DKNet.EfCore.DtoGenerator 13.2.5

DKNet.EfCore.DtoGenerator

A Roslyn incremental source generator that emits DTO properties from an entity type at compile time. Declare an empty partial record, apply [GenerateDto(typeof(Entity))], and the generator mirrors the entity's public readable properties onto it — no hand-written mapping boilerplate, no runtime reflection, and no runtime dependency on this package.

Install

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="DKNet.EfCore.DtoGenerator" Version="{latest}" PrivateAssets="all" OutputItemType="Analyzer" />
</ItemGroup>

Features

• [GenerateDto(typeof(Entity))] — generates init-only properties for every public instance readable property of the entity, following the entity's inheritance chain.
• Exclude / Include — per-DTO property filtering (mutually exclusive; Include takes only the listed properties).
• IgnoreComplexType — flattens out navigation-style properties by default; per-DTO or project-wide (DtoGeneratorIgnoreComplexType) override.
• Global exclusions (DtoGeneratorExclusions MSBuild property) — exclude the same properties (e.g. audit columns) across every DTO in the project.
• Attribute copy-through — System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations attributes on entity properties are copied to the generated DTO properties, as is [SensitiveData(...)] from DKNet.EfCore.Abstractions (with its role arguments, and emitted as the bare [SensitiveData] when no role is named). You declare a property sensitive once, on the entity; every generated response model carries it. Attributes from any other namespace are not copied.
• [RaisesEvent] build-time validation — a second generator in this package validates DKNet.EfCore.Abstractions.Events.RaisesEventAttribute declarations against their [GenerateDto] payloads, and generates the payload record for the attribute's convention forms, named by fixed convention (entity name + optional label + narrowing properties + operations + Event).
• Zero runtime coupling — generated DTOs are plain record/class types with no base type or interface, and nothing on them but the copied attributes above. A DTO that carries [SensitiveData] needs DKNet.EfCore.Abstractions referenced; the generator itself still references no DKNet package, matching the attribute by namespace and name only.

Quick start

public class Product
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public decimal Price { get; set; }
}

using DKNet.EfCore.DtoGenerator;

[GenerateDto(typeof(Product))]
public partial record ProductDto;

This emits ProductDto.g.cs with Id, required string Name, and Price as init-only properties.

Customisation reference

Everything is compile-time: attribute arguments and MSBuild properties. There is nothing to register at runtime.

[GenerateDto] — AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Struct, AllowMultiple = false, not inherited:

MSBuild properties, set in the consuming .csproj:

Property selection, before any filter: every public instance property with a public getter and no index parameters, walked up the entity's base chain and de-duplicated by name.

Build diagnostics: DKDTOGEN001–DKDTOGEN005 from the DTO generator, and DKRAISEVT001–DKRAISEVT011 from the [RaisesEvent] validator. The full table, with severity and meaning for each, is in the docs page below.

Full documentation: https://github.com/baoduy/DKNet/blob/main/docs/EfCore/DKNet.EfCore.DtoGenerator.md