Simply put: I have a database design in my head and I now want to use Visual Studio 2010 to create a WPF application. Key is to use the VS2010 tools to take much as possible manual work out of my hands.
-The database engine is SQLite
-ORM probably through DBLINQ
-Use of LINQ
-The application can create new, empty database instances
-Easily maintainable (changes in data model possible)
Q- How do I start designing the database model (visually) in Visual Studio 2010? Should this be an xsd? Do I do this in a separate project?
Q- Next, how can I make the most use of VS2010 code generation tools to generate a Data Access Layer?
Q- I suppose the Data Access Layer will be added as a Data Source (in another project?) and from there it's a rather generic data binding solution?
I tried finding clear examples of this but it's a jungle out there, the hunt for a solution is NOT converging to one clear method.... :_(
Edit: changed 'business layer' to 'Data Access Layer', as that's really what I meant.
Update: So I decided to use ADO.NET entity framework, DBLINQ is out of the picture. I downloaded and installed the System.Data.SQLite ADO.NET provider which integrates with VS2010. From the VS2010 Server Explorer one can create and design a new database but it could be done with a standalone tool for SQLite as well. I then created a new WPF application project, and in the solution explorer added an ADO.NET Entity Data Model, which automatically generates an edmx with C# code (which is the Data Access Layer) from the already created database file. WAF (waf.codeplex.com) seems like a good idea to implement the rest but plain LINQ to SQL will do. This (click here) is also a very helpful question on stackoverflow.