Horizontal Inheritance

This article is relevant to entity models that utilize the deprecated Visual Studio integration of Telerik Data Access. The current documentation of the Data Access framework is available here.

This tutorial teaches you how to create horizontal inheritance mapping by using the Fluent Mapping API. Horizontal inheritance can only be enabled for the topmost class in a hierarchy. Each immediate subclass is stored in its own table with a "copy" of the fields from the superclass. A horizontally mapped class itself, i.e. the superclass, does not have a table. Therefore, a horizontally mapped class cannot be directly persisted; only subclasses of the class can be stored in the database. For this reason, it is recommended (but not required) for horizontally mapped classes to be declared as abstract.

Modeling Horizontal Inheritance

The following example demonstrates how to model horizontal inheritance for the Animal hierarchy. You need to set the inheritance strategy by using the Inheritance method only for the base (root) class. Another specific moment is that you have to specify primary keys only for the derived classes in the hierarchy, e.g. Cat and Dog.

public class FluentModelMetadataSource : FluentMetadataSource
{
   protected override IList<MappingConfiguration> PrepareMapping()
   {
       List<MappingConfiguration> configurations = new List<MappingConfiguration>();

       MappingConfiguration<Animal> animalConfiguration = new MappingConfiguration<Animal>();
       animalConfiguration.MapType().Inheritance( Telerik.OpenAccess.InheritanceStrategy.Horizontal );

       MappingConfiguration<Dog> dogConfiguration = new MappingConfiguration<Dog>();
       dogConfiguration
           .MapType(x => new
                               {
                                   BestFriend = x.BestFriend,
                                   DogId = x.Id,
                                   DogName = x.Name
                               }).ToTable("Dog");
       dogConfiguration.HasProperty(d => d.Id).IsIdentity(KeyGenerator.Autoinc);

       MappingConfiguration<Cat> catConfiguration = new MappingConfiguration<Cat>();
       catConfiguration.MapType(x => new
                                           {
                                               LivesLeft = x.LivesLeft,
                                               CatId = x.Id
                                           }).ToTable("Cat");
       catConfiguration.HasProperty( d => d.Id ).IsIdentity( KeyGenerator.Autoinc );

       configurations.Add( animalConfiguration );
       configurations.Add( catConfiguration );
       configurations.Add( dogConfiguration );

       return configurations;
   }
}

Public Class FluentModelMetadataSource
    Inherits FluentMetadataSource
    Protected Overrides Function PrepareMapping() As _
        System.Collections.Generic.IList(Of Telerik.OpenAccess.Metadata.Fluent.MappingConfiguration)
        Dim configurations As List(Of MappingConfiguration) = New List(Of MappingConfiguration)()

        Dim animalConfiguration As New MappingConfiguration(Of Animal)()
        animalConfiguration.MapType().Inheritance(Telerik.OpenAccess.InheritanceStrategy.Horizontal)
        animalConfiguration.FieldNamingRules.AddPrefix = "_"

        Dim dogConfiguration As New MappingConfiguration(Of Dog)()
        dogConfiguration.MapType(Function(x) New With {Key .BestFriend = x.BestFriend, Key .DogId = x.Id, Key .DogName = x.Name})
        dogConfiguration.FieldNamingRules.AddPrefix = "_"
        dogConfiguration.HasProperty(Function(x) x.Id).IsIdentity(KeyGenerator.Autoinc)

        Dim catConfiguration As New MappingConfiguration(Of Cat)()
        catConfiguration.MapType(Function(x) New With {Key .LivesLeft = x.LivesLeft, Key .CatId = x.Id})
        catConfiguration.FieldNamingRules.AddPrefix = "_"
        catConfiguration.HasProperty(Function(x) x.Id).IsIdentity(KeyGenerator.Autoinc)

        configurations.Add(animalConfiguration)
        configurations.Add(catConfiguration)
        configurations.Add(dogConfiguration)

        Return configurations
    End Function
End Class

When you update your database schema to the latest model state, two tables will be created - Cat and Dog. Each subclass is stored in its own table with a "copy" of the fields from the base class.

Animal Class

public class Animal
{
   public string Name {get;set;}
   public int Age { get; set; }
}

Public Class Animal
    Private _name As String
    Public Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return _name
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _name = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Private _age As Integer
    Public Property Age As Integer
        Get
            Return _age
        End Get
        Set(value As Integer)
            _age = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Cat Class

public class Cat : Animal
{
   public int Id {get;set;}
   public int LivesLeft {get;set;}
}

Public Class Cat
    Inherits Animal
    Private _id As Integer
    Public Property Id() As Integer
        Get
            Return _id
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _id = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Private _livesLeft As Integer
    Public Property LivesLeft() As Integer
        Get
            Return _livesLeft
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _livesLeft = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Dog Class

public class Dog : Animal
{
   public int Id {get;set;}
   public string BestFriend {get;set;}
}

Public Class Dog
    Inherits Animal
    Private _id As Integer
    Public Property Id() As Integer
        Get
            Return _id
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _id = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Private _bestFriend As Integer
    Public Property BestFriend() As Integer
        Get
            Return _bestFriend
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _bestFriend = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class