将EF实体映射到POCO业务实体

Question

We have to refactor a legacy project, implemented with EF5, VS 2012 and SQL Sevrer 2008 R2.
There are different layers:

• BusinessLayers containing POCO classes
• Data Access layer where the repository pattern is implemented
• Context class (with DbContext)

At the moment, business POCO classes and EF entities are the same. There is no mapping, but entities generated with the T4 model template are used as business entities as well and business logic is herewith injected with the use of partial classes, as entities extension.

The goal is to decouple the entities, moving the EF ones into a separate project, that would create a Model layer. My idea would be to create at the business layer business objects that represent the relative counterpart in the Model layer.

However should I have to manually create the mapping for all the properties between the two layers (in some cases a table can have even 40 fields)? Is it possible to use Automapper to achieve this?

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible to use AutoMapper. But I suggest you to use Code First approach - persist domain entities directly. You can write Entity Framework mappings manually or generate them with Reverse Engineer Code First . That will remove unnecessary complexity from your system.