Data Annotations ComplexType Attribute

Table of Content

ComplexType Attribute
What is Complex Type
Complex Type in EF Core

ComplexType Attribute

The Data annotations Complex type attribute is used to define the non-scalar properties of an entity. You can read more about from Data Annotations in Entity Framework Tutorial

This attribute is not supported in EF Core

Software Versions used in the tutorial

For EF 6
Visual Studio 2015
Entity framework 6.2.0.
.NET 4.5
C#

For EF Core
Visual Studio 2017
Entity framework Core 2.1.3.
.NET Core 2.1
C#

What is Complex Type

Consider the entity model class below. Here the ContactInfo is a complex type, which is shared by both Customer and Employee entity. All you need to do is to decorate the class with ComplexType Attribute. The ComplexType Attribute resides in the System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema


    public class Customer
    {
        public Customer()
        {
            Contact = new ContactInfo();
        }
        public int CustomerID { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public ContactInfo Contact { get; set; }
    }

public class Customer

{

public Customer()

{

Contact = new ContactInfo();

}

public int CustomerID { get; set; }

public string Name { get; set; }

public ContactInfo Contact { get; set; }

}


    public class Employee
    {
        public Employee()
        {
            EmployeeContact = new ContactInfo();
        }
        public int EmployeeID { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public ContactInfo EmployeeContact { get; set; }
    }

public class Employee

{

public Employee()

{

EmployeeContact = new ContactInfo();

}

public int EmployeeID { get; set; }

public string Name { get; set; }

public ContactInfo EmployeeContact { get; set; }

}


    [ComplexType]
    public class ContactInfo
    {
        public string Email { get; set; }
        public string Phone { get; set; }
    }

[ComplexType]

public class ContactInfo

{

public string Email { get; set; }

public string Phone { get; set; }

}

When you Add the ComplexType Attribute the EF does not generate the table for the class. The above entity models are mapped to the database as shown in the image above. The Column names are created with the name <PropertyName>_<ComplexTypePropertyName>

Data Annotations Complex Type Attribute in Entity Framework Code First

Complex Type in EF Core

EF Core does not support ComplexType attribute as of now

Key Attribute

Concurrencycheck Attribute

ComplexType Attribute

What is Complex Type

Complex Type in EF Core

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