1.3 Overview

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An Entity Data Model for Data Services Packaging Format (EDMX) document is an XML-based file format that serves as the packaging format for the service metadata of a data service.

As specified in [MS-ODATA], clients can obtain the service metadata for a data service with a URI of the following signature.

 http://<host>/<prefix>/<service path>/$metadata

The data service returns service metadata packaged in an EDMX document. The root of an EDMX document is an edmx:Edmx element, which contains exactly one edmx:DataServices subelement. The edmx:DataServices subelement contains zero or more Schema subelements, which specify Entity Data Model (EDM) conceptual schemas. These EDM conceptual schemas are annotated as specified in [MS-ODATA].

The structure of an EDMX document resembles the following example.

 <edmx:Edmx>
   <edmx:DataServices>
     <!-- Entity Data Model Conceptual Schemas, as specified in
          [MC-CSDL] and annotated as specified in [MS-ODATA] -->
     <Schema>
  
     </Schema>
     <!--
        Additional Entity Data Model Conceptual Schemas as
        specified in [MC-CSDL] and annotated as specified in [MS-ODATA]
     -->
   </edmx:DataServices>
 </edmx:Edmx>

The contents of an EDMX document are determined by the data service in question and vary depending on the data service, as specified in [MS-ODATA].