filiptrivan/spiderly/add-entity

Add Entity Workflow

Follow these steps in order. Do not skip ahead.

Step 1 — Gather Requirements

Ask the user:

1. Entity name (PascalCase, singular — e.g., Product, BlogPost)
2. Properties — for each: name, C# type, required?, string max length, any special attributes
3. Relationships — many-to-one (required/optional?), many-to-many, ordered one-to-many
4. Base class — BusinessObject<long> (CRUD, default) or ReadonlyObject<long> (lookup table)
5. File uploads? — which properties, storage type (S3 public, Cloudinary, or default file manager)
6. List page format — data table (default) or data view (card grid)?

Do NOT proceed until the user confirms the entity design.

Step 2 — Run the CLI scaffold

Note: This command prompts interactively for the entity name. Tell the user to run it themselves in a terminal, then continue with Step 3 once it completes.

spiderly add-new-entity

If the user chose data view format:

spiderly add-new-entity --data-view

This creates:

• Backend/{App}.Business/Entities/{Entity}.cs (empty entity with [DoNotAuthorize])
• Frontend/src/app/pages/{kebab-name}/{kebab-name}-list.component.ts + .html
• Frontend/src/app/pages/{kebab-name}/{kebab-name}-details.component.ts + .html
• Inserts routes into Frontend/src/app/app.routes.ts
• Inserts menu item into Frontend/src/app/business/layout/layout.component.ts

Step 3 — Write the entity class

Use the entity-design skill to write the entity with correct attributes. Replace the CLI-generated empty entity.

Checklist:

• [ ] [DisplayName] on the name/title property
• [ ] [Required] on mandatory fields
• [ ] [StringLength(max, MinimumLength = min)] on ALL strings (never omit — avoids NVARCHAR(MAX))
• [ ] virtual on navigation properties
• [ ] List<T> with { get; } = new() on collections
• [ ] [WithMany] on M2O child side, [CascadeDelete] or [SetNull] for delete behavior
• [ ] [UIOrderedOneToMany] on parent collection + OrderNumber on child (if ordered)
• [ ] [M2M] on junction entities with exactly 2 [M2MWithMany] properties
• [ ] File properties: a StorageAttribute subclass ([DiskStorage] / [S3PublicStorage] / [S3PrivateStorage] / custom) + [AcceptedFileTypes] + [MaxFileSize] + [StringLength]
• [ ] Remove [DoNotAuthorize] if the entity needs authorization

Also add the collection property to related parent entities (e.g., public virtual List<Product> Products { get; } = new(); on Category).

Step 4 — Build the backend

dotnet build

Run from the Backend/ directory. This triggers Spiderly source generators which produce:

• DTOs, services, controllers, validators, mappers, TypeScript classes

Fix any build errors before continuing.

Step 5 — Create and apply the migration

spiderly add-migration Add{EntityName}Table
spiderly update-database

Use PascalCase for migration names. If the migration looks wrong, spiderly remove-migration and fix the entity first.

Step 6 — Customize Angular components

List component ({kebab-name}-list.component.ts)

Update both the filter store (the create{EntityName}Filters function the scaffold declares above the component) and the cols array in ngOnInit() with actual entity columns. The store is the table's whole filter surface — a column without a matching store entry renders fine but cannot be filtered:

function createProductFilters(t: (key: string) => string) {
  return createFilterStore({
    name: textFilter({ label: t("Name") }),
    price: numberFilter({ label: t("Price") }),
  });
}

this.cols = [
  {
    name: this.translocoService.translate("Name"),
    filterType: "text",
    field: "name",
  },
  {
    name: this.translocoService.translate("Price"),
    filterType: "numeric",
    field: "price",
  },
  {
    actions: [
      { name: this.translocoService.translate("Details"), field: "Details" },
      { name: this.translocoService.translate("Delete"), field: "Delete" },
    ],
  },
];

Store ids are backend property names (they go straight into the paginated request), so they normally repeat the column's field. Factories: textFilter, numberFilter (accepts options for a pick-list), booleanFilter, dateFilter — all imported from spiderly.

Translation keys

Add keys to Frontend/src/assets/i18n/en.json (and to any other language files your app uses):

{
  "{EntityName}": "...",
  "{EntityName}List": "..."
  // property name keys as needed
}

Menu icon (optional)

In layout.component.ts, change 'pi pi-fw pi-list' to an appropriate PrimeNG icon.

Step 7 — Build frontend

ng build

From Frontend/. Fix any build errors.

Step 8 — Add backend hooks (if needed)

If the entity requires custom business logic (validation, computed fields, side effects), override hooks in {Entity}Service (which extends {Entity}ServiceGenerated):

protected override async Task OnBeforeSave{Entity}AndReturnMainUIFormDTO(
    {Entity}SaveBodyDTO saveBodyDTO) { }
 
protected override async Task OnAfterSave{Entity}AndReturnMainUIFormDTO(
    {Entity}SaveBodyDTO saveBodyDTO,
    {Entity}MainUIFormDTO mainUIFormDTO) { }

See the backend-hooks skill for the full hook reference.

Step 9 — Verify

1. Start the app (F5 or dotnet run)
2. Navigate to the new entity's list page
3. Create a record, verify all fields save correctly
4. Edit the record, verify update works
5. Delete the record, verify cascade/set-null behavior
6. Check file uploads if applicable