Entity SQL Language

Entity SQL is a storage-independent query language that is similar to SQL. Entity SQL allows you to query entity data, either as objects or in a tabular form. You should consider using Entity SQL in the following cases:

• When a query must be dynamically constructed at runtime. In this case, you should also consider using the query builder methods of ObjectQuery instead of constructing an Entity SQL query string at runtime.
  
  
• When you want to define a query as part of the model definition. Only Entity SQL is supported in a data model. For more information, see QueryView Element (EntitySetMapping)
  
  
• When using EntityClient to return read-only entity data as rowsets using a EntityDataReader. For more information, see EntityClient Provider for the Entity Framework.
  
  
• If you are already an expert in SQL-based query languages, Entity SQL may seem the most natural to you.
  
  

Using Entity SQL with the EntityClient provider

Using Entity SQL with object queries

In This Section

See Also