PLINQO is the best way to use LINQ to SQL

LINQ to SQL is a great idea. It's a fast and easy way to generate a data layer from your SQL schema. With just a few clicks, you can have entity classes generated that you can then query from a repository class (or however you roll).

But what happens when your schema changes? You have to drop your LINQ entities from the diagram and re-add them. Any customizations you have made will be lost. And there are some other pitfalls:

• Many-to-Many relationships are not supported
• All your entities are defined in a single, monstrous class
• You have to fetch records from the database just to delete or update them
• There is no built-in caching

I was griping about this and someone told me about PLINQO. PLINQO is a set of templates for CodeSmith. There are a couple videos you can watch on www.plinqo.com that explain how to use it. It's pretty easy! You can do the whole thing in under a minute. I had never used CodeSmith or even heard of PLINQO but I figured it all out from watching the videos a few times.

PLINQO offers:

• Many-to-Many support
• Entities get their own class files
• Changes to your SQL schema are magically preserved when you update your classes
• Deletes and updates are optimized
• You can detach and reattach entities
• You can generate astoria services for EASY use with jQuery ajax (sweet!)
• MUCH MORE

If you like LINQ to SQL but are looking for a way to overcome its shortcomings, PLINQO is definitely the way to go. I have been using it for several months now on multiple projects, and I am very happy with it!