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---+ Virtuoso ADO.NET 3.5 Data Provider

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---++ What is the Virtuoso ADO.NET 3.5 Data Provider?

Virtuoso includes an ADO.NET 3.5 data provider compatible with Visual Studio 2008+ and Entity Frameworks, that provides access to native Virtuoso data (SQL, XML, and RDF) in addition to any DBMS objects linked from external [[VirtODBCEntityFrameworkUsage][ODBC]] and/or [[VirtOJDBCEntityFrameworkUsage][JDBC]] accessible data sources.  Known-compatible external data sources include [[VirtOracleEntityFrameworkUsage][Oracle (versions 7.x to 11.x)]], [[VirtMSSQLServerEntityFrameworkUsage][Microsoft SQL Server (6.x to 2005)]], [[VirtDB2EntityFrameworkUsage][IBM DB2]], [[VirtSybaseEntityFrameworkUsage][Sybase (4.2 to 15.x)]], [[VirtInformixEntityFrameworkUsage][IBM Informix (5.x to 11.x)]], [[VirtIngresEntityFrameworkUsage][Ingres (6.4 to 9.x)]], [[VirtProgressEntityFrameworkUsage][Progress (7.x to 10.x)]], [[VirtMySQLEntityFrameworkUsage][MySQL]], [[VirtPostgresEntityFrameworkUsage][PostgreSQL]], and [[VirtFirebirdEntityFrameworkUsage][Firebird]].

---++ Benefits

This provider equips Microsoft .NET based applications, development environments, and programming languages with conceptual entity-based access to native and heterogeneous data sources.


---++ Features

   * ADO.NET 3.5 compliance
   * .NET Entity Frameworks compatibility
   * Full integration with Visual Studio 2008
   * ADO.NET Data Services compatibility
   * LINQ to Entities compatibility
   * High-Performance & Scalability
   * High Security
   * Support for Native and 3rd party RDBMS engines and Web Services
   * Tested against all major .NET applications and development environments
   * Support for [[http://www.microsoft.com/Silverlight/][Microsoft Silverlight]] versions 2 and 3
   * Support for [[https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/site/search?query=riaservices%26f%5B0%5D.Value%3Driaservices%26f%5B0%5D.Type%3DSearchText%26ac%3D4][.NET RIA Services]]

--++ How Do I Use It?

---+++ Installation

There are two installation types to consider.

   * If you have an existing Virtuoso instance, or will install Virtuoso on a different host, you only need to [[VirtADOClientInstall][install the ADO.NET Provider Client]] on the Visual Studio host.
   * If you have no existing Virtuoso instance, you can [[VirtADOClientServInstall][install both the ADO.NET Provider Client and the Virtuoso Universal Server]] on the Visual Studio host.

---+++ Connection String

The Virtuoso ADO.NET Provider [[VirtADONet35ConnStrings][ConnectionString property]] implements the <nop>IDbConnection.ConnectionString interface to get or set the string used to open a Virtuoso database connection, and includes the source database name, and other parameters needed to establish the initial connection.

---+++ Sample Walk-through Applications

   * [[VirtAdoNetDataGridApp][Using Visual Studio 2008 to Build a Data Grid Form Application]]
   * [[VirtEntityFrameworkSchoolDbWinFormApp][Using Visual Studio 2008 to Build an Entity Frameworks based Windows Form Application]]
   * [[VirtUsingMsAdoNetDataServicesWithVirtuoso][Using Visual Studio 2008 to Build an ADO.NET Data Services based Application]]
   * [[VirtSPASQLWinFormApp][Windows Form Application for accessing Virtuoso RDF data via SPASQL using the Virtuoso ADO.NET Provider]]
   * [[VirtSPASQLWebDataServiceApp][Web Data Service Application for accessing Virtuoso RDF data via SPASQL using the Virtuoso ADO.NET Provider]]
   * [[VirtSPASQLSilverLightApp][Creating a Silverlight Application to consume the service]]
   * [[RIAServicesHowTo][Creating A Simple .NET RIA Services Application to Display Data from Virtuoso]]
   * [[RIAServicesHowTo2][Creating a .NET RIA Services Application that will Update Virtuoso Data]]
   * [[VirtSilverlightSPARQLExample][Creating a Silverlight Application for Browsing RDF Data]]
   * [[ODataServiceExample][Creating an OData Publishing Endpoint using Virtuoso's ADO.NET Data Provider]]
   * [[VirtRDFODataExample][Accessing RDF Triples as an OData Service]]

---+++ Using Entity Frameworks, ADO.NET, and the Virtuoso Virtual Database Engine

Virtuoso's in-built virtual database engine for ODBC and JDBC accessible databases enables it to act as bridge between Entity Frameworks & ADO.NET based client applications. Thus, you simply link external databases into Virtuoso using the browser based Conductor UI or programmatically using SQL extensions. Once the external tables a linked/attached, they inherit the functionality prowess of Virtuoso, including complete compatibility with Entity Frameworks and ADO.NET 3.5. 

We have target-specific guides for using Microsoft Entity Frameworks and <nop>OpenLink Virtuoso to access schema objects in --

   * [[VirtFirebirdEntityFrameworkUsage][Firebird data sources]]
   * [[VirtDB2EntityFrameworkUsage][IBM DB2 data sources]]
   * [[VirtInformixEntityFrameworkUsage][IBM Informix data sources]]
   * [[VirtIngresEntityFrameworkUsage][Ingres data sources]]
   * [[VirtOJDBCEntityFrameworkUsage][JDBC data sources]]
   * [[VirtMSSQLServerEntityFrameworkUsage][Microsoft SQL Server data sources]]
   * [[VirtMySQLEntityFrameworkUsage][MySQL data sources]]
   * [[VirtODBCEntityFrameworkUsage][ODBC data sources]]
   * [[VirtOracleEntityFrameworkUsage][Oracle data sources]]
   * [[VirtPostgresEntityFrameworkUsage][PostgreSQL data sources]]
   * [[VirtProgressEntityFrameworkUsage][Progress data sources]]
   * [[VirtSybaseEntityFrameworkUsage][Sybase data sources]]


CategoryDocumentation CategoryVirtuoso CategoryDotNET CategoryEntityFrameworks CategoryWebSite