Setting the default value of a DateTime Property to DateTime.Now inside the System.ComponentModel Default Value Attrbute

Question

Does any one know how I can specify the Default value for a DateTime property using the System.ComponentModel DefaultValue Attribute?

for example I try this:

Answer 1

Simply consider setting its value in the constructor of your entity class

public class Foo
{
       public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; }
       public Foo()
       {
           DateCreated = DateTime.Now;
       }

}

Answer 2

In C# Version 6 it's possible to provide a default value

public DateTime fieldname { get; set; } = DateTime.Now;

Answer 3

public DateTime DateCreated
{
   get
   {
      return (this.dateCreated == default(DateTime))
         ? this.dateCreated = DateTime.Now
         : this.dateCreated;
   }

   set { this.dateCreated = value; }
}
private DateTime dateCreated = default(DateTime);

Answer 4

There's no reason I can come up with that it shouldn't be possible to do through an attribute. It might be in Microsoft's backlog. Who knows.

The best solution I have found is to use the defaultValueSql parameter in the code first migration.

CreateTable(
    "dbo.SomeTable",
    c => new
        {
            TheDateField = c.DateTime(defaultValueSql: "GETDATE()")
        });

I don't like the often reference solution of setting it in the entity class constructor because if anything other than Entity Framework sticks a record in that table, the date field won't get a default value. And the idea of using a trigger to handle that case just seems wrong to me.

Answer 5

I also wanted this and came up with this solution (I'm only using the date part - a default time makes no sense as a PropertyGrid default):

public class DefaultDateAttribute : DefaultValueAttribute {
  public DefaultDateAttribute(short yearoffset)
    : base(DateTime.Now.AddYears(yearoffset).Date) {
  }
}

This just creates a new attribute that you can add to your DateTime property. E.g. if it defaults to DateTime.Now.Date:

[DefaultDate(0)]

Answer 6

How you deal with this at the moment depends on what model you are using Linq to SQL or EntityFramework?

In L2S you can add

public partial class NWDataContext
{
    partial void InsertCategory(Category instance)
    {
        if(Instance.Date == null)
            Instance.Data = DateTime.Now;

        ExecuteDynamicInsert(instance);
    }
}

EF is a little more complicated see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc716714.aspx for more info on EF buisiness logic.