Tiny Helpers for Entity Framework Core

A collection of helper methods and classes for Entity Framework Core that I use every day. I have packed them in a single library to avoid code duplication.

Installation

The library is available on NuGet. Just search for TinyHelpers.EntityFrameworkCore in the Package Manager GUI or run the following command in the .NET CLI:

dotnet add package TinyHelpers.EntityFrameworkCore

Usage

The library provides some Value Converters to handle data types that are not natively supported by Entity Framework Core. They can be explicitly used calling the HasConversion method, or automatically via some extension methods:

// using TinyHelpers.EntityFrameworkCore.Extensions;
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.Entity<Post>(builder =>
    {           
        // Date is a DateOnly property (.NET 6 or higher).
        builder.Property(x => x.Date).HasDateOnlyConversion();
    
        // Time is a TimeOnly property (.NET 6 or higher).
        builder.Property(x => x.Time).HasTimeOnlyConversion();
   
        // Comments is a complex type, this Converter will automatically JSON-de/serialize it
        // in a string column.
        builder.Property(x => x.Comments).HasJsonConversion();
    });
}

Contribute

The project is constantly evolving. Contributions are welcome. Feel free to file issues and pull requests on the repo and we'll address them as we can.

Warning Remember to work on the develop branch, don't use the master branch directly. Create Pull Requests targeting develop.