Technical Story: https://github.com/SSWConsulting/SSW.CleanArchitecture/issues/364

Context and Problem Statement¶

Strongly typed IDs are a great way to combat primitive obsession. However, they can be a bit of a pain to set up especially with EF Core. We want to make it easier to use strongly typed IDs or any simple value objects in our projects.

Decision Drivers ¶

• Simplify usage of strongly typed IDs

Considered Options¶

1. Manual Approach
2. Vogen

Decision Outcome¶

Chosen option: "Option 2 - Vogen", because configuration, validation, and usage of strongly typed IDs is much simpler (espeicially from the EF Core point of view).

The SSW Rule Do you use Strongly Typed IDs to avoid Primitive Obsession covers the manual approach. This ADR picks the library that removes the boilerplate.

Pros and Cons of the Options ¶

Option 1 - Manual Approach¶

• ✅ Avoid additional dependencies
• ❌ Extra EF Core boilerplate needed
• ❌ Not easy to add value object validation with current record-based approach

Option 2 - Vogen¶

• ✅ Simple to create and use strongly typed IDs
• ✅ Easy to add value object validation
• ✅ Easy to add EF Core configuration
• ✅ Can be used for any simple value object
• ❌ Extra dependency added

Links¶

• Do you use Strongly Typed IDs to avoid Primitive Obsession
• Do you know when to use value objects?
• https://stevedunn.github.io/Vogen/overview.html
• https://github.com/SteveDunn/Vogen