Using a Data Service in a .NET Framework Application (ADO.NET Data Services)
Any application can interact with ADO.NET Data Services if it can send an HTTP request and process the response in the format that a data service returns. This interoperability enables you to access data services from a broad range of Web-based applications. ADO.NET Data Services also includes client libraries that provide a richer programming experience when you access data services from .NET Framework or Silverlight-based applications. These libraries work well for end-to-end solutions that use .NET Framework-based client applications, such as corporate networks and Intranet environments. However, using .NET Framework client libraries to access the data service does not prevent non-.NET Framework applications from accessing the data service.
The two main classes of the client library are the class and the class. The class encapsulates operations that are supported against a specified data service. Although data services are stateless, the context is not. Therefore, you can use the class to maintain state on the client between interactions with the data service in order to support features such as change management. This class also manages identities and tracks changes. The class represents a query against a specific entity set.
This section describes how to use client libraries to access and change data from a .NET Framework client application.