Note: This project has moved to ServiceStack.OrmLite on GitHub. Please update your links.

ServiceStack.OrmLite is a convention-based, configuration-free lightweight ORM that uses standard POCO classes and Data Annotation attributes to infer its table schema.

Introduction

OrmLite is a set of light-weight C# extension methods around System.Data.* interfaces which is designed to persist POCO classes with a minimal amount of intrusion and configuration. Another Orm with similar goals is sqlite-net.

OrmLite was designed with a focus on these core objectives:

• Simplicity - with minimal, convention-based attribute configuration
• High performance - with support for indexes, text blobs, etc.
• Expressive power and flexibility - with access to IDbCommand and raw SQL
• Cross platform - supports multiple dbs (currently: Sqlite and Sql Server) running on both .NET and Mono platforms.

Download

OrmLite is included with ServiceStack or available to download separately in a standalone ServiceStack.OrmLite.dll.

The full source code for OrmLite is also available online.

Limitations

For simplicity, and to be able to have the same POCO class persisted in db4o, memcached, redis or on the filesystem (i.e. providers included in ServiceStack), each model must have an 'Id' property which is its primary key.

Examples

In its simplest useage, OrmLite can persist any POCO type without any attributes required:

public class SimpleExample
{
	public int Id { get; set; }
	public string Name { get; set; }
}

//Set once before use (i.e. in a static constructor).
OrmLiteConfig.DialectProvider = new SqliteOrmLiteDialectProvider();

using (IDbConnection db = "/path/to/db.sqlite".OpenDbConnection())
using (IDbCommand dbConn = db.CreateCommand())
{
	dbConn.CreateTable<SimpleExample>(true);
	dbConn.Insert(new SimpleExample { Id=1, Name="Hello, World!"});
	var rows = dbConn.Select<SimpleExample>();

	Assert.That(rows, Has.Count(1));
	Assert.That(rows[0].Id, Is.EqualTo(1));
}

To get a better idea of the features of OrmLite lets walk through a complete example using sample tables from the Northwind database. (Full source code for this example is available here.)

So with no other configuration using only the classes below:

[Alias("Shippers")]
public class Shipper
	: IHasId<int>
{
	[AutoIncrement]
	[Alias("ShipperID")]
	public int Id { get; set; }

	[Required]
	[Index(Unique = true)]
	[StringLength(40)]
	public string CompanyName { get; set; }

	[StringLength(24)]
	public string Phone { get; set; }

	[References(typeof(ShipperType))]
	public int ShipperTypeId { get; set; }
}

[Alias("ShipperTypes")]
public class ShipperType
	: IHasId<int>
{
	[AutoIncrement]
	[Alias("ShipperTypeID")]
	public int Id { get; set; }

	[Required]
	[Index(Unique = true)]
	[StringLength(40)]
	public string Name { get; set; }
}

public class SubsetOfShipper
{
	public int ShipperId { get; set; }
	public string CompanyName { get; set; }
}

public class ShipperTypeCount
{
	public int ShipperTypeId { get; set; }
	public int Total { get; set; }
}

Creating tables

Creating tables is a simple 1-liner:

using (IDbConnection dbConn = ":memory:".OpenDbConnection())
using (IDbCommand dbCmd = dbConn.CreateCommand())
{
	const bool overwrite = false;
	dbCmd.CreateTables(overwrite, typeof(Shipper), typeof(ShipperType));
}

/* In debug mode the line above prints:
DEBUG: CREATE TABLE "Shippers" 
(
  "ShipperID" INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, 
  "CompanyName" VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL, 
  "Phone" VARCHAR(24) NULL, 
  "ShipperTypeId" INTEGER NOT NULL, 

  CONSTRAINT "FK_Shippers_ShipperTypes" FOREIGN KEY ("ShipperTypeId") REFERENCES "ShipperTypes" ("ShipperID") 
);
DEBUG: CREATE UNIQUE INDEX uidx_shippers_companyname ON "Shippers" ("CompanyName" ASC);
DEBUG: CREATE TABLE "ShipperTypes" 
(
  "ShipperTypeID" INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, 
  "Name" VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL 
);
DEBUG: CREATE UNIQUE INDEX uidx_shippertypes_name ON "ShipperTypes" ("Name" ASC);
*/

