David Sceppa's Ramblings : ODP.NET

TechEd: Provider Writers Talk About the Entity Framework

David Sceppa — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:04:00 GMT

TechEd was a major success. Every time I turned around, more people were asking questions about LINQ and the Entity Framework, though that might have had something to do with the fact that I was standing next to a sign that said "LINQ / Entity Framework".

One of the highlights was the provider writers' chalk talk, which packed the theater area. I'd previously blogged that IBM, DataDirect and Oracle would be in attendance. We also had representatives from Sybase and VistaDB at the talk.

IBM drew the most "oohs" and "aahs" when they demonstrated an early build of their provider working with the 101 LINQ to Entities samples. Each provider writer took some time to talk about their thoughts on customer scenarios, the work they've done so far, etc. The majority of the provider writers talked about how excited they were that both LINQ and Entity SQL allow developers to write provider agnostic queries without having to ask themselves questions like "How do I concatenate strings, construct a join, etc. in my database's query language?"

A few attendees asked about MySQL connectivity. MySQL was unable to attend due to scheduling problems but they are still very much involved. As I mentioned in a previous post, they demonstrated an early build of their provider working with the Entity Framework at the MySQL conference in April.

If you're writing an ADO.NET provider for the Entity Framework and you're not already in touch with me, please drop me a line at David (dot) Sceppa (at) microsoft (dot) com.

Oracle posts a new beta of their .NET provider

David Sceppa — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:24:00 GMT

Oracle has just released a new beta of their .NET provider, commonly known as ODP.NET. This is great news for developers who have been pleading for support for Oracle's instant client or for more ASP.NET features. You can read more about the new features on Oracle's site here and download the beta here.

Oracle joins the list of provider writers speaking at TechEd

David Sceppa — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:03:00 GMT

Oracle will be in attendance at the ADO.NET Entity Framework provider writer chalk talk at TechEd 2007 in Orlando. The chalk talk will be held Friday June 8th at 1pm in Blue Theater 12.

Here's what Oracle's ODP.NET team asked me to pass along regarding the chalk talk:

The Oracle ODP.NET development team is working with Microsoft on the Entity Framework and will be there to talk to customers looking to use the Entity Framework to access Oracle databases.

As mentioned in the previous post, whether you’re interested in accessing a third party database, or you’re interested in enhancing your provider to support the Entity Framework, I invite you to attend and ask questions of the Microsoft representatives as well as the representatives of the various provider writers. I look forward to seeing you there!