Class ColumnDescriptor

This holds the definition of a column (including its SQL definition) against an entity.

This is defined against an entity interface on the property using the EntityPropertyAttribute

Inheritance

object

ColumnDescriptor

Implements

IEquatable<ColumnDescriptor>

ICloneable<ColumnDescriptor>

ICloneable

Inherited Members

object.GetType()

object.MemberwiseClone()

object.Equals(object, object)

object.ReferenceEquals(object, object)

Namespace: LemonEdge.API.Descriptors

Assembly: LemonEdge.API.dll

Syntax

[DataContract]
public class ColumnDescriptor : IEquatable<ColumnDescriptor>, ICloneable<ColumnDescriptor>, ICloneable

Constructors

ColumnDescriptor(PropertyInfo)

Creates a new description of a property

Declaration

public ColumnDescriptor(PropertyInfo propInfo)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
PropertyInfo	propInfo	The see PropertyInfo of the property ascertained through reflection.

Exceptions

Type	Condition
ArgumentNullException	If propInfo doesn't have an EntityPropertyAttribute

ColumnDescriptor(string, string, string, string, ColumnType, Type)

Creates a new description of a property

Declaration

public ColumnDescriptor(string columnName, string propertyName, string userFriendlyName, string description, ColumnType definition, Type type)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
string	columnName	The column name this will have to represent the property in the database. This is normally the same as the property name itself.
string	propertyName	The name of the actual property against the entity
string	userFriendlyName	A user friendly label for the property. If this is not set the label is the property name parsed through Wordify(string) and with any trailing ID removed
string	description	A description of the property itself. Used by default as a tooltip for the value within the application.
ColumnType	definition	The sql definition of the property representing how it will be stored in the database
Type	type	The actual .net type of this property

Fields

LabelPropertyAppender

Holds the name appended to a property if it also has a label. This is always the value _Label

For instance for properties that hold ids to other items the system will also generate a property XXX_ID_Label for the XXX_ID property

Declaration

public const string LabelPropertyAppender = "_Label"

Field Value

Type	Description
string

LabelSilentPropertyAppender

Holds the name appended to a property if it also has a label and needs to be set silently without raising an IPropertyCHanged event. This is always the value _Label_Silent

For instance for properties that hold ids that can be to any other entity instead of a particular one, the system will also generate a property XXX_ID_Label_Silent for the XXX_ID property

This is used because the system can not load the labels and so has to do so separately, and needs to set them without marking anything as having changed against the entity

Declaration

public const string LabelSilentPropertyAppender = "_Label_Silent"

Field Value

Type	Description
string

Properties

AutoIncStart

If set this indicates this property is an autoincrement property that the system should auto-increment on every new entity.

The value indicates the number the auto-increment amount should initially start from if there are no existing entities, otherwise they always increment

Set from EntityAutoIncrementColumnAttribute

Declaration

public long? AutoIncStart { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
long?

ColumnName

Holds the actual name of the column that stores this property value in the sql database

Declaration

public string ColumnName { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

Definition

Holds the SQL Definition of this property

Declaration

public ColumnType Definition { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
ColumnType

Description

Holds a user friendly description of this property, often used as a tooltip in the UI to explain the value

Declaration

public string Description { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

ExtendedTypeName

Holds the actual name of the extended type

Declaration

public string ExtendedTypeName { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

Formula

The custom formula to apply for the value of this property when evaluating this object

Declaration

public string Formula { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

HasLabelProperty

Indicates this property also has a label property which happens if this property holds the id of a relationship to another entity that is marked as having a default label that can be used in this property

Declaration

public bool HasLabelProperty { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsDate

Indicates this property is only using the date component of a datetime or datetimeoffset

Declaration

public bool IsDate { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsDateTime

Indicates this property is using the full value of a datetime or datetimeoffset

Declaration

public bool IsDateTime { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsEntityLink

Indicates this property is a guid that holds a link to the unique global ids of entity types themselves.

This is often used in conjunction with a property that holds the id to an item (using EntityLinkToAnyParentRelationshipAttribute) where this property holds the type of entity the other holds the id for

Set from IsEntityTypeLink

Declaration

public bool IsEntityLink { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsInherited

Indicates if this property is part of the entity, or is inherited from a base entity

Base entities are defined as inheriting a common interface marked with IsBaseInterfaceAttribute attribute, and they them selves inherits IBaseObject

If this entity is an inheriting entity then it also inherits the common interface marked with IsBaseInterfaceAttribute and also inherit IInheritingObject

Declaration

public bool IsInherited { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsPartOfExtendedType

Indicates this column comes from an extended type

Declaration

public bool IsPartOfExtendedType { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsPartOfKey

Indicates if this column is part of the unique key for this entity. An entity can have more than one column as part of the key.

The key is indicated with the EntityKeyPropertyAttribute attribute

Declaration

public bool IsPartOfKey { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

IsPivot

Indicates this property is part of the properties definied in the pivot EntityHasPivotAttribute attribute

Declaration

public bool IsPivot { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

LabelPropertyName

Holds the name of the associated property that holds the label for the value of this property.