Transaction Support

As we have direct access to IDbCommand and friends - playing with transactions is easy:

int trainsTypeId, planesTypeId;
using (IDbTransaction dbTrans = dbCmd.BeginTransaction())
{
	dbCmd.Insert(new ShipperType { Name = "Trains" });
	trainsTypeId = (int) dbCmd.GetLastInsertId();

	dbCmd.Insert(new ShipperType { Name = "Planes" });
	planesTypeId = (int) dbCmd.GetLastInsertId();

	dbTrans.Commit();
}
using (IDbTransaction dbTrans = dbCmd.BeginTransaction(IsolationLevel.ReadCommitted))
{
	dbCmd.Insert(new ShipperType { Name = "Automobiles" });
	Assert.That(dbCmd.Select<ShipperType>(), Has.Count(3));

	dbTrans.Rollback();
}
Assert.That(dbCmd.Select<ShipperType>(), Has.Count(2));

CRUD Operations

No ORM is complete without the standard crud operations:

//Performing standard Insert's and Selects
dbCmd.Insert(new Shipper { CompanyName = "Trains R Us", Phone = "555-TRAINS", ShipperTypeId = trainsTypeId });
dbCmd.Insert(new Shipper { CompanyName = "Planes R Us", Phone = "555-PLANES", ShipperTypeId = planesTypeId });
dbCmd.Insert(new Shipper { CompanyName = "We do everything!", Phone = "555-UNICORNS", ShipperTypeId = planesTypeId });

var trainsAreUs = dbCmd.First<Shipper>("ShipperTypeId = {0}", trainsTypeId);
Assert.That(trainsAreUs.CompanyName, Is.EqualTo("Trains R Us"));
Assert.That(dbCmd.Select<Shipper>("CompanyName = {0} OR Phone = {1}", "Trains R Us", "555-UNICORNS"), Has.Count(2));
Assert.That(dbCmd.Select<Shipper>("ShipperTypeId = {0}", planesTypeId), Has.Count(2));

//Lets update a record
trainsAreUs.Phone = "666-TRAINS";
dbCmd.Update(trainsAreUs);
Assert.That(dbCmd.GetById<Shipper>(trainsAreUs.Id).Phone, Is.EqualTo("666-TRAINS"));

//Then make it disappear
dbCmd.Delete(trainsAreUs);
Assert.That(dbCmd.GetByIdOrDefault<Shipper>(trainsAreUs.Id), Is.Null);

//And bring it back again
dbCmd.Insert(trainsAreUs);

Performing custom queries

And with access to raw sql when you need it - the database is your oyster :)

//Select only a subset from the table
var partialColumns = dbCmd.Select<SubsetOfShipper>(typeof (Shipper), "ShipperTypeId = {0}", planesTypeId);
Assert.That(partialColumns, Has.Count(2));

//Select into another POCO class that matches the sql results
var rows = dbCmd.Select<ShipperTypeCount>(
	"SELECT ShipperTypeId, COUNT(*) AS Total FROM Shippers GROUP BY ShipperTypeId ORDER BY COUNT(*)");

Assert.That(rows, Has.Count(2));
Assert.That(rows[0].ShipperTypeId, Is.EqualTo(trainsTypeId));
Assert.That(rows[0].Total, Is.EqualTo(1));
Assert.That(rows[1].ShipperTypeId, Is.EqualTo(planesTypeId));
Assert.That(rows[1].Total, Is.EqualTo(2));


//And finally lets quickly clean up the mess we've made:
dbCmd.DeleteAll<Shipper>();
dbCmd.DeleteAll<ShipperType>();

Assert.That(dbCmd.Select<Shipper>(), Has.Count(0));
Assert.That(dbCmd.Select<ShipperType>(), Has.Count(0));