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Object Relational Designer (O/R Designer)

The Object Relational Designer (O/R Designer) provides a visual design surface for creating LINQ to SQL entity classes and associations (relationships) that are based on objects in a database. In other words, the O/R Designer is used to create an object model in an application that maps to objects in a database. It also generates a strongly-typed DataContext that is used to send and receive data between the entity classes and the database. The O/R Designer also provides functionality to map stored procedures and functions to DataContext methods for returning data and populating entity classes. Finally, the O/R Designer provides the ability to design inheritance relationships between entity classes.

Note

The O/R Designer currently supports only SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server Express databases. Although O/R Designer does not support SQL Server Compact 3.5, LINQ to SQL does. For more information, see SQL Server Compact 3.5 and LINQ to SQL. For information about obtaining SQL Server Express, see the Obtaining SQL Server Express section in the How to: Install Sample Databases topic.

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Reference

System.Linq

System.Data.Linq

Frequently Asked Questions (LINQ to SQL)

LINQ to SQL

LINQ to ADO.NET

LINQ General Programming Guide

What's New in Data

Accessing Data (Visual Studio)