Magic EF Share Scaffold Protocol

Author: Lance Wright (Magic Coding Man)

Published: February 10, 2025

Please note this article assumes you've read the Magic EF article as the Share protocol is built as an addition.

Click here to read the original "Magic EF Protocol" article

Magic EF makes scaffolding your Csharp code easy. But what if you need to reuse your scaffolded models across multiple projects—such as a Blazor frontend, an API, or a microservice architecture? This is where the Magic EF Share Scaffold Protocol comes in.

The Magic EF Share Scaffold Protocol automatically generates read-only models, interfaces, DTO models, mapping profiles, and shared extensions to create a fully reusable entity structure. This protocol enables strict typing in Blazor applications, maintains consistency between database projects and frontends, and simplifies working with database-first models across multiple projects.

Why Use the Share Scaffold Protocol?

When working with a database-first approach in .NET, you often run into challenges when sharing models between a backend and frontend. Typically, scaffolded models are tightly coupled to Entity Framework and cannot be cleanly reused in different layers of an application. The Share Scaffold Protocol resolves these issues by:

Providing Read-Only Interfaces – Ensures your core data models remain untouched while enabling reusability in multiple applications.
Generating DTO Models – Separates data representation from database entities for cleaner API interactions.
Creating AutoMapper Profiles – Automates model-to-DTO transformations.
Building Shared Metadata & Extensions – Allows centralized logic without modifying scaffolded models.
Enforcing Strong Typing – Ideal for Blazor and frontend applications that require strict DTO models.
Automatically Updating on Schema Changes – Reduces maintenance overhead.

Setting Up the Share Scaffold Protocol

First, you must have already setup your Magic EF database first scaffolded project. But after that, the steps are quite simple! Head over to the provided wiki link to see the setup instructions:

Click here to see the Magic EF Share Protocol initial setup instructions

Using DTO Models in Blazor & APIs

By utilizing ViewDTO Models, you can safely modify your models without affecting the underlying database structure. This ensures separation of concerns while allowing structured API responses and frontend bindings.

public partial class EmployeeViewDTO : EmployeeReadOnly, IEmployee
{  
    // All your properties are automatically connected here!

    // Now you can safely add your own methods, overrides, and new properties unique to the view DTO
    public string DisplayName => "{Name} - {Position}";
}

Final Thoughts

The Share protocol has so much to offer as it allows you to make shared extensions between your database scaffolded model and view DTO. It creates basic auto mapping profiles on your behalf which can be easily altered to your needs. Whether you're working with ASP.NET, Blazor, APIs, or microservices, this protocol ensures consistency, maintainability, and scalability in your applications.

To explore the full capabilities of Magic EF Share Scaffold, check out the official GitHub repository:

View Magic EF Share Scaffold on GitHub