The next iteration of Entity Framework, namely Entity Framework 8, will have a new and exciting feature:
Support raw SQL queries without defining an entity type for the result
That means less boilerplate code!
Until now, you had to create a mapping for types that are returned from SqlQueryRaw. With Entity Framework 8 this looks a bit different as a new feature helps us effectively to reduce that boilerplate.
A small example:
// This works from now on
context.Database.SqlQueryRaw<MyUnmappedType>(@"SELECT * FROM SomeTableOrView");
This is especially nice if you work with a lot of SQL views. Until now, you had to define CLR types that had the correct mapping inside the DbContext.
A few notes about the limitations of that feature.
- The entity type cannot have relationships
- Properties are mapped by convention and mapping attributes are respected.
- The entity types are keyless.
Resources
- GitHub issue that tracked the feature request
