Microsoft has released the first CTP for ADO.NET vNext which implements their vision for an Entity Framework to simplify data access.
The ADO.NET Entity Framework supports Object Relational Mapping scenarios using ADO.NET Entities, in this build you can:
- Query of persistent Entities using LINQ to Entities or Entity SQL
- Save new and dirtied entity instances through the object abstractions which also handle:
- State management
- Identity resolution
- Change tracking
- Work with persistent object graphs and leverage a programming and query model where relationships are a first class concept
- Use optimistic concurrency and server generated values with persistent entities
- Program against persistent entities as values using the new Map Provider
- Get first hand experience with Entities and the Entity Data Model
- Work with mappings based on view maintenance concepts to support
- Entity Splitting (entities split across multiple tables)
- Table Per Hierarchy, Table Per Class and Table Per Type mappings
- Property renaming
- Conditional mappings
I've begun to play with it, but haven't spent enough time to have a fully-formed opinion yet. It does seem to address many of the shortcomings I've run into with the current data access in 2.0, even if I'm still not totally sold on the LINQ/DLINQ idea.