Entity Template

The entity class template. An entity is created for each table in the context.

Output

Example of a generated entity class

public partial class Status
{
    public Status()
    {
        #region Generated Constructor
        Tasks = new HashSet<Task>();
        #endregion
    }

    #region Generated Properties
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public string Description { get; set; }

    public int DisplayOrder { get; set; }

    public bool IsActive { get; set; }

    public DateTimeOffset Created { get; set; }

    public string CreatedBy { get; set; }

    public DateTimeOffset Updated { get; set; }

    public string UpdatedBy { get; set; }

    public Byte[] RowVersion { get; set; }
    #endregion

    #region Generated Relationships
    public virtual ICollection<Task> Tasks { get; set; }
    #endregion
}

Configuration

The entity template has the following configuration that can be set in the yaml configuration file.

Example configuration

data:
  entity:
    namespace: '{Project.Namespace}.Data.Entities'
    directory: '{Project.Directory}\Data\Entities'
    entityNaming: Singular
    relationshipNaming: Plural
    prefixWithSchemaName: false
    typeMapping:
      - nativeType: geometry
        systemType: NetTopologySuite.Geometries.Geometry
      - nativeType: dbo.StringList
        systemType: List<string?>
    systemTypeAnnotation: Generator:SystemType
    renaming:
      entities:
        - ^(sp|tbl|udf|vw)_
      properties:
        - ^{Table.Name}(?=Id|Name)    

name

The class name of the entity. Will be generated if null or empty. Variables Supported

namespace

The namespace for the class. Variables Supported

directory

The directory location to write the source file. Variables Supported

entityNaming

Control how to generate entity class names from the table name. Default: Singular

• Preserve - Keep table name as entity name
• Plural - Use the plural form of the table name
• Singular - Use the singular form of the table name

relationshipNaming

Configuration on how to generate relationship property names. Default: Plural

• Preserve - Keep underlying entity name as property name
• Plural - Use the plural form of the entity name
• Suffix - Add 'List' to the end of the entity name

prefixWithSchemaName

Obsolete Use the name option for more flexibility.

Control if class names should be generated with schema name prefixed eg. dbo.MyTable = DboMyTable. Default: false

document

Include XML documentation for the generated class. Default: false

mappingAttributes

Include mapping attributes on the entity classes. Default: false

typeMapping

Map a native database type to the generated .NET system type used for entity and model properties. Native type matching is case-insensitive.

Column annotations can override the generated .NET system type before typeMapping is applied. Set systemTypeAnnotation to the annotation name to read. The default annotation name is Generator:SystemType.

Type resolution precedence is:

1. Column annotation matching systemTypeAnnotation.
2. typeMapping native type match.
3. The provider-inferred .NET type.

data:
  entity:
    systemTypeAnnotation: Generator:SystemType
    typeMapping:
      - nativeType: geometry
        systemType: NetTopologySuite.Geometries.Geometry
      - nativeType: dbo.StringList
        systemType: List<string?>

For SQL Server, column-level extended properties can provide the default annotation:

EXEC sys.sp_addextendedproperty
    @name = N'Generator:SystemType',
    @value = N'string[]',
    @level0type = N'SCHEMA',
    @level0name = N'dbo',
    @level1type = N'TABLE',
    @level1name = N'StringListUsage',
    @level2type = N'COLUMN',
    @level2name = N'Values';

Provider support for database-backed column annotations depends on the schema reader. If a provider does not expose custom column annotations, typeMapping remains the portable fallback.

systemTypeAnnotation

The column annotation name used to override the generated .NET system type. Default: Generator:SystemType.

Set this value when your database schema reader exposes a different column annotation key.

renaming

Rename entities and properties with regular expressions

entities

list of regular expressions to clean entity names

properties

list of regular expressions to clean property names

Regeneration

The entity template has three regions that are replaced on regeneration.

Generated Constructor

The Generated Constructor region initializes any relationship collection in the constructor.

Generated Properties

The Generated Properties region contains all the properties that are mapped to columns for the entity.

Property rename is supported. The rename will be discovered during the parsing phase of the source generation.

Generated Relationships

The Generated Relationships region contains all the relationship navigation properties.

Property rename is supported. The rename will be discovered during the parsing phase of the source generation.