Developers have been asking for support for enum properties in Entity Framework since it was first released. This feature will allow you to define a property on a domain class that is an enum type and map it to a database column of an integer type. Entity Framework will then convert the database value to and from the relevant enum as it queries and saves data.

SQL Server 2008 introduced support for geometry and geography data types. A set of operators is also included to allow queries to analyze spatial data. For example, a query can filter based on the distance between two geographic locations. EF 5.0 will allow new spatial data types to be exposed as properties on your classes and map them to spatial columns in your database. You will also be able to write LINQ queries that make use of the spatial operators to filter, sort, and group based on spatial calculations performed in the database.

EF 5.0 will include some updates and a new feature to enhance performance. The most notable new feature is automatic caching of compiled LINQ queries. When Entity Framework runs a LINQ query, it goes through a process of converting your LINQ query into SQL to be executed in the database. This process is known as query compilation and is an expensive operation, especially for complex queries. In the past you could use compiled queries to make Entity Framework cache the compiled query and reuse it, potentially with different parameters. In EF 5.0 the compiled query will be automatically cached and reused if you run the same query again, even if you have different parameter values in the query.

For example, if you run a LINQ query for all Locations where the DestinationId is equal to a value stored in an integer variable, Entity Framework will cache the translation that knows how to select a set of Locations filtered by DestinationId. If you later run another query for all Locations where the DestinationId is equal to a value stored in a different integer variable, Entity Framework will reuse the cached translation, even if the value stored in the variable is different than the first query.

EF 5.0 will also include improvements to the SQL it generates. The SQL will be simpler to read and will result in performance gains. In particular, there are improvements to make querying faster when working with an inheritance hierarchy that is mapped using the table-per-type (TPT) strategy.

Entity Framework allows you to use stored procedures to query for data and to insert, update, and delete data. Previously, when selecting data, the stored procedure could only return a single result set. EF 5.0 will allow you to use a stored procedure that returns multiple result sets. The different result sets can represent data for different entity types or projections.

Table Value Functions (TVFs) are functions in the database that return a well-known result set. TVFs are composable and can therefore be included in a query in much the same way a table can. EF 5.0 allows you to include TVFs in your model and define a function on your context that represents the TVF. This function can then be used in a LINQ query in the same way you would use a DbSet. TVFs will not be supported in Code First in EF 5.0.