Frequently Asked Questions

Q: The Id property has a protected setter, so it isn’t included when the entity is serialized. How do I include it?

A: Having the Id setter be protected is a core Entity<TId> design choice — it keeps application code from assigning ids directly. If you need Id included in a serialized payload (e.g. XML or a DTO), expose it through a read-only wrapper property or, more commonly today, map the entity to an explicit DTO/view model for serialization rather than serializing the entity itself:

public class AnnouncementModel
{
    public int Id { get; init; }
    public string Title { get; init; } = null!;
}

This is also what the CRUD tutorial does via AutoMapper (_mapper.Map<AnnouncementModel>(announcement)), rather than returning the entity from a controller action directly.

Q: How do I opt out of Fluent NHibernate auto-mapping for an entity?

A: AddMappingAssemblies(...) on NHibernateSessionFactoryBuilder picks up both Fluent NHibernate ClassMap<T>/IAutoMappingOverride<T> mappings and NHibernate HBM XML mappings from the given assemblies, in addition to the auto-persistence model passed to UseAutoPersistenceModel(...). To fully hand-map a specific entity, add an explicit ClassMap<T> for it and exclude the type from the auto-persistence model (AutoPersistenceModel.Where(...)/.IgnoreBase<T>(), depending on your FluentNHibernate version) — or, for smaller tweaks, use an IAutoMappingOverride<T> as shown in the CRUD tutorial instead of opting out entirely.

Q: Can I use S#arp Architecture with more than one database in the same app?

A: Not out of the box — see Multiple Databases.

Q: I need faster id generation than one round-trip per insert. What are my options?

A: See the HiLo id generator page.

Q: Where did RavenDB / WCF / Templify go?

A: SharpArch.RavenDB was discontinued in 9.0.0 — NHibernate is now the only supported persistence provider. WCF and Templify were tied to the pre-ASP.NET-Core, .NET Framework era of the framework and no longer apply; see the Changelog for the full history.