Allow to configure properties on non-collection complex types by using chaining in the lambda expression

[AndriySvyryd]

Fixes #31236

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Note

Copilot was unable to run its full agentic suite in this review.

This PR enables configuring nested (non-collection) complex type properties via chained member-access lambdas and dotted-string property paths, adding supporting builder plumbing, error messages, and specification tests (Fixes #31236).

Changes:

• Added complex-property chain resolution for lambda-based configuration and dotted string names (including auto-creation for lambda intermediates).
• Introduced new CoreStrings messages for invalid chained/dotted cases (invalid segment, invalid intermediate, collection intermediate, missing intermediate).
• Expanded model-building tests to validate chained/dotted configuration scenarios and failure modes.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 17 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
test/EFCore.Specification.Tests/ModelBuilding/ModelBuilderTest.TestModel.cs	Adds new nested complex CLR types used by the new chaining tests.
test/EFCore.Specification.Tests/ModelBuilding/ModelBuilderTest.OwnedTypes.cs	Adds tests ensuring owned navigations are rejected as chain intermediates.
test/EFCore.Specification.Tests/ModelBuilding/ModelBuilderTest.NonGeneric.cs	Updates non-generic test wrappers to pass dotted names derived from member chains.
test/EFCore.Specification.Tests/ModelBuilding/ModelBuilderTest.ComplexType.cs	Adds extensive tests for chained lambda and dotted-name configuration of nested complex members.
test/EFCore.Specification.Tests/ModelBuilding/ModelBuilderTest.ComplexCollections.cs	Adds a dotted-name test for configuring a nested complex collection.
src/EFCore/Properties/CoreStrings.resx	Adds new error message resources for complex-property chain resolution failures.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Internal/InternalTypeBaseBuilder.cs	Adds member-chain overloads for Property/PrimitiveCollection/ComplexProperty/Ignore.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/EntityTypeBuilder`.cs	Enables chained lambda member access for generic entity type builder APIs.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/EntityTypeBuilder.cs	Adds dotted-name support to non-generic builder overloads.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/ComplexPropertyChainHelper.cs	New helper to parse/resolve member chains and dotted paths through complex types.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/ComplexPropertyBuilder`.cs	Enables chained lambda member access for complex property builder APIs.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/ComplexPropertyBuilder.cs	Adds dotted-name support to non-generic complex property builder overloads.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/ComplexCollectionBuilder`.cs	Enables chained lambda member access for complex collection builder APIs.
src/EFCore/Metadata/Builders/ComplexCollectionBuilder.cs	Adds dotted-name support to non-generic complex collection builder overloads.
src/EFCore/Extensions/Internal/ExpressionExtensions.cs	Adds MatchMemberAccessChain() to extract chained member accesses from lambdas.
src/EFCore/EFCore.baseline.json	Updates API baseline for newly-added CoreStrings members.

Files not reviewed (1)

• src/EFCore/Properties/CoreStrings.Designer.cs: Language not supported

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Files not reviewed (1)

• src/EFCore/Properties/CoreStrings.Designer.cs: Language not supported

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 19 out of 20 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Files not reviewed (1)

• src/EFCore/Properties/CoreStrings.Designer.cs: Language not supported

[roji]

nit: if we want to keep nicer/shorter expression-based code, we can have a method on Builder which accepts the name and a lambda, and internally resolved the inner builder and invokes the lambda on it. Callers would then pass (static) lambdas doing the actual call (Property, PrimitiveCollection).

[AndriySvyryd]

I thought about different ways to factor this and I think the current approach offers the best balance between clarity for which methods support chained calls, verbosity of the implementation, and performance.

