Writing an Entity Framework Data Provider

This section discusses how to write an Entity Framework provider to support a data source other than SQL Server. The Entity Framework includes a provider that supports SQL Server.

Introducing the Entity Framework Provider Model

The Entity Framework is database independent, and you can write a provider by using the ADO.NET Provider Model to connect to a diverse set of data sources.

The Entity Framework data provider (built using the ADO.NET Data Provider model) performs the following functions:

• Maps Entity Data Model (EDM) primitive types to provider types.

• Exposes provider-specific functions.

• Generates provider-specific commands for a given DbQueryCommandTree to support Entity Framework queries.

• Generates provider-specific update commands for a given DbModificationCommandTree to support updates through the Entity Framework.

• Exposes mapping files for the store schema definition, to support generation of a model based on a database.

• Exposes metadata (tables and views, for example) via a conceptual model.

Sample

See the Entity Framework Sample Provider for a sample of an Entity Framework provider that supports a data source other than SQL Server.

In This Section

SQL Generation

Modification SQL Generation

Provider Manifest Specification

See Also

Other Resources

Working with Data Providers