ITableEntity.cs

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT License.

using System;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;

namespace Azure.Data.Tables
{
    /// <summary>
    /// An interface defining the required properties for a table entity model. Custom entity model types must implement this interface.
    /// </summary>
    ///
    /// <remarks>
    /// Two options exist for implementations of <see cref="ITableEntity"/>: Strongly typed custom entity model classes, and the provided <see cref="TableEntity"/> model.
    /// </remarks>
    public interface ITableEntity
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The partition key is a unique identifier for the partition within a given table and forms the first part of an entity's primary key.
        /// </summary>
        /// <value>A string containing the partition key for the entity.</value>
        string PartitionKey { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// The row key is a unique identifier for an entity within a given partition. Together the <see cref="PartitionKey" /> and RowKey uniquely identify every entity within a table.
        /// </summary>
        /// <value>A string containing the row key for the entity.</value>
        string RowKey { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// The Timestamp property is a DateTime value that is maintained on the server side to record the time an entity was last modified.
        /// The Table service uses the Timestamp property internally to provide optimistic concurrency. The value of Timestamp is a monotonically increasing value,
        /// meaning that each time the entity is modified, the value of Timestamp increases for that entity.
        /// This property should not be set on insert or update operations (the value will be ignored).
        /// </summary>
        /// <value>A <see cref="DateTimeOffset"/> containing the timestamp of the entity.</value>
        DateTimeOffset? Timestamp { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the entity's ETag.
        /// </summary>
        /// <value>A string containing the ETag value for the entity.</value>
        ETag ETag { get; set; }
    }
}