Linq to SharePoint Part1 Introduction

Hey guys,

The best new feature within SharePoint 2010 is in my eyes Linq To SharePoint. It's just incredible because there is no further need for CAML Queries:)

So i want to describe the first use of this feature. If you don't know what is LINQ or how to write LINQ Queries just click here for a quick introduction in msdn.

Getting started:

If you want to use Linq To SharePoint you must have defined your structure for a common SharePoint Site.

In this sample I use a Site which has a CustomLibrary (which has the default columns) and a CustomList (which have some custom Columns defined).

So the first step is to generating the DataEntities for Linq To SharePoint, to do this Microsoft has released a CMD Line Tool named SPMetal.exe 

This Tool is located here:

Just open a Command Line and browse to the 14" folder.

Now you can run the tool with the following options:

/web            --- Defines the site from which the entities should be used

/namespace --- Defines the namespace which should be used for code generating

/code          --- Defines the Name and the Save Location of the Entity Class in depending on the extension (*.cs or *.vb) the code language will be used

There are several more options for this tool here is a short reference from MSDN:

After you execute the command line tool it generates a new Class with all entities which has been found on this site including CustomList with Custom Columns.

Generated Class:

Now we are ready for coding, but how to use this entities i will show in the next post ;)

cheers