Entity SQL Overview
Entity SQL is a SQL-like language that enables you to query conceptual models in the Entity Framework. Conceptual models represent data as entities and relationships, and Entity SQL allows you to query those entities and relationships in a format that is familiar to those who have used SQL.
The Entity Framework works with storage-specific data providers to translate generic Entity SQL into storage-specific queries. The EntityClient provider supplies a way to execute an Entity SQL command against an entity model and return rich types of data including scalar results, result sets, and object graphs. When you construct EntityCommand objects, you can specify a stored procedure name or the text of a query by assigning an Entity SQL query string to its System.Data.EntityClient.EntityCommand.CommandText property. The EntityDataReader exposes the results of executing a EntityCommand against an EDM. To execute the command that returns the EntityDataReader, call ExecuteReader.
In addition to the EntityClient provider, the Entity Framework enables you to use Entity SQL to execute queries against a conceptual model and return data as strongly-typed CLR objects that are instances of entity types. For more information, see Working with Objects.
This section provides conceptual information about Entity SQL.
In This Section
How Entity SQL Differs from Transact-SQL
Null Literals and Type Inference
Query Expressions (Entity SQL)
Composing Nested Entity SQL Queries
See Also
Concepts
Entity SQL Reference
Entity SQL Language