Announcing the release of the ADO.NET Entity Framework Beta 3!

 

The  ADO.NET Entity Framework Beta 3 release enables users to visually design models and mappings using Visual Studio 2008 RTM and the .NET Framework 3.5 RTM. This release also incorporates fixes to bugs, performance improvements and includes many features requested by customers.

 

New features for the Entity Framework Beta 3 include:

 

Performance improvements

  • Much quicker object query execution
  • Simpler generated SQL
  • Faster view generation


Easier disconnected operation

  • Public, serializable EntityKey property on EntityReference
  • ApplyPropertyChanges
  • Attach on EntityReference
  • Improvements to EntityKey serialization


Extensibility and business logic enhancements

  • Partial methods in code generation for property changing and property changed events
  • Load with MergeOption


Query improvements

  • Additional canonical functions for LINQ to Entities
  • Apply operator elimination (makes more operations work in SQL Server 2000 and other databases)
  • Compiled LINQ query
  • ToTraceString() method on ObjectQuery<T> and EntityCommand to facilitate debugging


Other

  • Connection management refinements
  • Provider interface allows better reasoning about primitive types

 

Elisa Flasko, 

Program Manager, Data Programmability