How to Access Lakebase Data Using Entity Framework

Microsoft Entity Framework serves as an object-relational mapping framework for working with data represented as objects. Although Visual Studio offers the ADO.NET Entity Data Model wizard to automatically generate the Entity Model, this model-first approach may present challenges when your data source undergoes changes or when you require greater control over entity operations. In this article, we will delve into the code-first approach for accessing Lakebase data through the CData ADO.NET Provider, providing you with more flexibility and control.

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Form Application. This article uses a C# project with .NET 4.5.
2. Run the command 'Install-Package EntityFramework' in the Package Manger Console in Visual Studio to install the latest release of Entity Framework.

3. Modify the App.config file in the project to add a reference to the Lakebase Entity Framework 6 assembly and the connection string.

   To connect to Databricks Lakebase, start by setting the following properties:
   • DatabricksInstance: The Databricks instance or server hostname, provided in the format instance-abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-abcdef123456.database.cloud.databricks.com.
   • Server: The host name or IP address of the server hosting the Lakebase database.
   • Port (optional): The port of the server hosting the Lakebase database, set to 5432 by default.
   • Database (optional): The database to connect to after authenticating to the Lakebase Server, set to the authenticating user's default database by default.

   OAuth Client Authentication

   To authenicate using OAuth client credentials, you need to configure an OAuth client in your service principal. In short, you need to do the following:

   1. Create and configure a new service principal
   2. Assign permissions to the service principal
   3. Create an OAuth secret for the service principal

   For more information, refer to the Setting Up OAuthClient Authentication section in the Help documentation.

   OAuth PKCE Authentication

   To authenticate using the OAuth code type with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange), set the following properties:

   • AuthScheme: OAuthPKCE.
   • User: The authenticating user's user ID.

   For more information, refer to the Help documentation.

   
   <configuration>
      ... 
     <connectionStrings>
       <add name="LakebaseContext" connectionString="Offline=False;DatabricksInstance=lakebase;Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432;Database=my_database;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" providerName="System.Data.CData.Lakebase" />
     </connectionStrings>
     <entityFramework>
       <providers>
          ... 
         <provider invariantName="System.Data.CData.Lakebase" type="System.Data.CData.Lakebase.LakebaseProviderServices, System.Data.CData.Lakebase.Entities.EF6" />
       </providers>
     <entityFramework>
   </configuration>
   </code> 
   

4. Add a reference to System.Data.CData.Lakebase.Entities.EF6.dll, located in the lib -> 4.0 subfolder in the installation directory.
5. Build the project at this point to ensure everything is working correctly. Once that's done, you can start coding using Entity Framework.
6. Add a new .cs file to the project and add a class to it. This will be your database context, and it will extend the DbContext class. In the example, this class is named LakebaseContext. The following code example overrides the OnModelCreating method to make the following changes:
   • Remove PluralizingTableNameConvention from the ModelBuilder Conventions.
   • Remove requests to the MigrationHistory table.

   
   using System.Data.Entity;
   using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Conventions;
   
   class LakebaseContext : DbContext {
     public LakebaseContext() { }
   
     protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
     {
       // To remove the requests to the Migration History table
       Database.SetInitializer<LakebaseContext>(null);  
       // To remove the plural names    
       modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
     }  
   }
   

7. Create another .cs file and name it after the Lakebase entity you are retrieving, for example, Orders. In this file, define both the Entity and the Entity Configuration, which will resemble the example below:

   
   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
   using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;
   
   [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema.Table("Orders")]
   public class Orders {
     [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Key] 
     public System.String ShipName { get; set; }
     public System.String ShipCity { get; set; }
   }
       
   

8. Now that you have created an entity, add the entity to your context class:

   
   public DbSet<Orders> Orders { set; get; }
   

9. With the context and entity finished, you are now ready to query the data in a separate class. For example:

   LakebaseContext context = new LakebaseContext();
   context.Configuration.UseDatabaseNullSemantics = true;
   var query = from line in context.Orders select line;