Entity Developer Express is a free powerful ORM designer for the latest versions of Entity Framework (Entity Framework and Entity Framework Core), NHibernate, Telerik Data Access (former OpenAccess ORM), LinqConnect and LINQ to SQL. This free package has a 10 entities per model limitation.
You can use Model-First and Database-First approaches to design your ORM model and generate C# or Visual Basic .NET code for it. It introduces new approaches for designing ORM models, boosts productivity, and facilitates the development of database applications. The new version of Entity Developer comes with a console application added for convenient development processes automation.
Overview
Visual ORM Model Designer with Code Generation
Entity Developer allows you to create and edit NHibernate, Entity Framework (including Entity Framework Core), LinqConnect, Telerik Data Access, and LINQ to SQL models visually, without typing a line of XML code.
It supports creating all kinds of mapping, such as table splitting, mapping entity to several tables, complex types, inheritance hierarchies, creating entities from SELECT statements and methods from SQL code, etc.
Code generation is very flexible due to using T4-like templates, allowing virtually anything you may want for code generation. C# and VB code can be generated for your model out-of-the-box, and you may even create your own templates for other programming languages.
Multiple ORM Support
Entity Developer supports NHibernate, Entity Framework (including Entity Framework Core), LinqConnect, Telerik Data Access, and LINQ to SQL models. It offers a separate edition for some of the supported ORMs and the Professional Edition supporting all the ORMs.
Entity Developer for NHibernate and Entity Developer for Entity Framework allow designing NHibernate and Entity Framework models. See the Compatibility page for the list of ADO.NET providers, supported for these ORMs. Entity Developer for LINQ to SQL uses Microsoft SqlClient to connect to database.
Entity Developer is also included to the professional edition of dotConnect ADO.NET Providers for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQLite, dotConnect ADO.NET Providers for cloud apps, and to ORM solution LinqConnect. The mentioned products are also available on Visual Studio Marketplace:
dotConnect ADO.NET Providers
LinqConnect
Powerful Code Generation
Entity Developer provides powerful T4-like template-based code generation framework. It offers you a number of predefined templates for different use cases.
They are templates for generating context, entities, and mapping, with support for fluent, attribute, and XML mapping, both persistence aware and persistence ignorant (POCO) entities, support for validation framework for entity property values validation, etc.
Additional templates offer functionality of automatic generating MVC Controller and views, Data Transfer Objects with converter classes for entities, Data Annotations metadata classes and other features.
All these templates provide a number of settings for rich configuration capabilities, and if these are not enough, you even can create your own templates.
Features
Model-First Approach
Model First approach implementation in Entity Developer offers automatic synchronization of mapping and storage part with the conceptual part of the model and easy to use wizards for synchronizing database with the model.
Update to Database Wizard can synchronize the database with the model. In case of existing database, it performs only necessary changes to it, retaining data if possible.
Entity Developer also includes Generate Database Wizard, which generates a DDL script, creating database tables.
Database-First Approach
Entity Developer allows you to generate a model from a database quickly and easily, providing flexible naming rules for generated classes.
Update From Database Wizard synchronizes your entity model with database, trying to preserve manual changes to the model where possible.
The wizard detects all the database changes that can affect the model, e.g. created and deleted tables and views, their columns and foreign keys, column datatype changes, etc.
Integration to Visual Studio
Entity Developer seamlessly integrates with Visual Studio 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019. You may edit your Entity Developer models as Visual Studio documents, in the same way as EDM models.
EntityDeveloper toolbars and tool windows behave as native Visual Studio toolbars and toolwindows, all Entity Developer functionality is available from Visual Studio menu.
However, Entity Developer can be used as a standalone application, and it does not require Visual Studio.
Data Viewing/Editing
Entity Developer allows executing LINQ or Entity SQL queries against the model, and viewing/editing data.
Model Validation
Entity Developer checks your model for errors asynchronously while you edit it. Model Refactoring Powerful Model Refactoring feature allows users to automatically build TPT or TPC inheritance hierarchy or a complex type from several entities having a common subset of properties in few clicks.
ORM Framework Compatibility
- Entity Framework v1 - v6
- Entity Framework Core
- NHibernate 3 and higher
- Telerik Data Access (current version)
- LINQ to SQL
- LinqConnect
- EntityDAC
Free of Charge
