One thing I like about the Entity Framework v4 is the fact you can design with a “model-first” approach. I’m also a big fan of the Visual Studio Database project for version controlling changes to the database schema.
Traditionally I’ve been using SSMS tool to generate the schema, and then importing that into the database project.
In our business we are looking to consolidate a number of databases into a single, central database as we have some overlap in terms of user accounts and devices.
I was thinking about using the Entity Framework v4 model designer to design the overall db schema with inheritance and references and then generate the SQL code, which is then imported into the database project.
Is this a good way of doing it or are there other tools that do this better? Is the inheritance model, table-per-type, used by the entity framework a good inheritance model?
I hope that made sense :/
Actually, this functionality is rather convenient.
Entity Framework provides support for several inheritance models, not only Table-Per-Type. Take a look at this article for more details, for example.