EntityDataSource Web Server Control Overview

The ADO.NET EntityDataSource control supports data binding scenarios in Web applications that use the ADO.NET Entity Framework. Like the Entity Framework, the control is available as part of the .NET Framework 3.5, beginning with SP1. Users accustomed to the design-time model of ASP.NET data binding controls will find the programming surface of the EntityDataSource control similar to the SqlDataSource, LinqDataSource, XmlDataSource, and ObjectDataSource controls.

Like the other Web server data source controls, the EntityDataSource control manages create, read, update, and delete operations against a data source on behalf of data-bound controls on the same page. The EntityDataSource works with editable grids, forms with user-controlled sorting and filtering, dually bound drop-down list controls, and master-detail pages.

The EntityDataSource control enables you to bind Web controls on a page to data in an Entity Data Model (EDM). As with the query builder methods of ObjectQuery<T>, queries are constructed using fragments of Entity SQL syntax assigned to the Where(), OrderBy(), GroupBy() and Select() properties. You can supply parameter values to these operations from page controls, cookies, query parameters appended to the page URI, and other ASP.NET parameter objects. The EntityDataSource designer makes it easier to configure an EntityDataSource control at design time.

In This Section

• Data Selection using EntityDataSource

• EntityDataSource Events

• Object Context Life-Cycle Management (EntityDataSource)

• EntityDataSource Designer

• EntityDataSource Quickstart Example

• How to: Bind Web Controls to an EntityDataSource

• Security Considerations (EntityDataSource)

Reference

Introducing the Entity Framework

Entity Data Model

Binding Objects to Controls (Entity Framework Tasks)

Querying Data as Objects (Entity Framework)

Related Sections

Data Source Controls Overview

Binding to Data Using a Data Source Control

Using Parameters with Data Source Controls

Sorting Data with Data Source Controls

Modifying Data using Data Source Controls

Filtering Data Using Data Source Controls

Caching Data Using Data Source Controls

Handling Null Database Values Using Data Source Controls

Change History