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How to: Add an Entity to a Model

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 Creating 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.

    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
    
    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; }
    
        }
    

See Also

Tasks

How to: Add a Creator Method

How to: Add a Deleter Method

How to: Add an Updater Method

How to: Add a Finder Method

How to: Add a Specific Finder Method