EF - Mapping generic class to Complex Type

Question

It is possible to map generic class to complex type? I have small class that 3 properties - string, int and generic type, and want to map the string and the int (the string is actually the serialized generic type) to a complex type.

I assume that it isn't possible as the generic class "FQDN" is MyGenericClass<somclass> and the complex type conceptional type is just MyGenericClass Is there clever solution or I'll have to define ComplexType for each usage of the generic class?

Answer 1

I don't know if i understood you correctly, but why don't you use a custom cast by overriding the conversion operator. In the following example i casted my generic complex class implicitly to a non-generic class.

Read more @ How do I provide custom cast support for my class?

public class ClassComplex<T> 
{
    public T MyGenericValue { get; set; }
    public string MyStringValue { get; set; }
    public int MyIntValue { get; set; }

    public static implicit operator ClassComplex(ClassComplex<T> a)
    {
        return new ClassComplex() { MyIntValue = a.MyIntValue , MyStringValue = a.MyStringValue };
    }
}

public class ClassComplex
{
    public string MyStringValue { get; set; }
    public int MyIntValue { get; set; }
}

public class Test
{
    public Test()
    {
        ClassComplex<int> ccg = new ClassComplex<int>();
        ccg.MyGenericValue = 1;
        ccg.MyIntValue = 2;
        ccg.MyStringValue = "3";

        ClassComplex cc = ccg;
    }
}