Module 1, “Architecture and Data Access Technologies,” describes the commonly used data access technologies and scenarios in which developers are likely to use them.

Module 2, “Building Entity Data Models,” introduces the concepts of data modeling, and in particular, EDMs. It explains how developers can use EDMs to decouple the conceptual data structure in their applications from the logical data structure in the data store.

Module 3, “Querying Entity Data,” explains how to use LINQ to Entities, Entity SQL, the EntityClient provider for the Entity Framework, and stored procedures to retrieve data from an entity model, and describes when each approach should be used.

Module 4, “Creating, Updating, and Deleting Entity Data,” introduces the ways that the Entity Framework enables data modifications. It also describes how the Entity Framework implements change tracking.

Module 5, “Handling Multi-User Scenarios by Using Object Services,” introduces the concurrency model that the Entity Framework uses to address the issues that are faced by applications that must support multiple users who access the same data simultaneously. It also describes how the Entity Framework can make use of transactions to ensure data integrity.

Module 6, “Building Optimized Solutions by Using Object Services,” describes best practices for designing and building a scalable, optimized data access layer by using Object Services. The module introduces several techniques for optimizing the performance of queries that execute against the conceptual model. It also describes strategies for running data modification operations asynchronously.

Module 7, “Customizing Entities and Building Custom Entity Classes,” describes how to customize and extend entities with your own business logic.

Module 8, “Using POCO Classes with the Entity Framework,” introduces the ways to define custom entity classes in Entity Framework applications. By default, Visual Studio generates a set of entity classes from the EDM. This module describes how to use an existing set of POCO business classes in the application and how to extend the generated entity classes to add custom business functionality to the entity objects.

Module 9, “Building an N-Tier Solution by Using the Entity Framework,” introduces the architectural issues that are associated with building an n-tier solution, and discusses how to address these issues by using the Entity Framework. An n-tier architecture is the most common approach to building enterprise class business applications because it facilitates building applications that are scalable, secure, maintainable, and interoperable. This module will discuss how a client application can retrieve data in an n-tier application.

Module 10, “Handling Updates in an N-Tier Solution by Using the Entity Framework,” describes how to handle data modifications in an n-tier solution. The module describes the different strategies for handling modifications to the different alternative formats for transporting data between tiers: data transfer objects (DTOs), self-tracking entities (STEs), and simple entities (SEs). The module also describes how to manage the exceptions that can occur during the data modification process.

Module 11, “Building Occasionally Connected Solutions,” describes how to access offline or occasionally connected data in client applications. It describes how to cache data in local XML files by using LINQ to XML and how to implement an occasionally connected application by using Sync Framework.

Module 12, “Querying Data by Using WCF Data Services,” introduces the purpose and features of a WCF Data Service and describes how to create and consume a WCF Data Service. It also discusses how to grant and restrict access to resources that a WCF Data Service exposes.

Module 13, “Updating Data by Using WCF Data Services,” describes how to use WCF Data Services to create, update, and delete data. WCF Data Services use standard Internet protocols such as HTTP and the Atom Publishing Protocol to enable update access to data across the Internet or a corporate network.

Module 14, “Using ADO.NET,” introduces ADO.NET and explains how you can use it to develop scalable, high-performance, data-driven applications.

Module 15, “Using LINQ to SQL,” introduces LINQ to SQL and explains how you can use it to abstract the low-level details of ADO.NET queries by developing against a logical data model.