VMF.NET.SourceGenerator 0.1.4

VMF.NET

VMF.NET is a lightweight modeling framework for .NET. It translates annotated C# interfaces into powerful implementations via a Roslyn Source Generator — no separate build step, no code-gen tooling, no boilerplate. It works with .NET 6 and later. VMF.NET is a port of the java VMF framework.

It generates/supports:

• Getters and setters
• Default values
• Containment
• Builder API
• Equals() and GetHashCode()
• Deep and shallow cloning
• Change notification (INotifyPropertyChanged / INotifyCollectionChanged)
• Undo/redo
• Object graph traversal via iterators
• Immutable types and read-only wrappers
• Delegation
• Annotations
• Reflection
• JSON serialization (System.Text.Json)
• JSON Schema generation

A VMF.NET model consists of annotated C# interfaces. Just define the interface and its properties — VMF.NET generates a fully functional implementation including property setters/getters, builders, change listeners, and much more:

Using VMF.NET

Checkout the tutorial projects.

Add the NuGet packages to your project:

<PackageReference Include="VMF.NET.Runtime" Version="*" />
<PackageReference Include="VMF.NET.SourceGenerator" Version="*" OutputItemType="Analyzer" ReferenceOutputAssembly="false" />

Replace * with a specific version (e.g., 0.1.1) for reproducible builds. See NuGet for the latest version.

Define your model as annotated partial interfaces. The interfaces must be marked with [VmfModel] and the namespace must end with .VmfModel:

using VMF.NET.Runtime.Core;

namespace MyApp.VmfModel;

[VmfModel]
public partial interface IParent
{
    [Contains(Opposite = nameof(IChild.Parent))]
    IList<IChild> Children { get; }

    string Name { get; set; }
}

[VmfModel]
public partial interface IChild
{
    [Container(Opposite = nameof(IParent.Children))]
    IParent? Parent { get; }

    int Value { get; set; }
}

The source generator runs automatically on every build — no task to invoke. The generated implementation is immediately available:

// Create via factory method
var parent = IParent.NewInstance();
parent.Name = "Root";

// Or use the builder
var child = IChild.Build()
    .WithValue(42)
    .Build();

parent.Children.Add(child);

// Containment is tracked automatically
Console.WriteLine(child.Parent == parent); // True

// Change listeners
parent.Vmf().Changes().AddListener(change => {
    Console.WriteLine($"Changed: {change.PropertyName}");
});

// Deep clone
var copy = parent.Clone();

// Read-only wrapper
IReadOnlyParent ro = parent.AsReadOnly();

JSON Serialization

Add the JSON package for System.Text.Json support:

<PackageReference Include="VMF.NET.Json" Version="*" />

var options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    Converters = { new VmfJsonConverterFactory() },
    WriteIndented = true
};

string json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(parent, options);
IParent restored = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<IParent>(json, options)!;

Building VMF.NET

Requirements

• .NET 6 SDK or later
• Internet connection (NuGet packages are restored automatically)

Command Line

dotnet build
dotnet test

Packing

dotnet pack --configuration Release

Testing VMF.NET

dotnet test --configuration Release --verbosity normal

The test suite includes 163 tests across unit and integration projects.