Adding custom property attributes in Entity Framework code

Question

Is there any way to add custom attributes to properties in EF generated code? The only thing I can see as a plausible solution would be to come up with a custom T4 template

Answer 1

You can add this to EDMX file, with Designer also:

            
              
[MyCustomAttribute]
            

And replace T4:

void WriteProperty(CodeGenerationTools code, EdmProperty edmProperty)
{
    WriteProperty(Accessibility.ForProperty(edmProperty),
                  code.Escape(edmProperty.TypeUsage),
                  code.Escape(edmProperty),
                  code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForGetter(edmProperty)),
                  code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForSetter(edmProperty)));
}

With:

void WriteProperty(CodeGenerationTools code, EdmProperty edmProperty)
{
    if(edmProperty.Documentation != null && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(edmProperty.Documentation.Summary) == false)
    {
    #>
    <#=edmProperty.Documentation.Summary#>
<#+
    }
    WriteProperty(Accessibility.ForProperty(edmProperty),
                  code.Escape(edmProperty.TypeUsage),
                  code.Escape(edmProperty),
                  code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForGetter(edmProperty)),
                  code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForSetter(edmProperty)));
}

And for Entity Framework 6, replace

public string Property(EdmProperty edmProperty)
{
    return string.Format(
        CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
        "{0} {1} {2} {{ {3}get; {4}set; }}",
        Accessibility.ForProperty(edmProperty),
        _typeMapper.GetTypeName(edmProperty.TypeUsage),
        _code.Escape(edmProperty),
        _code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForGetter(edmProperty)),
        _code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForSetter(edmProperty)));
}

with

public string Property(EdmProperty edmProperty)
{
    var description = String.Empty;
    bool isAttribute = false;

    if(edmProperty.Documentation != null &&
        string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(edmProperty.Documentation.Summary) == false)
    {
        string summary = edmProperty.Documentation.Summary;
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(summary) && summary.First() == '[' && summary.Last() == ']')
        {
            isAttribute = true;
        }

        if (isAttribute)
        {
            description = String.Format("\r\n\t{0}\r\n\t", summary);
        }
        else
        {
            description = String.Format("\r\n\t/// 
\r\n\t/// {0}\r\n\t/// 
\r\n\t", 
                summary);
        }

    }

    return string.Format(
        CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
        "{5}{0} {1} {2} {{ {3}get; {4}set; }}",
        Accessibility.ForProperty(edmProperty),
        _typeMapper.GetTypeName(edmProperty.TypeUsage),
        _code.Escape(edmProperty),
        _code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForGetter(edmProperty)),
        _code.SpaceAfter(Accessibility.ForSetter(edmProperty)),
        description);
}

Warnings:

• Namespaces need to be resolved absolutely.
• Assumes attributes begin with '[' and end with ']' -- no other error checking
• If an opening and closing brace isn't found, the entity framework property summary is wrapped in an XML triple slash comment.
• Attempts to match default visual studio styling information (really just indents) which may or may not be the case for your project. This includes new lines.

sample output:

/// 

/// content type
/// 
public System.Guid ContentType { get; set; }

[System.ComponentModel.DisplayName("Last Modified")]
public System.DateTime LastModified { get; set; }