Why BizBlox?

By using an ORM such as BizBlox, the development time for a project can be significantly reduced as the developer can spend less time developing the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) code for database access. This not only reduces the time spent in development, but also the time spent testing and debugging code, as the code produced has already been thoroughly tested by the ORM developer. This allows the developer to spend more time achieving the true goals of an application, whatever they may be.

For a more in depth look at what ORM's are, have a read of these articles:

How-To-Select an Object-Relational Mapping Tool for .NET

Choosing an object-relational mapping tool

BixBlox provides a simple yet efficient way of accessing a database. Through the use of a supplied code generator, BizBlox can generate working VB.Net or C# code to be used for accessing data.

Comparisons With Other ORM Solutions

  • Nhibernate

    Nhibernate is an Open Source Data access framework that has become very popular in the .NET world, mainly due to its strong following from within the Java world for Hibernate. Through the use of XML mapping files, it is able to directly map database tables to Objects without any SQL code. At first these XML mapping files can be difficult to understand, and discourage new users from using Nhibernate. Nhibernate provides a vast array of advanced features, including but not limited to: transactional support, cross-database support, criteria-based queries and HQL queries. To be able to provide these features, Nhibernate relies heavily on the use of Reflection, which in turn can have a significant performance hit on the system.

    Through the use of a simple code generator, BizBlox provides many of the features that can be found in Nhibernate, but without the need for complex XML mapping files. BizBlox is also able to provide these features much simpler and without the performance hit that Nhibernate encounters.

  • Wilson ORMapper

    The Wilson ORMapper claims to be an easy to use ORM that takes only 30 minutes to get it up and running. This claim is in fact true, the ORMapper is very easy use. The ORMapper requires a single XML mapping file, which maps the objects to their matching tables within the database. Its not that the ORMapper isn't easy to use likes its claim, but the lack of documentation/support provided makes things a little trickier. The ORMapper provides all the standard simple features which you would expect, without offering some advanced features that BizBlox and other ORM's provide. Because of this simplicity, the ORMapper is able to support a wide range of databases, because it sticks to SQL standards rather then database specific features.

  • Vanatec OpenAccess

    Vanatec OpenAccess creates its OR Mapping using what they call Reverse Mapping to go from the database to the required business objects. When initially setting up a data access layer Vanatec OpenAccess creates a singular XML mapping file, which the user must maintain if and when objects are modified in the future. Vanatec OpenAccess is able to free objects from databases and use optimistic transactions, so that the database connection can be released while a transaction is still taking place.

    The simple yet powerful code generator provided with BizBlox is able to generate the required business objects without any intermediate XML mapping files which can be hard to maintain. BizBlox is still able to provide a wide range of advanced features which is usually not seen with ORMs that aren't using XML mapping files.

  • ADO.NET

    The main disadvantage with using ADO.NET rather then an ORM like BizBlox, is that ADO.NET is not Object Oriented. In order to make ADO.NET more Object Oriented, the developer must create custom mappings between the return results from a query and an object. This is prone to errors, can become vary time consuming and is very difficult to maintain in the long run, especially when developers change. By using an ORM, like BizBlox, the developer is not wasting time developing repetitive code that does not achieve the true goals of the application.

BizBlox & Web Services

Unlike most other ORMs currently available, the BizBlox Builder is designed to provide 'Transfer Objects' which can be used for Web Services. These Transfer Objects are simple classes that contain only properties with 'Getters' and 'Setters', which the developer usually has to manually create if they wish to take advantage of web services in their projects. The Transfer Object pattern is crucial pattern when dealing with web services, but is rarely taken into considerations when selecting an ORM, even though the Web Service and database must interact in one way or another.

BizBlox data access objects can natively accept and generate Transfer Objects, even partial Transfer Objects. By using the BizBlox Builder, the developer is able to automatically create these objects, which reduces their development time and can have a positive impact on the design of the final project.