Data Entity Framework Quick ID: 0712032

An Entity Data Model for Relational Data Part II: Mapping an Entity Data Model to a Relational Store

The ADO.NET Entity Framework allows you to define an application-oriented view of your data consistent with how you reason about that data, and map that conceptual view to existing relational schemas.Part I of this article described the Entity Data Model and how it enables you to model real-world concepts in a more natural way. Part II of the article describes how that Entity Data Model is used within the ADO.NET Entity Framework to define an application-oriented conceptual view of your data, and how that view can be flexibly mapped to existing relational schemas. Shyam Pather’s article, “Programming Against the ADO.NET Entity Framework” completes the picture by describing the actual programming model and API used by developers to work with data using the ADO.NET Entity Framework.

By Pizzo, Michael

October 3, 2007 1 min read

Updated January 18, 2020

About the author

Pizzo, Michael

Michael Pizzo has worked for over 17 years in the design and delivery of data access solutions and APIs at Microsoft. Michael first got involved in data access as a Program Manager for Microsoft Excel in 1987, integrating Microsoft’s flagship spreadsheet product with relational data. This led to his involvement in the design and delivery of ODBC, along with the ODBC-based Microsoft Query Tool shipped with Microsoft Office. During the design of ODBC, Michael was active in the standards organizations, sitting as Chair for the SQL Access Group, working with X/Open on the CAE specification for “Data Management: SQL-Call Level Interface (CLI)”, serving as Microsoft’s representative to the ANSI X3H2 Database Committee, and as an elected ANSI representative to the ISO committee meetings that defined and adopted Part 3 of the ANSI/ISO SQL specification for a call-Level Interface (SQL/CLI). Following ODBC, Michael was a key designer and driver of Microsoft’s OLE DB API for componentized data access within a COM environment, and later owned the design and delivery of ADO.NET version 1.0. He is currently a Principle Architect in the Data Programmability Team at Microsoft, contributing to the architecture and design of the next version of ADO.NET and core building block for Microsoft’s exciting new data platform; The ADO.NET Entity Framework.