Typically used if this property is an id value for another entity

This is usually always this PropertyName + LabelPropertyAppender

Declaration

public string LabelPropertyName { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

Mandatory

Indicates this column must have a value

This is only enforced through the column be nullable or not. If you do not want it to be blank, or 0, etc you can use RequiredNoDefaultIDValidationAttribute

Declaration

public bool Mandatory { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

OldColumnNames

Holds a list of column names that were previously used to store the property value

Declaration

public string[] OldColumnNames { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string[]

ParentPropertyName

For nested properties only. Be careful when setting this. This requires a property to be a complex object with nested properties. In the example: MyObject.ParentProperty.NestedProperty, this property refers to "ParentProperty", and PropertyName refers to "NestedProperty"

Declaration

public string ParentPropertyName { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

PropertyEnumType

If the type of this property is an enum this holds the type of the enum itself

Declaration

public Type PropertyEnumType { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
Type

PropertyName

Holds the actual name of the property on the entity class/interface

Declaration

public string PropertyName { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

PropertySQLMaxLength

The max length for the sql type for this column from the Definition

Declaration

public int? PropertySQLMaxLength { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
int?

PropertySQLNullable

The nullability of the sql type for this column from the Definition

Declaration

public bool PropertySQLNullable { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

PropertySQLPrecision

The precision for the sql type for this column from the Definition

Declaration

public int? PropertySQLPrecision { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
int?

PropertySQLScale

The scale for the sql type for this column from the Definition

Declaration

public int? PropertySQLScale { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
int?

PropertySQLType

The sql type for this column from the Definition

Declaration

public SQLType PropertySQLType { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
SQLType

PropertyType

Holds the .net framework type of this property

Declaration

public Type PropertyType { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
Type

PropertyTypeName

The name of the type of property this column holds

Declaration

public string PropertyTypeName { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

SequenceStart

Indicates this property holds a sequence that indicates this entities sequence within a set of other entities of the same type

The system automatically handles allowing users to move this item up/down among the set from the UI

The value indicates the initial start value for a sequence with no other entities other than this existing one

Set from EntitySequenceAttribute

Declaration

public short? SequenceStart { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
short?

TrackChanges

Indicates the system will track the otiginal value of this property before it is changed

This only happens for properties marked with DBTrackChangesAttribute and when working from a service or directly connected to the database.

Declaration

public bool TrackChanges { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

UseForReplicatingDescriptorType

Indicates this property should be the one used to determine the type of entity when replicating this entity for every other entity in the system.

Can be set from UseForReplicatingDescriptorType

i.e. The permissions table is created for every entity in the system

Declaration

public bool UseForReplicatingDescriptorType { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
bool

UserFriendlyName

Holds the user friendly name of the property.

Declaration

public string UserFriendlyName { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
string

Methods

Clone()

Creates a new instance of this class (of type ColumnDescriptor) with all the same property values as this instance

Declaration

public ColumnDescriptor Clone()

Returns

Type	Description
ColumnDescriptor	A new instance of this class with all the same property values as this instance

CopyFromSource(ColumnDescriptor)

Updates all properties in this item to have the same properties as the source object.

Declaration

public void CopyFromSource(ColumnDescriptor source)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
ColumnDescriptor	source	The source object to copy all values from.

CopyFromSource(object)

Updates all properties in this item to have the same properties as the source object.

The source object should be of the same type as this one

Declaration

public void CopyFromSource(object source)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
object	source	The source object to copy all values from. Should be of the same type as this one.

Equals(ColumnDescriptor)

Declaration

public bool Equals(ColumnDescriptor other)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
ColumnDescriptor	other

Returns

Type	Description
bool

Equals(object)

Indicates this entity is equal to the other if both property names match

Declaration

public override bool Equals(object obj)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
object	obj	The item to compare equality to this entity with

Returns

Type	Description
bool	True if both property names match

Overrides

object.Equals(object)

GetEntityLinkColumn(EntityDescriptor)

If this is an IsAnyLink(EntityDescriptor) column this returns the other column that is an IsEntityLink for it

This isn't explicitly specified in the interface attributes (for now) so is determined by naming convention only

i.e. EntityID would find EntityTypeID as the link

Declaration

public ColumnDescriptor GetEntityLinkColumn(EntityDescriptor descriptor)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
EntityDescriptor	descriptor

Returns

Type	Description
ColumnDescriptor

GetHashCode()

Declaration

public override int GetHashCode()

Returns

Type	Description
int

Overrides

object.GetHashCode()

IsAnyLink(EntityDescriptor)

Indicates this column is an ID column that can refer to any item in the system, will have an associated IsEntityLink column for the type the id holds

Declaration

public bool IsAnyLink(EntityDescriptor descriptor)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
EntityDescriptor	descriptor

Returns

Type	Description
bool

ToString()

Declaration

public override string ToString()

Returns

Type	Description
string