You can use the Importer Wizard to import an existing data base as a CodeFluent Entities model. You can access the Importer from the Modeler or the solution explorer on your CodeFluent Entities project (right click).
The Importer Wizard
The importer makes a mapping between the data source types and the CodeFluent Entities types. But, you may want to define your own mapping configuration for a given type.
To do that, go to the “advanced properties” of the Importer Wizard and select “Type Mappers” under the “Input Mapping” group and add your type mapper.
Type Mappers Configuration
Add an Importer Type Mapper
Let’s say I am importing a SQL Server 2012 database and I have a field of type “time” (more information about SQL Server 2012 type mapping here), well I would like to have a CLR type “TimeSpan” mapped to it. When I take a look at the imported model I can see that the mapped type is “time”, but when I generate the Business Object Model (BOM) layer I have a property of type “System.DateTime (nullable)”. This is because the SQL Server type “time” did not exist before the SQL Server 2008 version.
SQL Server time type
time to DateTime mapping
So we can define a “type mapper” for the SQL Server type “time”.
elapsedtime mapper
We could also have chosen “System.TimeSpan”, “timespan” or “duration” as the “Type Name”.
And now we have a CLR type “System.TimeSpan (nullable)” in our BOM for a SQL Server 2012 type “time”.
time to TimeSpan mapping
Remember that you can save your Importer Wizard configuration.
You can find more resources about the Importer Wizard here.
Regards,
Pablo Fernandez Duran
