EF Code First - Globally set varchar mapping over nvarchar

Question

I have what should be an easy question but I have been unable to find the answer myself.

I am using EF4 CTP-5 Code First Model with hand generated POCOs. It is proc

Answer 1

I extended Marc Cals' answer (and Diego's blog post) to globally set all strings on all entities as non-unicode as per the question, rather than having to call it manually per-class. See below.

/// 

/// Change the "default" of all string properties for a given entity to varchar instead of nvarchar.
/// 
/// 
/// 
protected void SetAllStringPropertiesAsNonUnicode(
    DbModelBuilder modelBuilder,
    Type entityType)
{
    var stringProperties = entityType.GetProperties().Where(
        c => c.PropertyType == typeof(string)
           && c.PropertyType.IsPublic 
           && c.CanWrite
           && !Attribute.IsDefined(c, typeof(NotMappedAttribute)));

    foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in stringProperties)
    {
        dynamic propertyExpression = GetPropertyExpression(propertyInfo);

        MethodInfo entityMethod = typeof(DbModelBuilder).GetMethod("Entity");
        MethodInfo genericEntityMethod = entityMethod.MakeGenericMethod(entityType);
        object entityTypeConfiguration = genericEntityMethod.Invoke(modelBuilder, null);

        MethodInfo propertyMethod = entityTypeConfiguration.GetType().GetMethod(
            "Property", new Type[] { propertyExpression.GetType() });

        StringPropertyConfiguration property = (StringPropertyConfiguration)propertyMethod.Invoke(
            entityTypeConfiguration, new object[] { propertyExpression });
        property.IsUnicode(false);
    }
}

private static LambdaExpression GetPropertyExpression(PropertyInfo propertyInfo)
{
    var parameter = Expression.Parameter(propertyInfo.ReflectedType);
    return Expression.Lambda(Expression.Property(parameter, propertyInfo), parameter);
}

/// 

/// Return an enumerable of all DbSet entity types in "this" context.
/// 
/// 
/// 
private IEnumerable GetEntityTypes()
{
    return this
        .GetType().GetProperties()
        .Where(a => a.CanWrite && a.PropertyType.IsGenericType && a.PropertyType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(DbSet<>))
        .Select(a => a.PropertyType.GetGenericArguments().Single());
}

Finally, call it from your OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder):

foreach (var entityType in GetEntityTypes())
    SetAllStringPropertiesAsNonUnicode(modelBuilder, entityType);