July29

VistaDB 4.1 Data Builder Update

There was a problem with the Data Builder 4.1 included in the setup of the Build 16 for 4.1 – it wasn’t the correct binary…  This is what happens when things get rushed.  Normally a full change of a build number takes about 12 hours of testing to recertify.  But because people had grabbed the 15 test setup we had to bump the version and didn’t get a chance to fully retest it – just no time.

Data Builder Only

So those with binaries for 4.1 can download the 4.1 Data Builder Build 17.  It is just a ZIP file with the correct Data Builder, and to avoid confusion I bumped it’s number to Build 17.  It was the one that was supposed to be included.  I am not going to redo an entire setup for that one file.  It would require days of testing, or the possibility of introducing yet another subtle error.  So just unzip the exe into your install directory and overwrite the 4.1 Build 16 included.

July23

LINQ Query Pane in VistaDB 4.1

There is a new pane in the Data Builder for VistaDB 4.1.  The LINQ query pane is a very handy way to build and test LINQ queries against a simple Entity Framework model.  First understand that this pane is a work in progress.  It was designed to be an easy way to write LINQ queries (similar to LINQPad) for your VistaDB database.  The feature is of limited usefulness since the model cannot be customized at generation, or loaded from your own assembly.  But this is where we were with the feature when we had to ship, so here it is.  We have been using it a lot to help write LINQ queries, we hope you find it useful too.

The current implementation only supports C# (sorry VB guys, it was on the list).  You can right click on the Entity Model tree and Script the main query window with all your basic CRUD operations.

Data Builder LINQ Panel

By default the dialog is grayed out until you generate a model.  The code shown will still be present once the model is generated.

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