Accessing SQL Data Services via ADO.NET Data Service Client Library

Question

Is this possible? Basically I would like to use SQL Data Services REST interface and let the ADO.NET Data Service Client library handle communication details and generate the entities that I can use. I looked at the samples in February release of Azure services kit but the samples in there are using HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse to consume SQL Data Services RESTfully. I was hoping to use ADO.NET Data Service Client library to abstract low-level details away.

Answer 1

Yes you can! Or at least, they're working on it...

They've changed the direction of SDS since Februari (they will now be offering an actual relational database), butI haven't had the chance to dive into this subject since, so I'm not 100% certain which parts already work.

See this SDS team blog post for information.

Answer 2

You can do this easily now (as of MIX10). When you create a database in SQL Azure, there is now an option to expose an OData endpoint (REST-based endpoint) over that data. Once you do this, you can point the WCF Data Services (formerly known as the ADO.NET Data Services) client, VIA Add Service Reference in Visual Studio, at the endpoint and get the generated data services client for that SQL Azure endpoint.