Accessing data has changed greatly since the days of .Net 2.0. This class introduces the new players in the game, Entity Framework, LINQ and WCF Data Services along with the older Dataset model. We will explore how one can create logical objects atop their standard data tables allowing easier and more efficient access to data stores. We will use Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) concepts with WCF Data Services and look into the basics of data via Windows Azure.

This class uses Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4 exclusively, but users of other versions of Visual Studio or .Net will also benefit from this content. This class has no preference for language and contains content in both C# and Visual Basic.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Describe roles of Entity Framework, LINQ and WCF Data Services
• Choose the proper data technology for the proper purpose
• Map a relational database into an Entity Framework object model
• Implement Create, Retrieve, Update, Destroy (CRUD)
• Design and create a simple enterprise data access layer
• Use LINQ to SQL to query and update databases in Sql Server
• Use WCF Data Services to access data across the network

Audience: Developers needing to create and implement Windows data access

Recommended Prerequisites: Experience with .Net programming and Visual Studio