Entity Best Practices & Conventions

Entities

Every aggregate root is also an entity. So, these rules are valid for aggregate roots too unless aggregate root rules override them.

• Do define entities in the domain layer.

Primary Constructor

• Do define a primary constructor that ensures the validity of the entity on creation. Primary constructors are used to create a new instance of the entity by the application code.

• Do define primary constructor as public, internal or protected internal based on the requirements. If it's not public, the entity is expected to be created by a domain service.
• Do always initialize sub collections in the primary constructor.
• Do not generate Guid keys inside the constructor. Get it as a parameter, so the calling code will use IGuidGenerator to generate a new Guid value.

Parameterless Constructor

• Do always define a protected parameterless constructor to be compatible with ORMs.

References

• Do always reference to other aggregate roots by Id. Never add navigation properties to other aggregate roots.

Other Class Members

• Do always define properties and methods as virtual (except private methods, obviously). Because some ORMs and dynamic proxy tools require it.
• Do keep the entity as always valid and consistent within its own boundary.
  • Do define properties with private, protected, internal or protected internal setter where it is needed to protect the entity consistency and validity.
  • Do define public , internal or protected internal (virtual) methods to change the properties (with non-public setters) if necessary.
  • Do return the entity object (this) from the setter methods.

Aggregate Roots

Primary Keys

• Do always use a Id property for the aggregate root key.
• Do not use composite keys for aggregate roots.
• Do use Guid as the primary key of all aggregate roots.

Base Class

• Do inherit from the AggregateRoot<TKey> or one of the audited classes (CreationAuditedAggregateRoot<TKey>, AuditedAggregateRoot<TKey> or FullAuditedAggregateRoot<TKey>) based on requirements.

Aggregate Boundary

• Do keep aggregates as small as possible. Most of the aggregates will only have primitive properties and will not have sub collections. Consider these as design decisions:
  • Performance & memory cost of loading & saving aggregates (keep in mind that an aggregate is normally loaded & saved as a single unit). Larger aggregates will consume more CPU & memory.
  • Consistency & validity boundary.

Example

Aggregate Root

public class Issue : FullAuditedAggregateRoot<Guid> //Using Guid as the key/identifier
{
    public virtual string Title { get; private set; } //Changed using the SetTitle() method
    public virtual string Text { get; set; } //Can be directly changed. null values are allowed
    public virtual Guid? MilestoneId { get; set; } //Reference to another aggregate root
    public virtual bool IsClosed { get; private set; }
    public virtual IssueCloseReason? CloseReason { get; private set; } //Just an enum type
    public virtual Collection<IssueLabel> Labels { get; protected set; } //Sub collection

    protected Issue()
    {
        /* This constructor is for ORMs to be used while getting the entity from database.
         * - No need to initialize the Labels collection
             since it will be overrided from the database.
           - It's protected since proxying and deserialization tools
             may not work with private constructors.
         */
    }

    //Primary constructor
    public Issue(
        Guid id, //Get Guid value from the calling code
        [NotNull] string title, //Indicate that the title can not be null.
        string text = null,
        Guid? milestoneId = null) //Optional argument
    {
        Id = id;
        Title = Check.NotNullOrWhiteSpace(title, nameof(title)); //Validate
        Text = text;
        MilestoneId = milestoneId;
        
        Labels = new Collection<IssueLabel>(); //Always initialize the collection
    }

    public virtual Issue SetTitle([NotNull] string title)
    {
        Title = Check.NotNullOrWhiteSpace(title, nameof(title)); //Validate
        return this;
    }
    
    /* AddLabel & RemoveLabel methods manages the Labels collection
     * in a safe way (prevents adding the same label twice) */

    public virtual Issue AddLabel(Guid labelId)
    {
        if (Labels.Any(l => l.LabelId == labelId))
        {
            return;
        }

        Labels.Add(new IssueLabel(Id, labelId));
        return this;
    }
    
    public virtual Issue RemoveLabel(Guid labelId)
    {
        Labels.RemoveAll(l => l.LabelId == labelId);
        return this;
    }

    /* Close & ReOpen methods protect the consistency
     * of the IsClosed and the CloseReason properties. */
    
    public virtual void Close(IssueCloseReason reason)
    {
        IsClosed = true;
        CloseReason = reason;
    }

    public virtual void ReOpen()
    {
        IsClosed = false;
        CloseReason = null;
    }
}

The Entity

public class IssueLabel : Entity
{
    public virtual Guid IssueId { get; private set; }
    public virtual Guid LabelId { get; private set; }

    protected IssueLabel()
    {
        
    }

    public IssueLabel(Guid issueId, Guid labelId)
    {
        IssueId = issueId;
        LabelId = labelId;
    }
}

References

• Effective Aggregate Design by Vaughn Vernon http://dddcommunity.org/library/vernon_2011

  See Also

• Video tutorial