Writing an Entity Framework Data Provider
This section discusses how to write an Entity Framework provider to support a data source other than SQL Server. The Entity Framework includes a provider that supports SQL Server.
Introducing the Entity Framework Provider Model
The Entity Framework is database independent, and you can write a provider by using the ADO.NET Provider Model to connect to a diverse set of data sources.
The Entity Framework data provider (built using the ADO.NET Data Provider model) performs the following functions:
Maps Entity Data Model (EDM) primitive types to provider types.
Exposes provider-specific functions.
Generates provider-specific commands for a given DbQueryCommandTree to support Entity Framework queries.
Generates provider-specific update commands for a given DbModificationCommandTree to support updates through the Entity Framework.
Exposes mapping files for the store schema definition, to support generation of a model based on a database.
Exposes metadata (tables and views, for example) via a conceptual model.
See the Entity Framework Sample Provider for a sample of an Entity Framework provider that supports a data source other than SQL Server.