[github-actions]

API review baseline changes for src/EFCore/EFCore.baseline.json

Show diff

The diff below was generated by ApiChief between the base and the PR.

  static class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Diagnostics.CoreEventId
- static readonly Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.EventId NonDefiningInverseNavigationWarning

  static class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Diagnostics.CoreStrings
+ static string ComplexPropertyChainIntermediateNotFound(object? member, object? type);
+ static string ComplexPropertyChainInvalidMember(object? member, object? type);
+ static string ComplexPropertyChainInvalidSegment(object? dottedName);
+ static string ComplexPropertyChainOnCollection(object? member, object? type);
+ static string InvalidMemberAccessChainExpression(object? expression);

  abstract class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.AnnotatableBuilder<TMetadata, TModelBuilder> : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.Builders.IConventionAnnotatableBuilder where TMetadata : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.ConventionAnnotatable where TModelBuilder : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.Builders.IConventionModelBuilder
- virtual AnnotatableBuilder<TMetadata, TModelBuilder>? RemoveAnnotation(string name, ConfigurationSource configurationSource);

  class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.DatabaseFacade : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IInfrastructure<System.IServiceProvider>, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.IDatabaseFacadeDependenciesAccessor, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IResettableService
- virtual bool AutoTransactionsEnabled { get; set; }

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IConstructorBindingFactory
- bool TryBindConstructor(IConventionEntityType entityType, ConstructorInfo constructor, out InstantiationBinding? binding, out IEnumerable<ParameterInfo>? unboundParameters);
- bool TryBindConstructor(IMutableEntityType entityType, ConstructorInfo constructor, out InstantiationBinding? binding, out IEnumerable<ParameterInfo>? unboundParameters);

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IConventionModel : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyModel, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IConventionAnnotatable
- IConventionEntityType? AddEntityType(Type type, string definingNavigationName, IConventionEntityType definingEntityType, bool fromDataAnnotation = false);
- IConventionEntityType? AddEntityType(string name, string definingNavigationName, IConventionEntityType definingEntityType, bool fromDataAnnotation = false);

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IConventionProperty : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyProperty, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyPropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IConventionPropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IConventionAnnotatable
- IConventionEntityType DeclaringEntityType { get; }

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IMutableProperty : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyProperty, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyPropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IMutablePropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IMutableAnnotatable
- IMutableEntityType DeclaringEntityType { get; }

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IProperty : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyProperty, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyPropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IPropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IAnnotatable
- IEntityType DeclaringEntityType { get; }

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyEntityType : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyTypeBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable
- LambdaExpression? GetQueryFilter();

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyProperty : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyPropertyBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable
- IReadOnlyEntityType DeclaringEntityType { get; }

  class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.RuntimeModel : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.RuntimeAnnotatableBase, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.Internal.IRuntimeModel, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IModel, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IReadOnlyModel, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IReadOnlyAnnotatable, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure.IAnnotatable
- virtual void SetSkipDetectChanges(bool skipDetectChanges);

  class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.ParameterQueryRootExpression : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.QueryRootExpression
- virtual ParameterExpression ParameterExpression { get; }
- ParameterQueryRootExpression(IAsyncQueryProvider asyncQueryProvider, Type elementType, ParameterExpression parameterExpression);
- ParameterQueryRootExpression(Type elementType, ParameterExpression parameterExpression);

  abstract class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.CoreTypeMapping
- virtual Func<IProperty, IEntityType, ValueGenerator>? ValueGeneratorFactory { get; }

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.ITypeMappingSource
- CoreTypeMapping? FindMapping(MemberInfo member);

  class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.ValueConversion.ConverterMappingHints
- ConverterMappingHints(int? size = null, int? precision = null, int? scale = null, bool? unicode = null, Func<IProperty, IEntityType, ValueGenerator>? valueGeneratorFactory = null);
+ ConverterMappingHints(int? size = null, int? precision = null, int? scale = null, bool? unicode = null);
- virtual Func<IProperty, IEntityType, ValueGenerator>? ValueGeneratorFactory { get; }

  interface Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.ValueGeneration.IValueGeneratorSelector
- ValueGenerator? Select(IProperty property, ITypeBase typeBase);

  class Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.ValueGeneration.ValueGeneratorSelector : Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.ValueGeneration.IValueGeneratorSelector
- virtual ValueGenerator Create(IProperty property, ITypeBase typeBase);
- virtual ValueGenerator? Select(IProperty property, ITypeBase typeBase);