that we do not have such a tool in this CTP, and while we are working on various tools for later releases we don't have a final list of them yet. I don't remember hearing about a tool that would do this, but that's not the part of the group I work in so there might be such an effort underway that I'm not aware of.

If you meant a database view that you can query against, then we have something like that in the sense that you can query against the map provider the same way as any other ado.net provider and get back a datareader. This sort of gives you a more traditional data access view over conceptual entities without necessarily having to create object instances, etc.

Does this answer your question?

- Danny

DanielSimmons-MSFT at 2007-8-31 >

The tools team is working on the Entity Mapper tool that helps create and edit mappings using a graphical UI. The current prototype has a feature that supports testing of mappings. It allows issuing canned and free-style eSQL queries against your EDM schema, such as "show me all entities of type Order", and displays the result in a tree view. Would you consider this a helpful feature?

As Danny said, the release date and feature list for tools have not been finalized yet. Your feedback helps us make these decisions, so please stay vocal!

- Sergey

SergeyMelnik-MSFT at 2007-8-31 >

No, it only shows the EntitySet's. It does however show the EntityContainer and the EntitySet's it stores as properties.

Paul

PaulGielens at 2007-8-31 >