Is Entity Framework 4.1 is the best solution for a web application that is using almost 400 database tables or it would best to make cutome data access layer with straight sql and sp?
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Is Entity Framework 4.1 is the best solution for a web application that is using almost 400 database tables or it would best to make cutome data access layer with straight sql and sp?
The number of tables only affects EF initialization where “views” must be compiled when the context is used first time in the application – 400 is a lot and it will take a lot of time. This can be speed up by generating source code for views and adding these source codes to the project – views will not be compiled at runtime because compiled code will be part of your application but you must manually do this each time you change the model. For EFv4.1 this feature is offered in EF Power Tools CTP1. For EDMX the feature is offered in EdmGen command line tool.
Another impact on such number of tables in on development. Using 400 tables in single EDMX seems impossible so you will need multiple contexts with different sets of mapped entities. This can be complex task for application architecture because working with multiple contexts makes everything harder.
If you want to use code only mapping you must either write classes and mapping for 400 tables or you will again use EF Power Tools CTP1 which will generate them for you.
It is not impossible to use EF with 400 tables but it is complex and requires some experience.