Why C# ASP.NET MVC Code First POCO Classes must have getters and setters?

Question

Why in, C# ASP.NET MVC Code First project, POCO Classes must have getters and setters ( {get; set; } ) in order to work?

public float data { get; set; }

or in db context class

public DbSet<SGD.Models.MyData> MyData{ get; set; }

I just don't understand why a simple attribute (without getters and setters) doesn't works.

I'm 99% sure that's entity framework that requires that, not ASP.net MVC. — whatsisname, Jul 25 '16 at 16:07
Because they are properties rather than fields. Which means they're internally pairs of methods. That's much easier for a framework to deal with than fields. — Magus, Jul 25 '16 at 16:08
Apparently the EF authors decided to only support properties and not fields. — CodesInChaos, Jul 25 '16 at 16:36

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '16 at 16:43

Because Microsoft decided to only support properties in Entity Framework.

There are many reasons why properties are preferred over public fields, but I'll just mention the one that I think is most relevant here: changing from public fields to properties (if the need arises) is a binary breaking change.

1 Answers1