LINQ to Entities, part of the ADO.NET Entity Framework, is more flexible than LINQ to SQL, although it is less popular due to its complexity and absence of critical functionalities.
However, unlike LINQ to SQL, which only allows data inquiry in SQL Server databases, LINQ to Entities supports data query in various data sources such as Oracle, MySQL, and others.
Furthermore, it has received significant support from ASP.Net in that users can utilise a data source control to execute a query using LINQ to Entities, which simplifies the coupling of the results without the need for additional coding.
Because of these benefits, LINQ to Entities has now become the standard approach for using LINQ on databases today. LINQ to Entities also makes it simple to change the details of searched data and commit a batch update. The most exciting aspect of LINQ to Entities is that it uses the same syntax as SQL and even has the same set of basic LINQ query operators as SQL, such as Join, Select, and OrderBy.
- An ObjectQuery instance is created from an ObjectContext (Entity Connection)
- Using the newly created instance to compose a query in C# or Visual Basic (VB)
- Conversion of LINQ query operators and LINQ expressions to command trees
- Executing the query and directly forwarding any exceptions to the client
- All query results are returned to the client
The fundamental class that allows interaction with the Entity Data Model, or acts as a bridge between LINQ and the database, is ObjectContext. The query type here is command trees, which are compatible with the Entity framework.
On the other hand, the Entity Framework is an Object Relational Mapper, abbreviated as ORM by developers, that generates business objects and entities based on database tables and enables fundamental actions such as create, update, delete, and read.
