Telerik OpenAccess ORM enables the developer to use two approaches in producing an application datamodel: Forward-Mapping and Reverse-Mapping.
Forward Mapping
Forward-Mapping contains of defining a Class-Model in an object-oriented environment(C# or VB. NET) and then map the class model to a relational datbaase-model. Every class maps to a table, references to other class generate constraints, collections fields map to join-tables or m:n relations between tables depending on uers-settings etc. Telerik OpenAccess ORM helps achieving forward mapping with a user-friendly wizard.
Forward mapping is described in more details in the related topic for using the Forward Mapping Wizard.
Reverse Mapping
The Reverse-Mapping approach is about defining a data model starting from designing a database-schema. Telerik OpenAcces ORM reads an already defined database schema and generates Classes for the tables, columns get mapped to fields of the classes, join-tables or many-to-many relations get mapped to collection fields etc.
Many options for the class generation are available in the wizard for this scenario. Refer to the related topic for a step-by-step guide on using Reverse-Mapping-Wizard.
