Can we use enums as typesafe entity ids?

Question

We are working with a rather large model in a EF 6.1 code first setup and we are using ints for entity ids.

Unfortunately, this is not as typesafe as we would like, sinc

Answer 1

I really don't try to bash you, but how can one mix up Ids of Type X with Ids of Type Z? I never met anybody who did stuff like myBlog.Id++ either (or at least not without getting fired).

Anyhow, here is a solution which seams to be less work and better maintainable (especiall for the db-admins):

-In the TypeConfiguration, create an Id through the fluent API (you'll see why later)

-Create an abstract base-class for all your entities with:

*property: proteced int Id

*method: public int getIdValue()

*method: public bool isSameRecord(T otherEntity) where T: EntityBaseClass

I guess the first method are self-explanatory, the isSameRecord will take the other instance of your base-class, does a type-check first and if it passes it, it will do a id-checkup, too.

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This is an untested approach, there's a good chance you can't create protected identifiers.

If it doesn't work, you could create public int _id and just tell your team to not use it directly.