Data Abstract for .NET is the leading multi-tier framework for the .NET platform.

One of three editions of the DA product family, Data Abstract for .NET was designed and implemented from the ground up for best possible integration with the rest of the .NET framework and to be intuitive to use for anyone familiar with .NET in general. Data Abstract goes far beyond what ADO.NET and the database features baked into the .NET framework provides, and adds a complete multi-tier infrastructure that takes care of the client and server side, as well as the communication between the two.

Wide Toolchain Support.

Data Abstract for .NET is the only multi-tier data access library to provide a consistent data access story across different tools and sub-platforms within the .NET world. It allows your applications to talk to virtually any database available, and deploy your clients and (more importantly) servers to a wide range of operating systems, through full support of Mono.

In addition to full support for the standard Visual Studio IDE and the C# and Visual Basic.NET languages, it also provides full support for Oxygene, the next generation Object Pascal language that powers Embarcadero Prism. Data Abstract is also fully supported and tested for Mono, allowing users to build managed servers to be deployed on Linux and Mac OS X systems, as well as clients for Mac OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS, in addition to Windows and Windows Phone 7. It also provides full support for clients on the Silverlight and the Compact Framework, and for accessing data from ASP.NET.

Safe Data Access with DA LINQ

LINQ (short for Language Integrated Query) is a powerful new technology for working with strongly-typed data, but most .NET technologies employ LINQ half-heartedly, by bypassing the middle tier and running LINQ queries directly against the database or local data already on the client. They also unnecessarily tie your LINQ code to specific databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server for “LINQ to SQL”. DA LINQ solves these problems:

First, DA LINQ is a pure client-side technology* that exposes the power of LINQ-driven data access to the data published by your middle tier. Using advanced features like DA SQL and Dynamic Where/Dynamic Select to communicate with the middle-tier, DA LINQ queries are executed securely and do not bypass security and business logic implemented on your middle-tier server. By contrast, “LINQ to SQL” and other technologies are based on directly talking to the back-end database, making them suitable for traditional client/server data access models only. (*Of course you can still use DA LINQ within your server tier as well, if needed).

Secondly, because Data Abstract itself is database-agnostic and encapsulates the differences between various database dialects from your application code, the same applies to DA LINQ data access. In contrast to “LINQ to SQL” or other technologies, your code will not depend on a specific database back-end.

Data Abstract is the only framework to provide client-side LINQ database access in Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 applications as well.

All Three Major Phone Platforms – From One Code Base

Data Abstract allows you to target all three major mobile phone platforms: Windows Phone 7, iPhone and Android, with one code base.

Here at RemObjects Software, a big part of our cross-platform develpment philosphy entails using the platform's native tools and development paradigm to develop applications. That's why we invest heavily in providing native solutions for the three mobile platforms, with Data Abstract for Xcode for native iOS, Data Abstract for Java (Codename “Black Lodge” currently in development) for Android, and of course Data Abstract for .NET and Silverlight for Windows Phone 7.

But sometimes, sharing code is more important than going native, and that's why we also support all of these platforms from managed code with Data Abstract .NET. Building on top of the MonoTouch and MonoDroid frameworks for iOS and Android development available from Novell, Data Abstract for .NET allows you to create database client applications that can share a lot of the client-side code with Windows Phone 7 apps (written of course in Silverlight), essentially letting you create three applications from one code base.

Rich Web Data Access Solutions: ASP.NET, Silverlight, AJAX

A lot of development today is done for the web. Data Abstract provides a variety of ways to build rich data access into your web applications.

To start with, Data Abstract of course provides full support for traditional data access form ASP.NET applications, to access, present and work with data using webserver-side code. Because ASP.NET runs the full .NET framework, pretty much the entire feature set of Data Abstract is accessible at this level, with the ASP.NET website acting as "client" in the multi-tier scenario. (remobjects.com, the website you are viewing now, is built entirely in ASP.NET and Data Abstract)

Where more rich and interactive data access than a traditional website can achieve is needed, Silverlight can provide a good solution for building feature-rich web experiences that provide an application-quality UI within the browser. Data Abstract provides full support for Silverlight code accessing your middle-tier data directly from within the browser – without the need to to go though the web server. This includes full support for client-side DA LINQ.

Finally, data can be accessed using OData, JSON and JavaScript, so it can be consumed from more lightweight AJAX-type web applications. As with Silverlight, client-side JavaScript can directly communicate with and retrieve data from the middle-tier server without requiring data providers or special data access logic within the website itself.

Great Samples to Get You Started

Data Abstract 6.0 introduces a new and comprehensive suite of sample applications to help you get started with the product and explore its wide range of features.

Built around a shared “PCTrade” sample database and a middle-tier server that is ready-to-run out of the box, you can explore the various client samples inside Visual Studio and examine how they leverage DA's various data access options and features, from DA SQL over Business Processors to advanced functionality like pre-configured Reconcile Dialogs.

The “PCTrade” sample server comes with a SQLite database to be usable without any config, but is prepared to host versions of the same database in other data database systems with little setup, as well – illustrating Data Abstract's powerful database dialect abstraction.

The server application also comes – untypical for a real-life server app – with a rich user interface that allows you to explore how different data requests are handled underneath the hood by Data Abstract, for example how DA SQL queries get mapped to the back-end database, or what business logic gets applied as updates happen. You can read more about the PCTrade sample here on the wiki.

And There's More...

The above is only a brief glimpse at some of the unique features in Data Abstract.You can find more information The above is only a brief glimpse at some of the unique features in Data Abstract.You can find more information in our extensive online wiki, with documentation, articles, class references and discussion of the various aspects of the product.