This is the most complete and practical reference to developing data applications with Microsoft's powerful new ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF) 2.0. Author Craig Lee is singularly well-qualified: he is the Microsoft product manager who led the team that created the version of Entity Designer that will ship with the next version of Visual Studio. Here, he shares all the inside knowledge you need to maximize you productivity with EF 2.0 - including powerful tips and tricks that have never been published outside Microsoft before. You will understand the "why" of EF 2.0, not just the "how", as you walk through the entire lifecycle of an EF application, and learn how to integrate EF into your development processes. Lee begins by introducing EF's vision, clearly describing its architecture, and showing how EF connects with Microsoft's exciting Linq technology. He thoroughly illuminates the process of Entity Data Modeling; shows how to work with the Entity Designer and create effective mappings; and walks through creating databases from models. He demonstrates the use of Visual Studio to create EF applications, covering topics ranging from data binding to source code control, packaging, and deployment. The book's comprehensive coverage of programming EF 2.0 includes detailed discussions of providers, code generation, object services, performance tuning, tools, best practices, and much more - including advanced topics covered in no other book.