Question

I have got choice for using either Entity SQL query inside my DAL or use Stored Procedure at db level as a option.

Which one should I use. And what are the benefits/drawbacks for either approach?

I am more inclined towards Entity SQL as I don’t want my any form of db level exposure of my logic.

Answer 1

Based on my experience:

Entity Framework:

• Logic stays in the application
• Easier to integrate with source control (in my experience)
• Can also use stored procedures if needed (I used it in a full text search routine)
• Database agnostic -> well, I haven’t really tried changing db’s before, but its supposed to shield you from the underlying persistence store
• Personal Preference: its so much prettier and convenient to get an array of objects/models instead of a bulky datable.. not to mention that I
  need to know the order of the columns and such..

Database SPs

• You don’t have to learn anything new – There are certain tasks that are trivial from a storedproc but can be so annoyingly obscure when using EF. Well, it depends on how quick you catch up.
• Easy to use, more granular control – up til now, I don’t know how to create a query that uses WITH and OVER() in linq to entities..

Personally, I’d go with EF too for the reasons I’ve mentioned above (plus a few others I cant think of right now). Besides, if there’s something I can’t do or cant do fast with a linq query, I’ll just create a stored proc or just execute an SQL statement (yes you can execute SQL using the context).