CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#databasenhibernateorm
migajek
migajek

Reputation: 8614

NHibernate (or other worth recommendation ORM), real life example?

I'd like to learn database applications in C# and I'm about to select some framework. I heard many recommendations of NHibernate, however I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I'd like to know if there's any real-life example (with sources) of NHibernate in C#, to learn best practices etc.? I know all of them are probably covered in the docs, but working example helps a lot understanding the proper development pattern.

Upvotes: 6

Views: 1754

Answers (6)

Martin Buberl
Martin Buberl

Reputation: 47124

The open source project S#arp Architecture is so far the best example I'm aware of for NHibernate:

Even if it feels sometimes a little bit overdesigned, it follows best practices in implementing NHibernate in a multi-tier architecture.

I personally learned a lot about ORMs and good loosely coupled architecture going through the code of the project.

Another worthwhile article about NHibernate can be found on CodeProject:

Upvotes: 4

Alex Burtsev
Alex Burtsev

Reputation: 12668

Take a look at NHibernate addins project http://code.google.com/p/unhaddins/

Though this is not real life production example, the sample applications there are pretty close to real life applications | scenarios. The examples there are written by well known and respected programmers and they show some serious OOP and design patterns skills. This is definitely not for beginners.

Upvotes: 0

Richard
Richard

Reputation: 1289

Real life example: Orchard uses NHibernate, Fluent NHibernate and Linq To NHibernate for data access. It is an opensource CMS build by Microsofties. Source code is available at CodePlex.

Upvotes: 2

Roman
Roman

Reputation: 20246

As others have said, NHibernate is a solid framework to work with. It's quite mature and has a lot of features that let you control exactly what will happen to your date.

That said if you're just starting out with database programming you may also want to consider LinqToSql. It's not nearly as powerful as NHibernate, and it has been more or less EOLed. However, what you give up in power you gain in simplicity. It will allow you to get a basic database application up and running probably within minutes and allow you to experiment as you first learn. Despite the simplicity of getting your first app up and running it's still powerful enough to be used to build something like Stack Overflow.

Some good Linq to Sql beginner resources:

  • NerdDinner
  • ScottGu's series: Using LINQ to SQL (link is to part 9 because that has links to 1 through 8 at the top). Although this one doesn't have an application download (best I can tell) it basically walks you through building an app.

If you have your heart set on learning NHibernate, you can also start with the NerdDinner tutorial linked above and take a look at Ayende's writeup on porting it to NHibernate as well as a series on mapping NerdDinner with NHibernate. There's also a series of articles on using NHibernate in a WPF application (most other tutorials focus on web apps).

Resources:

One thing I can't emphasize enough is once you get past the initial "cool...I can talk to the DB" phase, grab a trial license for an appropriate profiler (list of profilers at the top) for your platform. It will let you see what exactly your ORM is sending to the DB. It can be very valuable for learning how what you're doing gets translated into SQL as well as troubleshooting bugs you run into.

Regardless of which path you choose you should also take a look at Data Access Practices Using Microsoft .Net: A Nerdly Comparison and Data Development GPS: Guidance for Choosing the Right Data Access Technology for Your Application Today. Although those only cover Microsoft technologies, it'll give you a high level overview of what's available out there and when it may and may not be appropriate for your projects (in the future).

Upvotes: 1

Rian Schmits
Rian Schmits

Reputation: 3206

Check out Ayende@Rahien, there's a lot of blog entries on NHibernate there. Another good source is NHibernate Forge. To get you started this would be especially helpful: NHibernate Getting Started Guide. Finally here you can find a downloadable working example of a NHibernate project based on the Northwind database.

Upvotes: 5

Puneet
Puneet

Reputation: 1014

NHibernate is a very solid ORM which allows you to create POCO classes, keeping your domain model very clean and allowing easier testability.

Entity Framework is improving rapidly. The UI tools in EF4 are okay for small applications but it is difficult to manage that kind of development with version control, rapidly changing DB schema etc. With EF4 Code First approach (in CTP stage at the moment) EF4 will will be much more attractive.

I have used LLBLGen in past with great success.

For beginners, Webmatrix can get you started very quickly. Check Rob Connery's video on how to use it with testing framework here

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions