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Who is Olero Software? |
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Olero Software is a small company
specializing in developing cutting edge products built specifically for the
Microsoft.NET Platform. We are based in Boulder, Colorado, and currently
employee a small team of six developers. |
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What is ORM.NET? |
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ORM.NET is an Object Relational
Mapper package built for the .NET platform. Object Relational Mapping automates
the process of connecting your object library with your Database, so that
programmers do not have to write code to access a generic Data Library, such as
ADO or ADO.NET, and do not have to write any SQL. |
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Why should I use ORM.NET? |
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Using ORM.NET will save you hours
and hours of development and debugging time, which means you can get more done
in less time. It will also make it a lot easier to develop a clear, consistent
set of object-based code that is easy for your customers and coworkers to
modify or resuse. |
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How much does ORM.NET cost? |
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ORM.NET is free. |
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What databases can I use ORM.NET with? |
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ORM.NET currently only supports
SQL Server 2000. |
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How do I generate my data model? |
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After you have downloaded the
trial or fully licensed product, launch the ORM.NET UI from the start menu, or
desktop shortcut. Simply connect to your database, and click generate. Its that
simple (although if you wish, there are numerous options to customize the
generated code). To learn more, view one of the online demos on our web site. |
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Can I customize the names of the objects or
properties generated? |
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Yes, you can customize the object
and property names that are generated. By default, they will by named the same
as the corresponding database table or column. |
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Can I change the accessibility of the properties
within the objects generated? |
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Yes, you can supply a scope
modifier (private, public, protected, etc) for the generated properties on each
class. So, for example, if you want the BalanceDue property of the invoice
object to be read only, you can set that. |
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Can I customize how the related objects appear
within the model? |
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Yes, by default all related
objects are mapped as a one-to-many relationship. This means that if you have a
Customer table with a child Invoice Table, by default, the Customer object will
have a collection of Invoice children. You can mark the relationship as
one-to-one, which would instead generate a Customer object that has a single
Invoice property. |
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What if we have more than one developer working with
the same database? |
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Simply store the schema settings
file, located in the schema subfolder of your ORM.NET installation in your
source control package (SourceSafe, etc) or if you do not use source control,
you can copy it from a network share. |
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If my schema changes, will I lose my changes if I
regenerated the data objects? |
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No. The generated code is created
in a different set of files from the files that you work on. The "business
objects" are located in the root of the generated project and can be modified
by you. They will only be generated once. The files in the "do_not_edit" folder
will be regenerated every time you run, and should not be modified manually. |
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How do I fetch data from the database? |
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Use the DataManager class,
generated with your solution, to fetch any data you wish from SQL. You do not
have to write any SQL. It supports fetching data from multiple tables, based on
criteria off multiple tables. To learn more, read the online documentation. |
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What does the DataManager do? |
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The DataManager is the bridge
between your SQL Database, and your generated object library (with their
derived business objects). It handles the retrieval of all data, and will
automatically commit back any changes made by you, to the objects, including
inserts, updates, deletes, on any one or more of the tables. |
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Will I still need to write SQL queries or stored
procedures? |
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No, you do not have to write any
SQL or stored procedures, the DataManager will generate all necessary SQL. If
you have legacy stored procedures however, ORM.NET will automatically generated
function wrappers for them, to make them easier to call from your code. |
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How do I add criteria for my query? |
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The DataManager contains a
QueryCriteria property with And, Or, And NewGroup methods to facilitate
building any type of query from simple one table queries, to complex
multi-table joins. The And and Or method take as parameters a JoinPath column
object, representing the column to apply the criteria to, and the data to match
against, as well as an optional MatchType enumeration. For more information,
see the documentation. |
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What if the criteria I want to add for a query
requires that a join be done? |
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You can use the generated JoinPath
class, which will let you navigate joins as easily as accessing properties on
an object. (I.e., JoinPath.Customer.Invoice.InvoiceDetails). For more
information, see the online documentation. |
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How do I use the objects returned by the
DataManager? |
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The objects returned by the
DataManager are the one-time generated business objects which you can modify.
You use them as you would any other object representing your business. The
properties of the objects will correspond to the columns, and other related
objects, in the system. You can use intellisense to navigate the whole schema
if you wish! |
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How do I add new objects to create rows in the
database? |
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Use the DataManager class, and
call the New[Object]() method where [Object] is the type of row you want to
create. If there are any required parameters when creating a row of this type,
the DataManager will prompt you for them on the constructor. |
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How do I delete rows? |
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Every object contains a Delete()
method you can call to delete that underlying row. |
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Does it call a separate SQL command and do a
roundtrip for each row inserted or changed? |
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No, all fetches are batched into a
single roundtrip to the database, when you call a Get[Object]() method on the
DataManager. Similarly, the CommitAll() method on the DataManager generates a
single, transactional SQL batch statement to commit all the changes. |
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