How to Access Azure DevOps Data Using Entity Framework

Microsoft Entity Framework serves as an object-relational mapping framework for working with data represented as objects. Although Visual Studio offers the ADO.NET Entity Data Model wizard to automatically generate the Entity Model, this model-first approach may present challenges when your data source undergoes changes or when you require greater control over entity operations. In this article, we will delve into the code-first approach for accessing Azure DevOps data through the CData ADO.NET Provider, providing you with more flexibility and control.

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Form Application. This article uses a C# project with .NET 4.5.
2. Run the command 'Install-Package EntityFramework' in the Package Manger Console in Visual Studio to install the latest release of Entity Framework.

3. Modify the App.config file in the project to add a reference to the Azure DevOps Entity Framework 6 assembly and the connection string.

   You can connect to your Azure DevOps account by providing the Organization and PersonalAccessToken.

   Obtaining a Personal Access Token

   A PersonalAccessToken is necessary for account authentication.

   To generate one, log in to your Azure DevOps Organization account and navigate to Profile -> Personal Access Tokens -> New Token. The generated token will be displayed.

   If you wish to authenticate to Azure DevOps using OAuth refer to the online Help documentation for an authentication guide.

   <configuration>
    ... 
    <connectionStrings>
    <add name="AzureDevOpsContext" connectionString="Offline=False;AuthScheme=Basic;Organization=MyAzureDevOpsOrganization;ProjectId=MyProjectId;PersonalAccessToken=MyPAT;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" providerName="System.Data.CData.AzureDevOps" />
    </connectionStrings>
    <entityFramework>
    <providers>
    ... 
    <provider invariantName="System.Data.CData.AzureDevOps" type="System.Data.CData.AzureDevOps.AzureDevOpsProviderServices, System.Data.CData.AzureDevOps.Entities.EF6" />
    </providers>
    <entityFramework>
   </configuration>
   </code> 
   

4. Add a reference to System.Data.CData.AzureDevOps.Entities.EF6.dll, located in the lib -> 4.0 subfolder in the installation directory.
5. Build the project at this point to ensure everything is working correctly. Once that's done, you can start coding using Entity Framework.
6. Add a new .cs file to the project and add a class to it. This will be your database context, and it will extend the DbContext class. In the example, this class is named AzureDevOpsContext. The following code example overrides the OnModelCreating method to make the following changes:
   • Remove PluralizingTableNameConvention from the ModelBuilder Conventions.
   • Remove requests to the MigrationHistory table.

   using System.Data.Entity;
   using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Conventions;
   
   class AzureDevOpsContext : DbContext {
    public AzureDevOpsContext() { }
   
    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
    // To remove the requests to the Migration History table
    Database.SetInitializer<AzureDevOpsContext>(null); 
    // To remove the plural names 
    modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
    } 
   }
   

7. Create another .cs file and name it after the Azure DevOps entity you are retrieving, for example, Builds. In this file, define both the Entity and the Entity Configuration, which will resemble the example below:

   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
   using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;
   
   [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema.Table("Builds")]
   public class Builds {
    [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Key] 
    public System.String Id { get; set; }
    public System.String BuildNumber { get; set; }
   }
    
   

8. Now that you have created an entity, add the entity to your context class:

   public DbSet<Builds> Builds { set; get; }
   

9. With the context and entity finished, you are now ready to query the data in a separate class. For example:

   AzureDevOpsContext context = new AzureDevOpsContext();
   context.Configuration.UseDatabaseNullSemantics = true;
   var query = from line in context.Builds select line;