Which providers are there and your experience using them
I would like to know about all possible native .NET Framework Entity Framework providers that are out there as well as their limitations compared to the default LINQ2Entities (from MS for MS SQL). If there are more for the same database even better. Tell me and I'll be updating this post with this list.
Feel free to add additional providers directly into this post or provide an answer and others (including me) will add it to the list.
Microsoft SQL Server Standard/Enterprise/Express
Microsoft SQL Server CE (Compact Edition)
MySQL
MySQL Connector (since version 6.0) - I've read about issues when using Skip()
, Take()
and Sort()
in the same expression tree - everyone welcome to input their experience/knowledge regarding this.
Note: MySQL Connector/NET Visual Studio Integration is not supported in the Express Editions of Visual Studio, meaning you won't be able to view MySQL databases in the Database explorer window or add a MySQL data source via Visual Studio wizard dialog boxes. Some users may find that this limits their ability to use Entity Framework and MySQL within Visual Studio Express).
Devart dotConnect for MySQL - similar issues to MySql's connector as I've read and both try to blame MS for it [these issues are supposed to be solved]
SQLite
PostgreSQL
Oracle
DB2
Sybase
Informix
Firebird
Provider Wrappers
Microsoft SQL Server
MySQL
SQLite
PostgreSQL
Oracle
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
I don't think DB2 works with EF 4 yet. If it does, someone please correct me and tell me how its done. I cannot get the DB2 providers to show up in the Data Source dialogs.