wbrianwhite (11/4/2010)
jyurich (11/3/2010)
Am I the only one using Microsoft's Entity Data Model (EDM) technology as an ORM for modeling as well as for the data access layer? This is a part of their new Entity Framework model introduced in .NET 3.5 SP1.I can tell you that for years we have both written our own code generation utilities as well as implemented 3rd party variations - and the MS version is by far the most superior from many perspectives.
I highly encourage all of you SQL folks to start becoming very familiar with this, if you are not already.
On a final note, while I don't agree with auto-generating databases, I do agree with standardizing on table structures with basic things like a primary keys, status fields and naming standards.
RAP will not take foothold. Microsoft Entity Framework, however, has the full backing of Microsoft's neverending resources at its disposal 🙂
From the beginner's guide from the URL: "In fact, I've never before written a line of SQL, yet I was able to build a rich web application thanks to an ORM."
That scares the bejeezus out of me.
Again, agree completely. None of that matters in small apps, but small app shops don't tend to employ many SQLServerCentral readers.
The notion that anybody off the street can specify databases, yet wouldn't be allowed to code XYZ module without 10 years of experience with XYZ, puzzled me for quite a while. I ultimately came to the conclusion that coders, 1) have no real clue about data and 2) are terminally arrogant.
Small apps, if any good, tends to become a Big App in due time. By then, it's "too much trouble" to clean up the mess. Spolsky still advocates (last I looked, anyway) Big Design Up Front; be optimistic that your small app will grow up to be a Big App and design accordingly. Think about the catalog first, don't just do a ByteDump and let the client code blot the ACID.