General functionality
- Wide support for LINQ capabilities
- Interchangeable with Microsoft LINQ to SQL
- Wide support for server data types and features
- High performance
- Free high-quality support
Easy to use
-
Visual model creation and modification with
Entity
Developer
*
- Update Model From Database functionality
- Update To Database with Mapping Synchronization functionality *
- Visual Studio integration
- Visual Studio Debugger Visualizer with SQL syntax highlighting for the DataQuery objects
- Powerfull naming rules for singularization and pluralization *
- Customizable template-based code generation *
- Easy to deploy
- Run-time database creation using the model (CreateDatabase, DatabaseExists, DropDatabase methods of DataContext)
Database provider model architecture
-
Multiple database support: *
- MS SQL Server and MS SQL Server Compact
- Oracle *
- MySQL *
- PostgreSQL *
- SQLite *
- Database-independent interface. *
Compatibility
- Support for .NET Framework 3.5, 5.0, and higher
- Support for .NET Core
- Support for Silverlight 4 and higher
- Support for Windows Phone 7 and 8
Entities
- POCO classes used (no need to use a common base class)
- Full CRUD support
- Change tracking support
- Lazy loading
- Data binding support
Mapping
- Inheritance mapping support (Table Per Hierarchy and Table Per Type) *
-
Complex type support
- Multiple complex types per entity *
-
Metadata mapping
- Mapping with .NET attributes
- Mapping with external XML file
Queries
- Wide support for extension methods
- Projection, join, set method support
- Paging, filtering and ordering support
- Subquery support
- PLINQ support
- Grouping, unions, and intersect support
- Aggregate functions
- Ability to execute DML statements in batches on SubmitChanges *
- User-defined functions in LINQ query
- CompiledQuery
-
LoadOptions
- Configurable preload for linked entities
- Recursive support *
- Query level preload (Include) *
- Native SQL execution and object materialization
- Native SQL injections in LINQ queries (LINQ queries can be built over SQL queries)*
Reliability
-
Database transactions support
- All updates are carried out in the transaction
- Changes to entities are applied only after the successful completion of the transaction
- User can manually manage transactions
- Column-level configurable concurrency check
- Extended error processing after calling SubmitChanges *
Caching
- Object data caching
- Configurable automatic compiled query caching *
Primary keys
- Single and composite primary keys support
- Identity generation support *
- Primary Key detection or smart rebuilding when creating a model *
Relationships support
- One to One
- One to Many
- Many to Many
- Multi-columns composite foreign keys support
- Support for delete rules (cascade delete, set null, set default)
- One-directional associations
Full stored procedure support
- Procedure mapping for entity creating, updating, and deleting
- Scalar-valued functions
- Out parameters
- Result set from procedure returns as collection of entity or value types
- Multi-result sets
- Database-specific features like Oracle REF CURSOR support as IEnumerable parameters *
Using in Web and multi-tier architectures
- LinqConnectDataSource component *
- RIA services 3.5 support *
- Supported ASP.NET Dynamic Data with ASP.NET Dynamic Data project templates
- Attaching objects
- ASP.NET medium trust support
Monitoring
- Query logging
- dbMonitor support *
- LINQPad support
* These features are our extension of the LINQ to SQL functionality.
Note: If you need a new feature in LinqConnect, please let us know about it. Visit our forum at UserVoice and vote for suggested features or suggest your own ones.