SharePoint 2010 BCS/BDC Schema changes

When migrating your BDC app def files, here are some changes I found so far, also I have attached the 2010 BDC Schema (please note this is beta version):

  • Root element must be:
    • <Model xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2007/BusinessDataCatalog"   Name="AdventureWorksSample">
  • A <LobSystems> element must wrap your <LobSystem>
  • Your Entities are now partitioned to namespaces (have to add the Namespace attribute) 
  • Your Entities are versioned now!  (have to add the Version attribute)
  • More strict second level validation rules attribute IsCollection must be "false"
    • SpecificFinder should only return one thing, not sure I like this or not
    • A SpecificFinder cannot have the "IDataRecord" Wrapper anymore, you must remove this extra level!
    • Forces the creations of a new singleton method with possibly the same parameters (breaking one of my dev rules [don't copy and paste]…hmmm)
    • You will have to move your default values to the correct methods (don't copy paste your method definitions unless you want to waste ALOT of time)
  • In relationship/association methods, you must specific the IdentifierEntityNamespace of the related entities
  • Association is no longer at the rear of the file, it is specified as a subElement of MethodInstance of Method of an Entity
    • Namespace attriubute must be on SourceEntity and DestinationEntity

If you really don't want to deal with this, send http://twitter.com/nickswan a tweet at Lighting Tools for an automated conversion tool called BDC Metaman!

Chris