In recent years, .NET developers have had access to many powerful Object Relational Mapping tools such as Entity Framework and NHibernate. While these tools have certainly made it easier to work with databases, they can be quite heavy-weight and can add significant overhead to applications that need to perform high-throughput data operations.
Dapper ORM is a lightweight ORM tool that aims to provide a fast, flexible, and simple alternative to traditional ORMs. It was developed by the team at Stack Overflow, and its primary goal is to provide a simple and lightning-fast way to work with relational databases. In this article, we’ll discuss what Dapper ORM is, how it works, and why you might want to consider using it in your .NET applications.
What is Dapper ORM?
Dapper ORM is an open-source, lightweight ORM tool that is specifically designed to be fast and easy to use. It is a micro-ORM that focuses on simplicity and performance rather than implementing every possible feature like other full-fledged ORMs such as Entity Framework. Dapper ORM is built on top of ADO.NET, which means that it is highly optimized for working with databases.
How does Dapper ORM work?
Dapper ORM works by mapping SQL query results to objects. It uses a simple SQL statement or stored procedure execution to retrieve data from a database and returns it as a strongly-typed object. Dapper ORM is able to automatically map query results to object properties without requiring any manual object mapping code, and it provides several ways to customize object mapping to fit specific scenarios.
One of the key benefits of using Dapper ORM is its lightning-fast performance. It is able to achieve this by using highly optimized ADO.NET code and minimizing the overhead involved in mapping results to objects. Since it does not add any additional layers of abstraction, it can deliver superior performance than other ORMs.
Why use Dapper ORM?
There are several reasons why you might want to consider using Dapper ORM in your .NET applications. If you’re working on a high-throughput application that requires frequent database access, Dapper ORM can provide significant performance benefits over other ORMs. Additionally, Dapper ORM is simple to integrate into your existing codebase, and its lightweight nature means that it will not add significant bloat to your application.
Dapper ORM is also highly flexible and customizable. It allows you to write your own SQL queries or stored procedures, which gives you full control over the SQL statements executed against the database. It also supports custom object mapping, which allows you to map query results to objects in a way that makes sense for your application.
Finally, Dapper ORM has excellent support for databases of all kinds, including SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. It also has excellent integration with popular third-party tools such as AutoMapper, which can simplify object mapping even further.
Conclusion
Dapper ORM is a powerful and lightweight tool for data access in .NET applications. It provides a fast, flexible, and easy-to-use way to work with relational databases, and it is highly optimized for high-throughput applications. If you’re looking for a simple and powerful alternative to traditional ORMs, Dapper ORM is definitely worth considering.