In the beginning of this year (april) I started using nHibernate. Having some experience in Hibernate (Java) I knew what to expect. So without RTFM or not enough anyway I started implementing it. And I used the attribute framework that came with it (version 1.2 beta 3) at the time. The learning curve was a bit high and over the next few posts you will understand why.

First of all I will start with a simple example which works well. In the beginning I couldn't find any good example in VB.Net using the attributes all were in C#.

nHibernate can be downloaded here

So this is what a normal class would look like in the Chrissie1 universe. Nothing special a person with a firstname and lastname. And you will notice that I already added an Id In a perfect world I wouldn't need an Id since firstname and lastname togther would make for a perfect id, but since the perfect world only exists on TV I add it since the beginning. I can always add comparers/constraints later. In the next post I will change it to suit the needs of nHibernate. But for now enjoy it's beauty.

Namespace Model
    ''' <summary>
    ''' A normal person 
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <remarks>For testing purposes</remarks>
    Public Class Person
        Implements IComparable

#Region " Private members "
        ''' <summary>
        ''' A local variable called _id of type String
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <remarks>Has Property Id</remarks>
        Private _id As Guid
        ''' <summary>
        ''' A local variable called _firstName of type String
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <remarks>Has Property FirstName</remarks>
        Private _firstName As String
        ''' <summary>
        ''' A local variable called _lastName of type String
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <remarks>Has Property LastName</remarks>
        Private _lastName As String
#End Region

#Region " Constructors "
        ''' <summary>
        ''' Default empty constructor
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <remarks></remarks>
        Public Sub New()
            Me.New(Guid.NewGuid, "", "")
        End Sub

        ''' <summary>
        ''' Constructor with all the fields
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <param name="Id">DataType = String</param>
        ''' <param name="FirstName">DataType = String</param>
        ''' <param name="LastName">DataType = String</param>
        ''' <remarks></remarks>
        Public Sub New(ByVal Id As Guid, ByVal FirstName As String, ByVal LastName As String)
            Me.Id = Id
            Me.FirstName = FirstName
            Me.LastName = LastName
        End Sub
#End Region

#Region " Public properties "
        ''' <summary>
        ''' This is the Id property.
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <value>Guid</value>
        ''' <returns>Guid</returns>
        ''' <remarks></remarks>
        Public Property Id() As Guid
            Get
                Return _id
            End Get
            Set(ByVal Value As Guid)
                _id = Value
            End Set
        End Property

        ''' <summary>
        ''' This is the FirstName property.
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <value>String</value>
        ''' <returns>String</returns>
        ''' <remarks></remarks>
        Public Property FirstName() As String
            Get
                Return _firstName
            End Get
            Set(ByVal Value As String)
                _firstName = Value
            End Set
        End Property

        ''' <summary>
        ''' This is the LastName property.
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <value>String</value>
        ''' <returns>String</returns>
        ''' <remarks></remarks>
        Public Property LastName() As String
            Get
                Return _lastName
            End Get
            Set(ByVal Value As String)
                _lastName = Value
            End Set
        End Property
#End Region

#Region " Overrides ToString "
        ''' <summary>
        ''' Overridden ToString method for this class
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <returns>String</returns>
        ''' <remarks>The String value of this class represented by the ToStrings of all it's private members</remarks>
        Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
            Dim ReturnString As New System.Text.StringBuilder()
            ReturnString.Append("[Id: " & _id.ToString() & "]")
            ReturnString.Append(" - [FirstName: " & _firstName.ToString() & "]")
            ReturnString.Append(" - [LastName: " & _lastName.ToString() & "]")
            Return ReturnString.ToString()
        End Function
#End Region

#Region " Overrides Equals "
        ''' <summary>
        ''' Overridden Equals method for this class
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <returns>Boolean</returns>
        ''' <remarks>The Boolean value indictaing if this is equal to the other class</remarks>
        Public Overrides Function Equals(ByVal obj As Object) As Boolean
            If obj.GetType Is Me.GetType Then
                Return Me._id.Equals(CType(obj, Person)._id)
            Else
                Return False
            End If
        End Function
#End Region

#Region " Overrides CompareTo "
        ''' <summary>
        ''' Overridden CompareTo method for this class
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <returns>Integer</returns>
        ''' <remarks></remarks>
        Public Function CompareTo(ByVal obj As Object) As Integer Implements System.IComparable.CompareTo
            If obj.GetType Is Me.GetType Then
                Return Me._id.CompareTo(CType(obj, Person)._id)
            Else
                Return -1
            End If
        End Function
#End Region

    End Class
End Namespace