Add XML documentation / comments to properties/fields in EF generated classes

Question

i have the habbit to comment properties and classes with the standard XML documentation, what it means / what they do.

But in EF generated classes off course, these are all gone when i regenerate the model.

Is there another way to do this?

Answer 1

As Ladislav stated in his answer, you need to modify the T4 template so the comments will be included in the generated code. This answer was taken from this article:

First of all you need to specify your comments in the properties boxes of the model designer. Under Documentation -> Long Description, and Summary.

Then in the template, you can for example add this above the property you want to document:

<#if (!ReferenceEquals(edmProperty.Documentation, null))
{
#>
/// <summary>
/// <#=edmProperty.Documentation.Summary#> – <#=edmProperty.Documentation.LongDescription#>
/// </summary>
<#}#>

This will create a summary block above your property in the generated code.

Answer 2

No. You will have to modify your T4 template used to generate classes (or create new custom tool for class generation) to make these comments for you.

Answer 3

The EF generated classes are all "partial" classes. So, define a new file with the same class skeleton structure, and define your comments on those.

Example:

The EF generated class (Model.designer.cs):

public partial class Student : EntityObject {... // bunch of generated code}

Your own file (ModelDocumentation.cs):

/// <summary> Student documentation... </summary>
public partial class Student {}