How closely is Entity Framework tied to WCF RIA Services?

Question

I'm trying to build a simple proof-of-concept "business application" in Silverlight and I keep running into a wall in trying to get data in and out of the database. I'm currently trying to learn WCF RIA Services, but I'm stuck because I can't get Entity Framework to work with existing tables in my database (they don't show up in the model designer even though I add them via the wizard).

I'd still like to use RIA Services (I think), but I don't know how much I would lose by abandoning EF in the process. How closely are they tied together?

Answer 1

The backend can be just about anything you want. If EF isn't working for then Linq to SQL is viable alternative. I believe there is even and "Add..." template provided for you.

Answer 2

If EF is giving you issues I believe you can still use LINQ-to-SQL with RIA Services.

With RIA all that really matters is that you provide a domain service that extends the correct class (I don't remember what class). EF is nice because there is a template for a domain service to an EF model, but you should be able to generate the same template off a LINQ-to-SQL model.

Answer 3

All WCF RIA Services requires is an IQueryable provider - which you can write yourself, if you really, really want to :-)

WCF RIA Services is not tied to neither Entity Framework, nor Linq-to-SQL (although those two provide "out of the box" IQueryable providers, so they're probably your first bet).

Answer 4

The WCF RIA Services Wizard for adding a new Domain Service requires either a provider that supports DataContext or ObjectContext. EntityFramework, Linq2sql, and NHibernate fall into one of these two categories.

However, you can feel free to implement a DataService without using the wizard if so inclined.

I'd focus on the EF issues first(sql2005 is supported), as the wizard makes the process very easy to learn.

Answer 5

正如Marc所说，你不仅限于EF或Linq to SQL - 这里是一个RIA服务和实体框架演示的示例，用于替换EF和NHibernate的持久层： http ： //blogs.msdn.com/b/ brada /存档/ 2009/08/06 /企业应用程序，例如换Silverlight的3-RTM-和净RIA服务-七月更新部分nhibernate.aspx