Trackable Entities for Visual Studio 2012

Tony Sneed

|
1,182 installs
|
1,182 downloads
| (0) | Free
N-Tier support for Entity Framework with Visual Studio project and item templates for quickly building n-tier applications using entities that are change-tracked on the client and persisted on the server via WCF or ASP.NET Web API.

For samples and source code, visit the Trackable Entities Codeplex site.

The core functionality of Trackable Entities resides in a set of NuGet packages:

  • TrackableEntities.Common
    Portable Class Library (.NET 4, SL5, WP 7.5-8.1, Win Store, iOS, Android)
    • TrackingState enum:
      Unchanged, Added, Modified, Deleted
    • ITrackable interface:
      TrackingState, ModifiedProperties
  • TrackableEntities.Client
    Portable Class Library (.NET 4.5, SL5, WP 7.5-8, Win Store, iOS, Android)
    • ModelBase<T> class:
      Implements ITrackable, INotifyPropertyChanged
    • ChangeTrackingCollection<T>:
      Extends ObservableCollection<T>
      - Tracks entities that are added, removed or modified
      - Provides a GetChanges method retuning cloned entity updates
  • TrackableEntities.EF5 and TrackableEntities.EF6
    .NET 4.5 Class Library
    • Includes ApplyChanges extension method to DbContext
      - Walks object graph of ITrackable entities, informing DbContext of changes

The TrackableEntities VSIX installer provides a set of Visual Studio 2012 project templates:

  • TrackableClientEntities
  • TrackableServiceEntitites
    • Context.tt, Mapping.tt and Entity.tt T4 templates for reverse engineering
    • EF Code First data context and mapping files and service trackable entities
  • TrackableWebApi and TrackableWcfService
    • ASP.NET Mvc Web API project and WCF project
      - Includes a T4 template that customizes the built-in template for Api Controllers
        with read/write actions using Entity Framework
      - References a ServiceEntities project with generated EF classes and trackable entities
      - Code is tailored to use trackable entities with ApplyChanges extension method
    • Console Client project
      - References a ClientEntities project with ChangeTrackingCollection and trackable entities

There are also samples available which demonstrate usage of Trackable Entities templates and packages:

  • WebApiSample, WcfSample
    • Implementation of the TrackableWebApi and WCF templates
      - ReadMe file with step-by-step instructions