ADO.NET vNext Future Directions 3
Also see the first part and second part of this series of posts on the next generation data access for the .NET platform.
Specify a property type to be of an Enumeration Type [discussion]. Lucky for us the team is currently looking into enumeration types and also feel that it would be nice to have them.
Relationship with payloads is a way to model table A, table B and table AB with a DateTime field indicating when the relationship was established [discussion]. Right now the Entity Framework doesn't have a way to avoid defining three entity types to model this relationship using two simple 1:1 mappings. This is something the team would like to support in future releases, because the need is apparent.
Autogenerated Fields is a must-have feature [discussion].
Unique Constraints and Range Values is something the team is looking at [discussion].
Entity Mapper is a tool the tools team is working on that helps to create and edit mapping using a graphical user interface [discussion]. It allows for testing the mappings and issuing canned and free-style Entity SQL questions against an EDM schema. What about a tool to support the LINQ to Entities layer?
It will be possible to generate the relational database schema from the EDM schema using the Entity Mapper tool [discussion]. I'm really looking forward to this feature since it allows for a more Domain Driven Design style in which you take the model-first approach. What a coincidence, since I discussed the importance for supporting the model-first approach in tooling the other day with my colleagues Olaf and Melchior.