Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
7
IN THIS CHAPTER
.
Metadata Classes at a Glance
.
The MetaModel Class
.
The MetaTable Class
.
The MetaColumn Class
.
The MetaForeignKeyColumn
Class
A
ll components of Dynamic Data applications, including
field templates, entity templates, filter templates, URL
routes, and page templates, rely on the Metadata API to
implement functionality appropriate for each particular
element and combine them in complete websites. This
chapter discusses the fundamental parts of the Metadata
API you need to understand in order to work with Dynamic
Data effectively.
.
The MetaChildrenColumn Class
The Metadata API in Dynamic Data consists of three major
classes shown in Figure 7.1:
MetaModel
,
MetaTable,
and
MetaColumn
. The
MetaModel
class defines the data model as
a collection of tables. A single instance of the
MetaModel
represents an entire data model class, such as the
NorthwindEntities
. Each
MetaTable
instance describes a
complete entity class like Product and contains one or more
MetaColumn
instances that describe their properties, like
ProductID
,
ProductName
,
UnitsInStock,
and
UnitPrice
.
