Telerik blogs

Q1 2010 will be a milestone release for our enterprise-grade ORM. With it we will introduce the new Visual Designer for OpenAccess ORM. The designer will give developers the ability to map their databases on a specially designed graphical surface as well as perform modifications to the mapping process and the domain model. Some of the features included in the designer are:

  • The DSL Designer – This is a specialized visual editor that visualizes the mapped classes and their relationships. You will be able to easily interact with them with simple point-and-click actions. The designer will also offer a contextual menu for the most used operations; zoom in/out functionality, export to image and more.
  • Mapping Details Editor – It will let you specify the class and association mappings required for the runtime. The tool will also allow you to configure class inheritance and stored procedures for CUD operations for the classes updates.
  • Schema Explorer – This panel will show the relational layer from the database in a hierarchical order. There you will be able to specify which elements should be mapped to or removed from the conceptual part of the domain model. It will also allow drag and drop mapping.
  • ‘Update From Database Model’ Wizard – This dialog will show the difference between the database content and the relational layer of the actual model in terms of what is still missing, should be removed or modified in the model. From there you will be able to insert unmapped tables, views or stored procedures into your domain model. It uses unique approach that can show all the details (differences, etc) in the compared models.
  • Entity Diagram Explorer – It will show the conceptual layer of the model, or to put it simply the classes that will be generated. It contains the same information that is in the designer but in a hierarchical order. Modifications of their basic properties and operations are allowed through the standard properties window.
  • Model Settings Dialog – With it you will be able to fine tune the behavior of your domain model by allowing you to specify naming, code generation, caching and concurrency control settings.

A unique feature of the Visual Designer for OpenAccess ORM will be the Validation Rules. It will help validate your model once your finished working with it and eliminate mistakes like missing primary keys. We have also conveniently created toolbox items that will allow you to perform the basic drag and drop mapping, set table relationships and inheritance as well as insert comment.

With Q1 2010 OpenAccess ORM will introduce support for the embedded SQL database engine VistaDB. Finally the already popular Data Services Wizard, that automates the process of connecting OpenAccess ORM to web services like Astoria and WCF, will no longer come as a separate installation but will be fully integrated in Telerik OpenAccess ORM Q1 2010.

Stay tuned to this blog for more details on the upcoming Q1 2010 release.


About the Author

Vassil Petev

is a Product Manager at Telerik. Loves gadgets, sailing, skiing and DJing.

@VassilPetev

Comments

Comments are disabled in preview mode.