Bulk register IEntityTypeConfiguration<> entity framework core

Question

Ok, so i am using entity framework with dot net core and code first migrations. This isn't a problem as such, i just wondered if anyone had come across a better way of doing this.

Currently i have many entity type configurations like so

public class ExampleEntityConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<ExampleEntity>
{
   public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<ExampleEntity> builder)
   {
      builder.Property(p => p.Id).ValueGeneratedNever();

      // more options here
   }
}

and i register them in my dbcontext like so

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
  base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);

  modelBuilder.ApplyConfiguration(new ExampleEntityConfiguration());

  // lot's more configurations here
}

has anyone come across or know of a way to register all the IEntityTypeConfiguration interfaces?

It just seems like a lot of repetitive code that could be solved by getting a list of the configurations, looping over them and applying in the context. I just don't know where to start with getting a list of IEntityTypeConfiguration classes that exist in a particular namespace.

Any help/suggestions would be great.

Answer 1

Using EF Core 2.2+, it got much simpler:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
   Assembly assemblyWithConfigurations = GetType().Assembly; //get whatever assembly you want
   modelBuilder.ApplyConfigurationsFromAssembly(assemblyWithConfigurations);
}

Answer 2

It can be done with reflection like this:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);    
    // get ApplyConfiguration method with reflection
    var applyGenericMethod = typeof(ModelBuilder).GetMethod("ApplyConfiguration", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public);            
    // replace GetExecutingAssembly with assembly where your configurations are if necessary
    foreach (var type in Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetTypes()
        .Where(c => c.IsClass && !c.IsAbstract && !c.ContainsGenericParameters)) 
    {
        // use type.Namespace to filter by namespace if necessary
        foreach (var iface in type.GetInterfaces()) {
            // if type implements interface IEntityTypeConfiguration<SomeEntity>
            if (iface.IsConstructedGenericType && iface.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IEntityTypeConfiguration<>)) {
                // make concrete ApplyConfiguration<SomeEntity> method
                var applyConcreteMethod = applyGenericMethod.MakeGenericMethod(iface.GenericTypeArguments[0]);
                // and invoke that with fresh instance of your configuration type
                applyConcreteMethod.Invoke(modelBuilder, new object[] {Activator.CreateInstance(type)});
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

The nice work from @Evk kan be further encapsulated in a reusable extension method:

 public static class ModelBuilderExtensions
{
    public static void ApplyAllConfigurationsFromCurrentAssembly(this ModelBuilder modelBuilder, Assembly assembly, string configNamespace = "")
    {
        var applyGenericMethods = typeof(ModelBuilder).GetMethods( BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.FlattenHierarchy);
        var applyGenericApplyConfigurationMethods = applyGenericMethods.Where(m => m.IsGenericMethod && m.Name.Equals("ApplyConfiguration", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
        var applyGenericMethod = applyGenericApplyConfigurationMethods.Where(m=>m.GetParameters().FirstOrDefault().ParameterType.Name== "IEntityTypeConfiguration`1").FirstOrDefault();


        var applicableTypes = assembly
            .GetTypes()
            .Where(c => c.IsClass && !c.IsAbstract && !c.ContainsGenericParameters);

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(configNamespace))
        {
            applicableTypes = applicableTypes.Where(c => c.Namespace == configNamespace);
        }

        foreach (var type in applicableTypes)
        {
            foreach (var iface in type.GetInterfaces())
            {
                // if type implements interface IEntityTypeConfiguration<SomeEntity>
                if (iface.IsConstructedGenericType && iface.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IEntityTypeConfiguration<>))
                {
                    // make concrete ApplyConfiguration<SomeEntity> method
                    var applyConcreteMethod = applyGenericMethod.MakeGenericMethod(iface.GenericTypeArguments[0]);
                    // and invoke that with fresh instance of your configuration type
                    applyConcreteMethod.Invoke(modelBuilder, new object[] { Activator.CreateInstance(type) });
                    Console.WriteLine("applied model " + type.Name);
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

And can be called as such:

public class ApiDbContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Customer> Customers { get; set; }
    public ApiDbContext(DbContextOptions<ApiDbContext> options) : base(options) { }
    protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
        modelBuilder.ApplyAllConfigurationsFromCurrentAssembly("MyRoot.Api.Entities.Configuration");
    }
    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
    {
        base.OnConfiguring(optionsBuilder);
    }
}

Answer 4

Answer from @Evk is a bit outdated and does not work any more, answer from @paul van bladel is the working one, though it contains hardcoded strings, I have utmost hatered for. In case someone shares my feeling I would like to propose my solution in form of creating static extension method:

public static ModelBuilder ApplyAllConfigurationsFromAssembly(
    this ModelBuilder modelBuilder, Assembly assembly)
{   
    var applyGenericMethod = typeof(ModelBuilder)
        .GetMethods(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public)
        .Single(m => m.Name == nameof(ModelBuilder.ApplyConfiguration)
            && m.GetParameters().Count() == 1
            && m.GetParameters().Single().ParameterType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IEntityTypeConfiguration<>));        
    foreach (var type in assembly.GetTypes()
        .Where(c => c.IsClass && !c.IsAbstract && !c.ContainsGenericParameters)) 
    {
        foreach (var iface in type.GetInterfaces())
        {
            if (iface.IsConstructedGenericType && iface.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IEntityTypeConfiguration<>)) 
            {
                var applyConcreteMethod = applyGenericMethod.MakeGenericMethod(iface.GenericTypeArguments[0]);
                applyConcreteMethod.Invoke(modelBuilder, new object[] {Activator.CreateInstance(type)});
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

And, if your configuration classes are stored in the same assembly as your DbContext you use this method as follows:

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.ApplyAllConfigurationsFromAssembly(GetType().Assembly);           
    base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
}