EntityFrameworkCore.InterfaceSets 1.0.0

EntityFrameworkCore.InterfaceSets

A library for Entity Framework Core that enables querying entities through shared interfaces, allowing you to work with entities from different class hierarchies that implement a common interface.

Features

• Interface-based querying: Query multiple entity types through a shared interface
• Automatic discovery: Automatically finds all entity types implementing an interface
• LINQ support: Full LINQ query support with Where, OrderBy, Select, etc.
• Async enumeration: Full support for async operations
• Type-safe: Compile-time type safety with generic constraints

Usage

Define your interfaces and entities

public interface IArchivable
{
    bool IsArchived { get; set; }
    DateTime? ArchivedAt { get; set; }
}

public class Document : IArchivable
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public bool IsArchived { get; set; }
    public DateTime? ArchivedAt { get; set; }
}

public class Product : IArchivable
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public bool IsArchived { get; set; }
    public DateTime? ArchivedAt { get; set; }
}

Query across multiple entity types

// Get all archived items across all entity types
var archivedItems = context.InterfaceSet<IArchivable>()
    .Where(x => x.IsArchived)
    .OrderBy(x => x.ArchivedAt)
    .ToList();

// Use async enumeration
await foreach (var item in context.InterfaceSet<IArchivable>())
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Archived: {item.IsArchived}");
}

// Access specific DbSet if needed
var interfaceSet = context.InterfaceSet<IArchivable>();
var documentDbSet = interfaceSet.GetDbSet<Document>();

Limitations

InterfaceSet<TInterface> is designed as a read-only query interface. The following operations are not supported:

• Add(), Remove(), Update() - these would be ambiguous across multiple entity types
• Change tracking operations
• Some navigation property operations

To modify entities, use the specific DbSet<TEntity> or call GetDbSet<TEntity>() on the InterfaceSet.

Entity Hierarchies

The library correctly handles entity inheritance hierarchies. When you have a base type implementing an interface and derived types, the library automatically:

• Only queries the root type in the hierarchy to avoid duplicates
• Returns all derived types automatically (EF Core's normal behavior)

public class BaseDocument : IArchivable { }
public class Invoice : BaseDocument { }  // Inherits IArchivable
public class Contract : BaseDocument { } // Inherits IArchivable

// DbContext
public DbSet<BaseDocument> BaseDocuments { get; set; }
public DbSet<Invoice> Invoices { get; set; }
public DbSet<Contract> Contracts { get; set; }

// InterfaceSet will only query BaseDocument (not Invoice/Contract separately)
// This prevents duplicates while still returning all Invoice and Contract instances
var allDocs = context.InterfaceSet<IArchivable>().ToList();

How it works

Under the hood, the library:

1. Scans the DbContext.Model to find all entity types implementing the interface
2. Filters to only root types in entity hierarchies to prevent duplicates
3. Creates a combined enumerable that iterates over each DbSet
4. Wraps the result as IQueryable<TInterface> for LINQ support
5. Provides async enumeration support through IAsyncEnumerable<TInterface>

Note: Since EF Core doesn't support SQL UNION across different entity types, queries are executed separately for each entity type and combined in memory.