Object-relational mapping (ORM) and related data architectures have gained renewed attention in the wake of Microsoft's failed ObjectSpaces project. There are many data object tools out and about these days, and here we have compiled information on a few such tools, as found in the pages of TheServerSide.NET.
Feel free to email assistant editor Regina Lynch (rlynch@techtarget.com) with any additional ideas for this mini-guide.
In this two-part series, Justin Gehtland discusses NHibernate, the .NET port of the open-source Java Hibernate object/relational mapping library developed by Gavin King (now of JBoss). In part one, read about how to use NHibernate to avoid clumsy relational queries that clutter your code. In part two, Justin moves beyond the basic concepts and looks at the details of the session management, HQL, Lazy Loading and Interceptors.
Fabrice Marguerie has written an article that presents the criteria to consider when selecting an object-relational mapping tool. He lists specific criteria in several categories including basic features, optimization, and performance.
In this article, I will try to educate you about the various important features that a good O/R mapping tool would provide you and how it can be beneficial to you.
Ted Neward has written and article for MSDN that discusses the mimatch between object programming and relational data and how different technologies go about solving this issue. The article compares how LINQ addressed the problem in relation to other technologies including JDBC/ADO.NET, code generators, SQLJ, and ORM tools such as NHibernate.
There are a number of ORM tools on the market, each promising this feature or that. Some are open source projects while others are large-scale commercial products. So which is better and why?
The announcement of the Language Integrated Query (LINQ) features of C# 3.0 has caused both excitement and apprehension. While most think that query integration in the language is a good thing, the DLINQ extension appears in many ways to be just another object relational mapper. Is Microsoft changing the way data applications are developed or just reinventing the wheel?
In this news post, a developer who has searched in vain for an ORM tool that meets all of his requirements is ready to design his own. Before he does that, TSS.NET readers respond with advice on which ORM tools to try and why.
This debate, which centers around the benefits that open source offers the .NET community, argues that open source O/R mapping tools would never have achieved the kind of ubiquity they currently enjoy had they not been able to deliver the needed performance, scalability and features desired by enterprise developers.
In this post, Mike Griffin describes a group of "inventors" that filed a patent on systems of mapping data structures (aka ORM) using XML or other structures that run on a computer.
Developers have re-architected the Microsoft .NET Pet Shop application using Software Tree's NJDX object-relational mapping (OR-Mapping) software to create a show-case application that claims 35 percent less lines of code. With ADO.NET, people write, debug, and maintain huge amounts of low-level SQL code, maintains Damodar Periwal.
Visit hibernate.org for a selection of downloads for NHibernate.