SoftDeleteEntity

Namespace: RA.Utilities.Data.Entities

The SoftDeleteEntity class is designed to implement the soft-delete pattern for your data entities. This pattern is a common and valuable technique in application development where, instead of physically removing a record from the database, you simply mark it as deleted.

Here's a detailed explanation of its purpose:

1. Enabling Soft Deletion:

The primary purpose is to provide an IsDeleted boolean flag. When an entity needs to be "deleted," this flag is set to true instead of executing a DELETE command on the database. This means the record remains in the database but is logically considered deleted by the application.

2. Preserving Data History and Audit Trails:

By not physically removing data, you retain a complete history of all records. This is crucial for auditing, compliance, and debugging, as you can always see what data existed at a certain point in time, even if it was "deleted."

3. Data Recovery: Soft deletion makes it easy to "undelete" or restore records.

If a user accidentally deletes something, or if a business requirement changes, the data can be reactivated by simply setting IsDeleted back to false.

4. Avoiding Foreign Key Constraints:

Physical deletion can often be complicated by foreign key constraints. If a record is referenced by other tables, you might have to delete cascading records, which can be risky. Soft deletion bypasses this issue, as the record still exists and its foreign key relationships remain intact.

5. Consistency with Base Entities:

As SoftDeleteEntity inherits from BaseEntity, it automatically includes the Id, CreatedAt, and LastModifiedAt properties. This ensures that even soft-deleted records maintain their unique identifier and timestamp information, providing a consistent foundation for all your entities.

Properties

The SoftDeleteEntity class includes its own IsDeleted property and also inherits several key properties from its parent, BaseEntity.

Property	Type	Description	Inherited From
Id	Guid	The unique identifier for the entity.	BaseEntity
CreatedAt	DateTime	The timestamp of when the entity was created.	BaseEntity
LastModifiedAt	DateTime?	The timestamp of when the entity was last modified.	BaseEntity
IsDeleted	bool	A flag indicating whether the entity is marked as deleted.	-

This structure ensures that any entity supporting soft deletion also has the fundamental properties for unique identification and timestamping, providing a robust and consistent data model.

In essence, SoftDeleteEntity provides a simple, standardized way to manage the lifecycle of your data without permanently losing information, offering flexibility and robustness to your application's data layer.

Example: Product Entity

Let's imagine you are creating a Product entity for an e-commerce application. By inheriting from SoftDeleteEntity, your Product class will automatically gain the ability to be soft-deleted, along with the standard identification and timestamping properties.

using RA.Utilities.Data.Entities;

namespace YourApp.Domain.Entities;

/// <summary>
/// Represents a product in the system.
/// It inherits from SoftDeleteEntity to support soft-deletion.
/// </summary>
public class Product : SoftDeleteEntity
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the name of the product.
    /// </summary>
    public string Name { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the description of the product.
    /// </summary>
    public string? Description { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the price of the product.
    /// </summary>
    public decimal Price { get; set; }
}

What This Gives You

By inheriting from SoftDeleteEntity, the Product class now has the following properties:

Property	Type	Description	Source
Id	Guid	The unique identifier for the product.	Inherited from BaseEntity
CreatedAt	DateTime	The timestamp of when the product was created.	Inherited from BaseEntity
LastModifiedAt	DateTime?	The timestamp of when the product was last modified.	Inherited from BaseEntity
IsDeleted	bool	A flag indicating whether the product is marked as deleted.	Inherited from SoftDeleteEntity
Name	string	The name of the product.	Defined in Product
Description	string?	The description of the product.	Defined in Product
Price	decimal	The price of the product.	Defined in Product

This approach allows you to focus on the properties that are unique to your Product entity, while the RA.Utilities.Data.Entities package | provides a consistent and reusable foundation for common data management features like soft deletion and timestamping.