DKNet.EfCore.Specifications 10.1.18

DKNet.EfCore.Specifications

The Specification pattern for EF Core, plus a runtime dynamic predicate builder — the flagship successor to the retired DKNet.EfCore.Repos. Encapsulate filter, include, and order-by logic in reusable Specification<TEntity> classes, and execute them through a single non-generic IRepositorySpec that serves every entity in your DbContext.

Install

dotnet add package DKNet.EfCore.Specifications

services.AddSpecRepo<AppDbContext>();

Features

• Specification<TEntity> — filter (WithFilter), includes (AddInclude, single-level or Include/ThenInclude chains), and ordering (AddOrderBy/AddOrderByDescending, declared-sequence, mixed-direction) in one object.
• IRepositorySpec — one injected, non-generic repository for reads (FirstAsync, ToListAsync, ToPagedListAsync, AnyAsync, CountAsync) and writes (AddAsync, UpdateAsync, SaveChangesAsync, BulkDeleteAsync, BeginTransactionAsync) driven entirely by the specification passed to each call.
• Dynamic Predicate Builder (DynamicAnd/DynamicOr) — build EF Core predicates from (propertyName, Ops, value) triples for runtime-driven search filters, with automatic type/enum coercion, camelCase/snake_case/kebab-case property-name normalization, and fail-safe (silently-skipped) invalid input.
• ModelSpecification<TEntity, TModel> — the same builders, projected straight to a DTO via Mapster.
• Keyset (cursor) pagination — AfterKeyset/BeforeKeyset, ToKeysetPageAsync, and streaming ToPageEnumerable for large result sets without Skip/Take scan cost.

Quick start

using LinqKit;
using DKNet.EfCore.Specifications.Definitions;
using DKNet.EfCore.Specifications.Dynamics;
using DKNet.EfCore.Specifications.Repositories;

public sealed class ProductSearchSpecification : Specification<Product>
{
    public ProductSearchSpecification(string? name, decimal? minPrice)
    {
        var predicate = CreatePredicate(p => p.IsActive);

        if (name is not null)
            predicate = predicate.DynamicAnd(nameof(Product.Name), Ops.Contains, name);

        if (minPrice is not null)
            predicate = predicate.DynamicAnd(nameof(Product.Price), Ops.GreaterThanOrEqual, minPrice);

        WithFilter(predicate);
        AddOrderBy(p => p.Name);
    }
}

public sealed class ProductService(IRepositorySpec repo)
{
    public Task<IList<Product>> SearchAsync(string? name, decimal? minPrice, CancellationToken ct) =>
        repo.ToListAsync(new ProductSearchSpecification(name, minPrice), ct);
}

.AsExpandable() is applied automatically when querying through IRepositorySpec — no extra wiring needed for the dynamic predicate above to translate to SQL.

Customisation reference

There is no options class and no configuration section — behaviour is set per specification and per registration.

ApplySpecs composes in a fixed order: ignore-filters, Where, includes, include builders, ordering, then AsNoTracking, Skip and Take. Reading FilterQuery/IncludeQueries yourself skips all of it.

Migration — namespace changes in this release

Root types were grouped into concern folders; the namespace of each moved type now ends with its folder name. This is an import-only source break: no type was renamed, removed, resignatured, or had its behaviour changed — update the using line and you're done.

SpecSetup — the package's AddSpecRepo registration point — stays at DKNet.EfCore.Specifications. Dynamics/ and Extensions/ (including the ambient LinqKit-namespaced DynamicPredicateExtensions) are unchanged.

Learn more

Full feature guide, configuration, composition with other DKNet packages, and gotchas: https://github.com/baoduy/DKNet/blob/main/docs/EfCore/DKNet.EfCore.Specifications.md

Migrating from DKNet.EfCore.Repos? See https://github.com/baoduy/DKNet/blob/main/docs/EfCore/Migrating-Repos-To-Specifications.md