ServiceStack ORMLite saving nested [Reference]

Question

Is it possible to automatically save an object with nested [Reference] properties using ORMLite v4 for ServiceStack? For example:

public class Patient
{
  [PrimaryKey]
  public int Id { get; set; }
  public string Name { get; set; }
  [Reference]
  public List<Insurance> Insurances { get; set; }
}

public class Insurance
{
  [PrimaryKey]
  public int Id { get; set; }
  [ForeignKey(typeof(Patient))]
  public int PatientId { get; set; }
  public string InsuranceName { get; set; }
  public string InsuranceLevel { get; set; }
  [Reference]
  public List<Contact> InsuranceContacts { get; set; }
}

public class Contact
{
  [PrimaryKey]
  public int Id { get; set; }
  [ForeignKey(typeof(Insurance))]
  public int InsuranceId { get; set; }
  public string ContactName { get; set; }
}

I would love to be able to do this...

var patient = new Patient
{
    Name = "Nathan",
    Insurances = new List<Insurance>
    {
      new Insurance
      {
        InsuranceName = "Aetna",
        InsuranceLevel = "Primary",
        InsuranceContacts = new List<Contact>
        {
            new Contact
            {
                ContactName = "Bob"
            }
        }
      },
      new Insurance
      {
        InsuranceName = "BCBS",
        InsuranceLevel = "Secondary",
        InsuranceContacts = new List<Contact>
        {
            new Contact
            {
                ContactName = "Susan"
            }
        }
      }
    }
}

db.Save(patient, references:true);

...and have it write to all three tables. As it stands, the best thing I can come up with is to add this after saving the top-level object (the "references:true" does save the first nested level of references - that is, the Insurance table is properly filled):

foreach(Insurance insurance in patient.Insurances)
{
    dbConn.SaveAllReferences(insurance);
}

This can get painstaking with deeply nested JSON structures that rely on [Reference] tables to store and relate data. Is there a better way?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Saving references on multi-nested structures isn't supported, but you're likely headed towards friction trying to convert a large JSON hierarchical document to a relational structure which has the potential to explode into multiple tables.

A solution with less-friction is to just let OrmLite save nested complex types as schema-less text blobs which should be considered for non-aggregate root data, i.e. metadata attached to entities that don't make sense outside the context of its parent entity and that doesn't need to be queried server-side.

OrmLite has transparent support for blobbing complex types, basically just by removing the [Reference] attributes on the nested tables.

Otherwise if you want to save them as in separate tables you have the right approach which can be condensed into a 1-liner when following a more functional style, e.g:

patient.Insurances.Each(db.SaveAllReferences);