Implementing a soft-delete pattern

Sometimes you do not want to delete the information from the database, but instead to mark it as deleted. This technique is called soft-delete. In this recipe, we will show you how to implement a soft-delete pattern with NHibernate.

How to do it…

1. Create a new class library project named SoftDeleteExample.
2. Install the NHibernate package using the NuGet Package Manager Console by executing the following command:

   Install-Package NHibernate
   

3. Add the ISoftDeletable interface using the following code:

   public interface ISoftDeletable
   {
     bool IsDeleted { get; }
     DateTime? DeletedAt { get; }
   }

4. Add an App.config with a standard NHibernate configuration.
5. Just before the end of the sessionfactory element, add the following three event elements:

   <event type="delete">
     <listener class=" SoftDeleteExample.SoftDeleteEventListener, 
               SoftDeleteExample" />
   </event>

6. Add the following EventListener:

   public class SoftDeleteEventListener...