Is there any way to rename the columns returned by the data collision form? It is quite possible the user wouldn't know what the kryptic column name from the db would mean.

Yes, the name that is displayed within the data-collision form is actually the value from the <Description()> attribute that is placed on each of the fields.  You can modify the descriptions within the .designer.* file, but your changes will be overwritten the next time you rebuild your partial class, so your best bet it to map the business objects to the DDT, where the BOMapper can retrieve the descriptions from the fields.

OK, that's easy enough. I really hope things slow down enough to start learning how the DDT works. It sounds pretty cool.

Yes, it is pretty cool.  Don't forget the help for it is in a separate CHM file, so when you start to learn it, you'll want to make sure you open that help file, not the main one.

OK, I give....how do you do this? You can map directly to the DDT and skip mapping to a table/view in a database?

Doh...right after posting this, I noticed the top option in the BO mapper....Database Deployment Toolkit! So, I figured that out. Next question...does this mean I don't need to deploy the database to build BOs? This must be the case, as I just did it, but I gotta confirm it. This is going to be very handy if that is true.

You are correct...this is how you can create BOs to support XML with stong typed properties.

Glad to hear it! Cool feature BTW

Hi,
I am not using DDT for BO mapping. And I don't wish my "user defined" description being overwritten upon rebuild partial. Any workaround?
I read other posts here that recommend to use DDT. As I posted in other thread, I can't use DDT for BO mapping because I keep updating my table structure. However, DDT doesn't merge my table structure if I am using import database. Then my mapping settings would be gone.

Any workaround or suggestions?

Thank you

No, if the mappings for the BO are pulled from SQL Server, the <Description()> attribute is configured as the name of the field and it will be overwritten when the partial class is recreated.