Factories

The entity factory creates entity instances based on a specific definition. Since entities are complex and their members can change at runtime, a factory is needed to ensure the instance is created with the correct members and configuration. Each new instance includes all necessary members.

Use the CreateAsync method to create a new entity. If you need to specify cultures for a new entity, make sure you include all of them during the creation process, because you cannot add or remove cultures later without reloading the entity.

For example, you can use the following method to create a new Asset entity instance with the default culture:

IEntity asset = await MClient.EntityFactory.CreateAsync(Constants.Asset.DefinitionName);

This example creates the entity instance by passing the definition name. Alternatively, you can pass the entity definition instance instead.

The data source factory creates instances of the two types of data sources—flat data sources, which are simple lists of items, and hierarchical data sources, which are structured, nested data with parent-child relationships.

IFlatDataSource flatDataSource = MClient.DataSourceFactory.CreateFlatDataSource("NEW_FLAT_DATA_SOURCE");

IHierarchicalDataSource hierachicalDataSource = MClient.DataSourceFactory.CreateHierarchicalDataSource("NEW_HIERARCHICAL_DATA_SOURCE");