Entity framework AutoGenerated Entity

Question

I am referring Entity Framework Tutorial from that I get to know that when we accessing database into the framework it automatically creates the entity for all the tables which we want to use.
So here my question is can I use my own created class file of a table instead of using auto generated entity and is that a good practice or I need to use only that entities as a good practice.
Please tell me which should be a good way.
E.g. if I have a Database StudentInfo in which having Student table so if I Access it into my project using EF. it will create Entity for Student by default. but if I again created my own class file for Student that will be good way or need to use default generated entity.

Answer 1

I understand you are using a Database First approach, so you are importing the tables into your project and Visual Studio is generating the code related to your Entities, DBContext, etc... In that case, you must use those entity classes as the DBContext refers to them.

You have some control about the generated code, as you can change class/attribute names, types, etc... and you can also extend those generated classes as they are partial classes.

In any case, if you want to use your own classes, you should follow a Code First approach. This will require more work to define all the mappings with the DB model, but definitely you will be able to use your own classes.

Answer 2

If you create your own classes instead of the ones generated by the EF, you'll have to define some kind of mappings through which the framework understands that your custom class represents the DB entity itself.

Hence It would make sense to use the entities generated by the EF, and create your own custom viewmodels over these entities to use in your applications.

Answer 3

well what ever you want to tell what i understand is that u want to use your own generated classes .and that is a good practice you should try make every thing your own .main issue of the entity farm work is that when it creates any class for a table it crests it on the main directory of the project and named as i think EDMX and still you have to do lot of works too . instead using entity framework just make the classes .and if you want to update specific columns of a table just run the update query with the specific column names . here i have make a function that will classes for all your tables just change the connection string in the code and enjoy..............this function will return a string just copy and past this to your classes class and enjoy .always try to make your own .........using this type of programming even you can make pages too..........yes

          public string makeclassandfunctions(string tablename)
    {
        DataSet ds = loadtabledata(tablename);
        //the class starts frome here
        string classoftable = "</br></br></br>public class   " + tablename + "</br>{   " + "</br>";

        for (int a = 0; a <= ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count-1 ; a++)
        {
            if (ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName.Contains("ID"))
            {
                classoftable += "public Int32 " + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + "{get;set;}" + "</br>";
            }
            else
            {
                classoftable += "public string   " + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + "{get;set;}" + "</br>";
            }

        }
        //class is ending here its variables are defined here

        classoftable += "} ";
        //the insertion function starts frome here 
        classoftable += "</br>public void insertinto" + tablename + "(" + tablename + "  obj" + tablename + ")</br>{ </br> ";
        classoftable += " sqlcon.Open();</br> SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(" + @""" insert into " + tablename + " values " + "(";
        for (int a = 1; a <= ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1; a++)
        {
            if (a == ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1)
            {
                classoftable += "@" + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName;
            }
            else
            {
                classoftable += "@" + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + " , ";
            }

        }
        classoftable += ")" + @""",sqlcon);</br>";

        for (int a = 1; a <= ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1; a++)
        {
            classoftable += "cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue (" + @"""@" + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + @""" ,obj" + tablename + "." + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + ");</br>";
        }
        classoftable += " cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();</br>sqlcon.Close();";
        classoftable += "}</br></br>";
        //insert function ends here

        //delete function startsfrome here

        classoftable += "public void deletefrom" + tablename + "(" + "Int32 id" + ")" + "</br>{ </br> ";

        classoftable += " sqlcon.Open();</br> SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(" + @""" delete  from [" + tablename + "]" + "  where " + ds.Tables[0].Columns[0].ColumnName + "= " + @"'" + @"""" + "+id+" + @"""" + @"'" + @"""" + ",sqlcon);" + "</br> cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();</br>sqlcon.Close();</br>}</br></br>";


        //delete ends here

        //updatefunctionstarts frome here
        classoftable += "public void update" + tablename + "(" + tablename + "  obj" + tablename + " )</br>{";

        classoftable += " sqlcon.Open();</br> SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(" + @""" update  [" + tablename + "] set  ";

        for (int a = 1; a <= ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1; a++)
        {
            string columnname = ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName;

            if (a == ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1)
            {
                classoftable += columnname + " = @" + columnname + "  ";

                classoftable += "where  " + ds.Tables[0].Columns[0].ColumnName + " = @" + ds.Tables[0].Columns[0].ColumnName;
            }
            else
            {
                classoftable += columnname + " = @" + columnname + " , ";
            }
        }
        classoftable += @"""" + ",sqlcon);</br>";

        for (int a = 0; a <= ds.Tables[0].Columns.Count - 1; a++)
        {
            classoftable += "cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue (" + @"""@" + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + @""" ,obj" + tablename + "." + ds.Tables[0].Columns[a].ColumnName + ");</br>";
        }
        classoftable += "cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();</br>sqlcon.Close();</br>}</br>";


        //updatesstatementfunction ends here





        return classoftable;
    }