C# – What’s the best strategy for Equals and GetHashCode

cequalsgethashcodenet

I'm working with a domain model and was thinking about the various ways that we have to implement these two methods in .NET. What is your preferred strategy?

This is my current implementation:

public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
    var newObj = obj as MyClass;

    if (null != newObj)
    {
        return this.GetHashCode() == newObj.GetHashCode();
    }
    else
    {
        return base.Equals(obj);
    }
}

// Since this is an entity I can use its Id
// When I don't have an Id, I usually make a composite key of the properties
public override int GetHashCode()
{
    return String.Format("MyClass{0}", this.Id.ToString()).GetHashCode();
}

Best Answer

Domain-Driven Design makes the distinction between Entities and Value Objects. This is a good distinction to observe since it guides how you implement Equals.

Entities are equal if their IDs equal each other.

Value Objects are equal if all their (important) constituent elements are equal to each other.

In any case, the implementation of GetHashCode should base itself on the same values that are used to determine equality. In other words, for Entities, the hash code should be calculated directly from the ID, whereas for Value Objects it should be calculated from all the constituent values.

Related Topic