How to Access SingleStore 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 SingleStore 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 SingleStore Entity Framework 6 assembly and the connection string.

   The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
   • Database (Optional): The default database to connect to when connecting to the SingleStore Server. If this is not set, tables from all databases will be returned.

   Connect Using Standard Authentication

   To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:

   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.

   Connect Using Integrated Security

   As an alternative to providing the standard username and password, you can set IntegratedSecurity to True to authenticate trusted users to the server via Windows Authentication.

   Connect Using SSL Authentication

   You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to SingleStore data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:

   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.

   Connect Using SSH Authentication

   Using SSH, you can securely login to a remote machine. To access SingleStore data via SSH, configure the following connection properties:

   • SSHClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate.
   • SSHClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSHClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSHClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSHPassword: The password that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
   • SSHPort: The port used for SSH operations.
   • SSHServer: The SSH authentication server you are trying to authenticate against.
   • SSHServerFingerPrint: The SSH Server fingerprint used for verification of the host you are connecting to.
   • SSHUser: Set this to the username that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.

   <configuration>
    ... 
    <connectionStrings>
    <add name="SingleStoreContext" connectionString="Offline=False;User=myUser;Password=myPassword;Database=NorthWind;Server=myServer;Port=3306;" providerName="System.Data.CData.SingleStore" />
    </connectionStrings>
    <entityFramework>
    <providers>
    ... 
    <provider invariantName="System.Data.CData.SingleStore" type="System.Data.CData.SingleStore.SingleStoreProviderServices, System.Data.CData.SingleStore.Entities.EF6" />
    </providers>
    <entityFramework>
   </configuration>
   </code> 
   

4. Add a reference to System.Data.CData.SingleStore.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 SingleStoreContext. 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 SingleStoreContext : DbContext {
    public SingleStoreContext() { }
   
    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
    // To remove the requests to the Migration History table
    Database.SetInitializer<SingleStoreContext>(null); 
    // To remove the plural names 
    modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
    } 
   }
   

7. Create another .cs file and name it after the SingleStore entity you are retrieving, for example, Orders. 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("Orders")]
   public class Orders {
    [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Key] 
    public System.String ShipName { get; set; }
    public System.String ShipCity { get; set; }
   }
    
   

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

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

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

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