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How to: Add an entity to a model

Applies to: yesVisual Studio noVisual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

To create an entity, add an entity control from the Visual Studio Toolbox onto the Business Data Connectivity (BDC) designer.

To add an entity to the model

  1. Create a BDC project, or open an existing BDC project. For more information, see Create a business data connectivity model.

  2. In the Toolbox, from the BusinessDataCatalog group, add an Entity control onto the designer.

    The new entity appears on the designer. Visual Studio adds an <Entity> element to the XML of the BDC model file in your project. For more information about the attributes of an Entity element, see Entity.

  3. On the designer, open the shortcut menu for the entity, choose Add, and then choose Identifier.

    A new identifier appears on the entity.

    Note

    You can change the name of the entity and the identifier in the Properties window.

  4. Define the fields of the entity in a class. You can either add a new class to the project or use an existing class created by using other tools such as the Object Relational Designer (O/R Designer). The following example shows an entity class named Contact.

    public partial class Contact
    {
        public int ContactID { get; set; }
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public string EmailAddress { get; set; }
        public string Phone { get; set; }
        public int EmailPromotion { get; set; }
        public bool NameStyle { get; set; }
        public string PasswordHash { get; set; }
        public string PasswordSalt { get; set; }
    
    }
    
    Partial Public Class Contact
    
        Private _ContactID As Integer
        Public Property ContactID() As Integer
            Get
                Return _ContactID
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As Integer)
                _ContactID = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _FirstName As String
        Public Property FirstName() As String
            Get
                Return _FirstName
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As String)
                _FirstName = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _LastName As String
        Public Property LastName() As String
            Get
                Return _LastName
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As String)
                _LastName = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _EmailAddress As String
        Public Property EmailAddress() As String
            Get
                Return _EmailAddress
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As String)
                _EmailAddress = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _Phone As String
        Public Property Phone() As String
            Get
                Return _Phone
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As String)
                _Phone = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _EmailPromotion As Integer
        Public Property EmailPromotion() As Integer
            Get
                Return _EmailPromotion
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As Integer)
                _EmailPromotion = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _NameStyle As Boolean
        Public Property NameStyle() As Boolean
            Get
                Return _NameStyle
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
                _NameStyle = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _PasswordHash As String
        Public Property PasswordHash() As String
            Get
                Return _PasswordHash
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As String)
                _PasswordHash = value
            End Set
        End Property
        Private _PasswordSalt As String
        Public Property PasswordSalt() As String
            Get
                Return _PasswordSalt
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As String)
                _PasswordSalt = value
            End Set
        End Property
    
    End Class
    

See also