Question

In keeping with the Repository pattern of data input, I’ve a question in regards to using inherited classes. For instance, suppose I would have the class…

class Employee

IEmployeeRepository
{
 Add(Employee employee);
}

This works fine, nothing wrong with it so far… but now let’s say I continue on..

class Manager : Employee

Okay, now let’s assume that I never need to enter a manager different than an Employee? What’s the best approach here? Would a scenario such as ..

IEmployeeRepository
{
 Add<T>(T employee) where T : Employee
}

Be the best approach, or do I need to abstract a different repository for each type?

Answer 1

If they are all employees, I would probably create an interface and constrain it to that. For example:

IEmployeeRepository
{
 Add<T>(T employee) where T : IEmployee
}