blinq: a first look

after downloading blinq and the may linq ctp, i decided to give it a quick run.

first, the installer just kinda installs on you not telling you anything.  blinq gets installed into c:\program files\microsoft asp.net\blinq.

if you thought there was a gui, nada (yet).  it is command line baby!

so i ensured i had the trusty pubs database installed on my local instance of sql express 2005.  then i went to town.

to scaffold a database, just do the following:

blinq /t:<yourdesiredoutputpath> /server:<yoursever> /database:<yourdb>

be sure not to type ‘bling’

there are some other options, but this will get you a scaffold site.  specifically i did:

after that i opened the site in vs2005:

i then ran the site and got the following screens:

i ran through some of them and saw some errors with a blank pubs database, but you get the gist…it’s all there.  try it on your own site/data!

i plan on digging deeper and doing a comparison of Ruby Rails scaffolding, but i did notice that like ruby scaffolding, it does not automagically generate the foreign key references in the UI. another thing i would have liked to see is the option of *not* generating physical files — i like that about ruby rails scaffolding — kind of an httpmodule feel with the ability to generate physical templates…i’ll dig deeper.

tags: asp.net, blinq, linq