Entity Builder Generator

Learnings

• Use the versions of the source generator packages in the official docs
• Debugging can be done by attaching to VBCSCompiler.dll
• I haven't figured out how to use IncrementalSourceGenerator
• Id or {EntityName}Id is the Primary Key convention
• Writing tests against example generated code is better than testing the generator itself

Guides and Tutorials

Source Code Generator Official Docs

Source Code Generator Cookbook

EF Conventions

TODO

• Id naming convention for construction
• Configurable namespace
• Self-to-one properties
• Self-to-many properties
• AddEntity passing builder for Entity
• Protected and private setters for properties
• Configure Id naming convention based on config
• Add Build() method alternative for Builder.Entity getter
• Should setting a parent of a child also add the child to the parents children collection?
• Include/Exclude paths for entities. Is there a standard for syntax?
• Create as a nuget package
• Publish nuget package

Future

• Refactoring to a SyntaxReceiver
• Non-integer Ids
• Key annotation
• Respecting EntityTypeConfiguration
• Independent Associations (Navigation property without Foreign Key)

Maybe

• Generate builders in project A for entities contained in project B. Feasible?