How do you map a DateTime property to 2 varchar columns in the database with NHibernate (Fluent)?

Question

I'm dealing with a legacy database that has date and time fields as char(8) columns (formatted yyyyMMdd and HH:mm:ss, respectively) in some of the tables. How can i map the 2 char columns to a single .NET DateTime property? I have tried the following, but i get a "can't access setter" error of course because DateTime Date and TimeOfDay properties are read-only:

public class SweetPocoMannaFromHeaven
{    
    public virtual DateTime? FileCreationDateTime { get; set; }
}

.

mapping.Component<DateTime?>(x => x.FileCreationDateTime,
            dt =>
            {
                dt.Map(x => x.Value.Date,
                    "file_creation_date");
                dt.Map(x => x.Value.TimeOfDay,
                    "file_creation_time");
            });

I have also tried defining a IUserType for DateTime, but i can't figure it out. I've done a ton of googling for an answer, but i can't figure it out still. What is my best option to handle this stupid legacy database convention? A code example would be helpful since there's not much out for documentation on some of these more obscure scenarios.

Answer 1

You need an ICompositeUserType to handle more than one column. You need to beef up the error checking, parsing formats, etc, but here is a starting point for you.

HTH,
Berryl

public class LegacyDateUserType : ICompositeUserType
{

    public new bool Equals(object x, object y)
    {
        if (x == null || y == null) return false;
        return ReferenceEquals(x, y) || x.Equals(y);
    }

    public int GetHashCode(object x) {
        return x == null ? typeof (DateTime).GetHashCode() + 473 : x.GetHashCode();
    }

    public object NullSafeGet(IDataReader dr, string[] names, ISessionImplementor session, object owner)
    {
        if (dr == null) return null;

        var datePortion = NHibernateUtil.String.NullSafeGet(dr, names[0], session, owner) as string;
        var timePortion = NHibernateUtil.String.NullSafeGet(dr, names[1], session, owner) as string;

        var date = DateTime.Parse(datePortion);
        var time = DateTime.Parse(timePortion);
        return date.AddTicks(time.Ticks);
    }

    ///<summary>
    /// Write an instance of the mapped class to a prepared statement. Implementors 
    /// should handle possibility of null values. A multi-column type should be written 
    /// to parameters starting from index.
    ///</summary>
    public void NullSafeSet(IDbCommand cmd, object value, int index, ISessionImplementor session) {
        if (value == null) {
            // whatever
        }
        else {
            var date = (DateTime) value;
            var datePortion = date.ToString("your date format");
            NHibernateUtil.String.NullSafeSet(cmd, datePortion, index, session);
            var timePortion = date.ToString("your time format");
            NHibernateUtil.String.NullSafeSet(cmd, timePortion, index + 1, session);
        }
    }

    public object GetPropertyValue(object component, int property)
    {
        var date = (DateTime)component;
        return property == 0 ? date.ToString("your date format") : date.ToString("your time format");
    }

    public void SetPropertyValue(object component, int property, object value)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException("DateTime is an immutable object.");
    }

    public object DeepCopy(object value) { return value; }

    public object Disassemble(object value, ISessionImplementor session) { return value; }

    public object Assemble(object cached, ISessionImplementor session, object owner) { return cached; }

    public object Replace(object original, object target, ISessionImplementor session, object owner) { return original; }

    ///<summary>Get the "property names" that may be used in a query.</summary>
    public string[] PropertyNames { get { return new[] { "DATE_PORTION", "TIME_PORTION" }; } }

    ///<summary>Get the corresponding "property types"</summary>
    public IType[] PropertyTypes { get { return new IType[] { NHibernateUtil.String, NHibernateUtil.String }; } }

    ///<summary>The class returned by NullSafeGet().</summary>
    public Type ReturnedClass { get { return typeof(DateTime); } }

    ///<summary>Are objects of this type mutable?</summary>
    public bool IsMutable { get { return false; } }

}

=== fluent mapping (assuming automapping w/override classes) ====

 public void Override(AutoMapping<MyClass> m)
 {
     ....
     m.Map(x => x.MyDateTime).CustomType<LegacyDateUserType>();
 }