Using OpenAccess Forward Mapping really allows you to focus on building a strong model, rather than getting caught up in the persistence details, and this can expedite development time dramatically. Every developer I know could use a little more time to focus on more important things :) Before we can use the OpenAccess Forward Mapping Wizard, we need to create a model for our application. After we have a solid model, we can run the wizard, and it will create the database for us! Awesome!
I like setting it up this way for a few reasons:
1:
2: public abstract class PersistedEntity : IPerstistable
3: {
4: protected int id;
5: protected DateTime createdOn;
6: protected DateTime lastEditedOn;
7:
8: public int ID
9: {
10: get { return id; }
11: }
12:
13: public DateTime CreatedOn
14: {
15: get { return createdOn; }
16: set { createdOn = value; }
17: }
18:
19: public DateTime LastEditedOn
20: {
21: get { return lastEditedOn; }
22: set { lastEditedOn = value; }
23: }
24: }
As you can see here, I have made the fields “protected” this is so that it can easily work with any inheritance structure i choose to use in OpenAccess.
This interface will set up the behavior regarding notes in the classes that implement it.
1: public interface INotable
2: {
3: IList<Note> Notes
4: {
5: get;
6: }
7: }
Next, I need to create a way for my models to have alerts added to them.
1: public interface IAlertable : IPerstistable
2: {
3: IList<Alert> Alerts
4: {
5: get;
6: }
7: }
Here is what it looks like all put together:
I know those instructions were a little fast, so I urge you to go check out the great walkthrough on Telerik TV. You can find it here: Forward Mapping with Telerik OpenAccess ORM.
Once we have completed these steps OpenAccess will create a schema for us like the one shown below.
There are a few interesting things to note here:
I hope you enjoyed this blog, and I look forward to hearing any questions or comments.
Next time we will create a simple DAL which will allow our UI to access our data, so check back soon!