Developer Reference > Data Access Methods > Data Provider for .NET > Welcome to Actian Zen ADO.NET Data Providers
Welcome to Actian Zen ADO.NET Data Providers
This documentation covers the following Actian Zen data providers
• Zen ADO.NET data provider
• Zen ADO.NET Core data provider
• Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework data provider
• Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework Core data provider
What Are the Zen ADO.NET Data Providers?
Zen ADO.NET data providers are managed data providers, built with 100% managed code. The data providers are native wire protocol providers, which means that the provider does not have to call out to unmanaged code, code outside of the .NET Framework, in the form of a database client unless your application enlists in Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) coordinated transactions.
The Zen ADO.NET data providers enable you to connect to Zen database engines. They work with both 32- and 64-bit .NET and are supported on all Zen supported Windows platforms.
See also ADO.NET Data Providers Installed with Zen and Zen ADO.NET Data Providers Available with SDK Download.
What’s New in This Release
The Zen v16 release of the Zen ADO.NET data providers is new in the following ways:
• ADO.NET 4.4 is no longer supported. ADO.NET 4.6 support has been added.
• Enhancements
• The Zen data providers have been enhanced to send passwords more securely to the server.
• The Zen data providers have been enhanced to support Zen v16.
• The Zen Core data providers and the Actian Zen Entity Framework Core data providers have been enhanced to support .Net 8.0.
• The Zen Entity Framework Core data providers have been enhanced to support Entity Framework Core 8.0.
• Changed Behavior
• The Zen data providers no longer support Visual Studio 2017.
• The Zen Entity Framework Core data providers no longer support .Net versions prior to .Net 8.0.
• The Microsoft Enterprise Libraries have reached the end of their product life cycle and are not receiving updates anymore. Therefore, the Zen data providers no longer support them.
Using This Guide
We assume you are familiar with your operating system and its commands, the definition of directories, and accessing a database through an end-user application.
This guide covers the following information:
• Quick Start provides information about connecting to a database with your .NET data provider.
• Using the Data Providers provides information about using .NET applications with the Zen data provider and provides information about developing .NET applications in the .NET environment.
• Advanced Features describes advanced features of the data providers, including connection pooling, statement caching, configuring security, and using Zen Bulk Load.
• The ADO.NET Data Providers describes connection string options, data types, and other information for the Zen Entity Framework data providers.
• Zen ADO.NET Core Data Providers describes how to create an application and a UWP application in Visual Studio using Zen ADO.NET Core DLL.
• Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework Data Providers Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework Data Providers describes features of the Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework data providers. It explains how to create an Entity Data Model for the Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework data providers.
• Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework Core Data Providers describes the Actian Zen ADO.NET Entity Framework Core data providers and provides instructions on how to configure and use them.
• Using Zen Data Providers in Visual Studio describes how to use the Zen data providers and the Performance Wizard from within Visual Studio.
• Using the Microsoft Enterprise Libraries describes how to configure the Data Access Application Block and Logging Application Block, and use them in your application code.
• .NET Objects Supported provides the .NET public objects, properties, and methods supported by the Zen data providers.
• Getting Schema Information describes the schema collections supported by the Zen data providers.
• SQL Escape Sequences for .NET describes the scalar functions supported for the Zen data providers. Your data store may not support all of these functions.
• Locking and Isolation Levels discusses locking and isolation levels and how their settings can affect the data you retrieve.
• Designing .NET Applications for Performance Optimization provides recommendations for improving the performance of your applications by optimizing its code.
• Using an .edmx File explains the necessary changes to an .edmx file in order to provide Extended Entity Framework functionality to the EDM layer.
• Bulk Load Configuration Files provides samples of the files created during bulk load operations.
• IANA Code Page Mappings maps the most widely used IBM code pages to IANA code page names.
Note:  This guide may refer you to online links for more information about specific topics. Because it is the nature of web content to change frequently, we can guarantee only that the links referenced here were correct at the time of publishing.
 
Last modified date: 11/04/2024