Programming Entity Framework

Appendix A. Entity Framework Assemblies and Namespaces

This appendix will provide you with a high-level overview of the assemblies and namespaces of the Entity Framework. You will learn about the files that are used for the Entity Framework and the namespaces of the Entity Framework and their purpose.

Unpacking the Entity Framework Files

You’ll find the physical DLL files that contain the Entity Framework APIs in the following two directories:

• <system drive>:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.5, which contains:

  • System.Data.Entity.Design.dll

    This file contains functionality related to the design tools, such as the Designer, the mapping details, and the model viewer.

  • System.Data.Entity.dll

    This file is the root of the Entity Framework. It contains all of the namespaces and classes for programming against the Entity Data Model (EDM).

• <system drive>:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5, which contains:

  • Microsoft.Data.Entity.Build.Tasks.dll

    This file contains the functions for compilation tasks, including building the EDM schema files.

Exploring the Namespaces

The Entity Framework lives within the System.Data namespace of the .NET Framework. New functionality (classes, properties, and methods) has been added to existing namespaces in the System.Data hierarchy, along with a number of new namespaces that begin with the term System.Data.Entity. The System.Data.Entity.dll assembly provides all of the namespaces, as shown in Figure A-1.

Figure A-1. Namespaces provided in System.Data.Entity.dll ...