Whats your favorite ORM?

[KB]

I have begun again to look at using ORMs for my .Net development. Whenever I do, there is always some key flaw that makes me pass on them. What are the best ones you use.

 

[oog]

in my mind, they all have key flaws.

 

[imported_Dhaval00]

Most of the time I build my own ORM's and try to document them well. This gives me the flexibility of thinking outside the box and I don't get too much caught up trying to figure out why a specific ORM-provider isn't working.

If you're inclined on using .NET, and have heard about .NET 3.5, check out the LINQ library. It is kick ass.

 

[Thyme]

I like Hibernate for Java. I suspect NHibernate is just as good for .net. It keeps my layers separated well. Tools are also good enough to let me code and debug nearly completely in OO mode and not DB mode.

 

[KB]

Originally posted by: Dhaval00
Most of the time I build my own ORM's and try to document them well. This gives me the flexibility of thinking outside the box and I don't get too much caught up trying to figure out why a specific ORM-provider isn't working.

If you're inclined on using .NET, and have heard about .NET 3.5, check out the LINQ library. It is kick ass.

Thats exactly why I have been avoiding ORMs. It is a pain to figure out why its not working because it is so black-boxed.

I looked at LINQ and don't like it at all. It doesn't work well in a webservices/wcf environment since the changes to the data have to occur with an open DataContext (of course there are workarounds but I shouldn't have to workaround it). Most applications today are disconnected like web applications.

So far the project that I like the most has been an ORM/ code generator called subsonic. It is the closest thing to what I was originally doing in my DAL and it uses the Enterprise Library. Plus when I get errors I can insert debug code into the generated code to see whats going on.

Thanks for the responses so far.

 

[Argo]

I use Hibernate and find it fairly easy to use provided you read the documentation. Especially with annotation and JPA support that it now has.

 

[Markbnj]

I don't like them, and never have. The database is not just a byproduct of the class design. The database is a discrete component of the system with its own standards and performance tools. It will probably be around, and be relevant, long after the application code has been relegated to an archive tape somewhere.

In a good design there is a strong correspondence between the entities in the DB and the classes in the app at runtime, but I believe in layers, and think each tier ought to be as decoupled from the others as practical. My favorite approach is to have a thin layer of data adapter classes that call stored procedures. This is a nice approach in terms of decoupling, permissions granularity, and performance.

 

[Brett]

I agree with Markbnj here,

I've used hibernate, and on more than one occasion we had to change a database design because hibernate would not easily handle our design. We had to use designs that were less desirable because the alternatives were spending days working around hibernate.

 

[Thyme]

Hibernate or ORM in general isn't the tool for every project. Still, it's a good tool for a large variety of projects. If your use of ORM makes it _harder_ to change your design, then you are probably using it incorrectly.

 

[kamiller42]

ECO from CapableObjects is very nice. It is built on a infrastructure that has been years in development. It is robust. I like it.
http://www.capableobjects.com/