Ad-hoc SQL/POCO Queries in Entity Framework 4.0

Since version 4.0, the Entity Framework has had the ability to query un-mapped data and project it onto POCOs using ad-hoc SQL.

Here, for example, is how we check the current SQL Server version:

        internal class SqlVersionInfo

        {

            public string Edition { get; set; }

            public string ProductLevel { get; set; }

            public string ProductVersion { get; set; }

        }



        private static SqlVersionInfo GetSqlServerVersion(ObjectContext context)

        {

            const string sql =

             @"SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion') as [ProductVersion],

                      SERVERPROPERTY('productlevel') as [ProductLevel],

                      SERVERPROPERTY('edition') as [Edition];";

            var reader = context.ExecuteStoreQuery<SqlVersionInfo>(sql);

            return reader.Single();

        }

Note that no mapping step is required -- the code will just run with any ObjectContext at all.