Alias Element (MSL)

The Alias element in mapping specification language (MSL) is a child of the Mapping element that is used to define aliases for conceptual model and storage model namespaces. Names of all conceptual or storage model types that are referenced in MSL must be qualified by their respective namespace names. For information about the conceptual model namespace name, see Schema Element (CSDL). For information about the storage model namespace name, see Schema Element (SSDL).

The Alias element cannot have child elements.

Applicable Attributes

The table below describes the attributes that can be applied to the Alias element.

Attribute Name	Is Required	Value
Key	Yes	The alias for the namespace that is specified by the Value attribute.
Value	Yes	The namespace for which the value of the Key element is an alias.

Example

The following example shows an Alias element that defines an alias, c, for types that are defined in the conceptual model.

<Mapping Space="C-S" 
         xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2008/09/mapping/cs">
  <Alias Key="c" Value="SchoolModel"/>
  <EntityContainerMapping StorageEntityContainer="SchoolModelStoreContainer" 
                          CdmEntityContainer="SchoolModelEntities">
    <EntitySetMapping Name="Courses">
      <EntityTypeMapping TypeName="c.Course">
        <MappingFragment StoreEntitySet="Course">
          <ScalarProperty Name="CourseID" ColumnName="CourseID" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="Title" ColumnName="Title" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="Credits" ColumnName="Credits" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="DepartmentID" ColumnName="DepartmentID" />
        </MappingFragment>
      </EntityTypeMapping>
    </EntitySetMapping>
    <EntitySetMapping Name="Departments">
      <EntityTypeMapping TypeName="c.Department">
        <MappingFragment StoreEntitySet="Department">
          <ScalarProperty Name="DepartmentID" ColumnName="DepartmentID" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="Name" ColumnName="Name" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="Budget" ColumnName="Budget" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="StartDate" ColumnName="StartDate" />
          <ScalarProperty Name="Administrator" ColumnName="Administrator" />
        </MappingFragment>
      </EntityTypeMapping>
    </EntitySetMapping>
  </EntityContainerMapping>
</Mapping>

See Also

Concepts

MSL Specification
CSDL Specification
SSDL Specification

Other Resources

Modeling and Mapping