Finally a new version of SubSonic was released today with a lot of new features. SubSonic is one of my favorite Data Access Layer (DAL) generators, that makes it super easy to create data access code.
As a developer you have a lot of control over what the generated code looks like, which is great because I do not like code generators to dictate the essence of my code. But the beauty of SubSonic is that you never really have to interact with the generated code itself. It’s automatically generated and compiled for you — you just need to learn how to use it, which is pretty simple. What’s more, it’s free, and works with not only SQL Server, but also with MySQL, SQLite, and Oracle databases.
SubSonic was originally started by Rob Conery as an open source project. Later, Microsoft hired Rob and asked him to continue working on this project. The latest 3.0 version took about a year to be completed. According to Rob’s blog following are some of the new features:
A nice Linq engine which parses IQueryable “stuff” into SQL (thanks to Matt Warren’s excellent work with the IQToolkit, which we stole mercilessly). A templating system which allows you to use ActiveRecord, good old Linq in Linq to SQL style, or whatever floats your boat. A SimpleRepository which is just about zero-drag and even builds your database for you A brand-new project site that will hopefully answer the question “is SubSonic dead”? Or probably not A new docs site that has permanently crushed my ability to type. It’s a wiki so if you feel like being helpful and like SubSonic and want to help… nudge… nudge
If you have never used SubSonic before you owe it to yourself to check out this 5-minute demo.
You can get more information on SubSonic and download it for free at the SubSonic project site.