When to use ORM tools...?

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I have worked in a project where most of the business logic was in Stored Procedures (SQL 2005). So we just used to call the stored procedure from Data Access Layer.
I am very new to this ORM concept. Have a fair understanding of it. I have gone through Entity Framework Model, NHibernate, but could not understand the situation where we can make use of them.

Can you please suggest me a practical example, where we can effectively use these ORM tools....

Posted 18-Jan-11 2:18am

Pravin Patil, Mumbai

Updated 30-Apr-18 17:57pm

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Espen Harlinn 18-Jan-11 8:32am

The ORM vs other alternatives is a pretyy hard question to answer. You can often accellerate the development process, but you pay in terms of performance - just my 2ct's

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#realJSOP · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-18T02:54:00

Solution 2

The best time to use an ORM is:

0) When you don't care how badly a program performs

1) You're willing to give up a certain amount of flexibility

2) You know for sure and certain that there's no way on this earth that you're going to need to modify the generated code.

Posted 18-Jan-11 2:54am

#realJSOP

Comments

Pravin Patil, Mumbai 18-Jan-11 9:02am

Thanks a lot.

Espen Harlinn 18-Jan-11 9:12am

5+ Good answer

Pravin Patil, Mumbai 18-Jan-11 9:24am

Yeah.....Just three lines and need of ORM explained....

Espen Harlinn 18-Jan-11 9:30am

Actually, I do use ORM tools, but not for anything performance critical, and I would certainly not replace existing, well functioning code with an ORM.

Pravin Patil, Mumbai 18-Jan-11 9:34am

Which ORM tool you use the most, and which one you find the best...?

Espen Harlinn 18-Jan-11 9:50am

I prefer DevExpress XPO, RemObjects DataAbstract - and use Entity Framework when it's a requirement. I find that XPO is particularly nice when I have to build everything from scratch, and RemObjects DataAbstract is more than a regular ORM tool - it's a great tool for multi-tier development - create a useful server in minutes from an existing database schema - and it supports SilverLight

Pravin Patil, Mumbai 18-Jan-11 9:56am

Thank you very much Espen for sharing your knowledge.

shreekar · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-18T02:50:00

You are looking for a problem to fix with a solution already decided!? Yes, of course you are, because you want to learn how the damn thing is used practically - this is a commendable idea, but sadly missed by many.

Here are a few guidelines:

1. Does the application you write need to be database agnostic?
2. Are you developing a product that needs to support different databases?

In general, where a DB schema remains *almost* constant, an O/R mapper may provide some gains for DB structure to Object serialization and vice versa.

This does not mean that solution for all of the above is O/R M tool, but simply that O/R M tools are appropriate to be evaluated in these scenarios.

Be aware that many similar situations can also be addressed through a well written DAL.

If you have understood the theory and keep your mind open when designing solutions for new projects, you may see some good uses for O/R M.