Database
Here I am making use of Microsoft’s Northwind Database. You can download it from here.
Configuring and connecting Entity Framework to database
1. Inside the Solution Explorer, right click on Project and then click on Add and then click on Add New Item.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
2. Then, inside the Add New Item window, select ADO.NET Entity Data Model option.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
3. As soon as you add the Entity Data Model to your project you will be prompted with the following dialog and you need to click YES button.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
4. Then, the Entity Data Model Wizard will open up where you need to select EF Designer from database.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
5. After that, click on New Connection Button.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
6. Now the wizard will ask you to connect and configure the connection string to the database.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
After connecting to the database, click on Test Connection and if connection was successful it will display the Success message.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
7. Then, click on Next Button to move on to the Next step.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
8. Now, you need to select the Table you need to connect and work with Entity Framework and click on Finish Button.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
Finally, the Entity Data Model ready with the Customers Table of the Northwind database.
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
HTML Markup
The HTML Markup consists of following control:
GridView – For displaying data.
<h4>Customers</h4>
<hr />
<asp:GridView ID="gvCustomers" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false">
<Columns>
<asp:BoundField DataField="CustomerID" HeaderText="Customer Id" />
<asp:BoundField DataField="ContactName" HeaderText="ContactName" />
<asp:BoundField DataField="City" HeaderText="City" />
<asp:BoundField DataField="Country" HeaderText="Country" />
</Columns>
</asp:GridView>
Binding GridView with Entity Framework using C# and VB.Net
Inside the
Page Load event handler, the Top 10 records from the
Customers table are fetched using
Entity Frameworkand assigned to the DataSource property of the GridView control.
C#
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!this.IsPostBack)
{
using (NORTHWINDEntities entities = new NORTHWINDEntities())
{
gvCustomers.DataSource = (from customer in entities.Customers.Take(10)
select customer).ToList();
gvCustomers.DataBind();
}
}
}
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
If Not Me.IsPostBackThen
Using entities As NORTHWINDEntities = New NORTHWINDEntities()
gvCustomers.DataSource = (From customer In entities.Customers.Take(10) Select customer).ToList()
gvCustomers.DataBind()
End Using
End If
End Sub
Screenshot
![ASP.Net Entity Framework Basic Tutorial to SELECT records and display in GridView]()
Downloads
