Mapping Complex Types to the Database

• Feb 21, 2026

XAF application supports the following ORMs:

• Entity Framework Core
• XPO.

Depending on ORM used in your application, you can store a number of data types in the database. Data Types that can be persisted directly are listed in the Entity Data Model: Primitive Data Types and Data Types Supported by XPO articles.

To store an unsupported type in the database, you need to convert it to a supported one.

You can find code examples in the following articles:

• Color Properties in XPO
• Color Properties in EF Core

Note

XPO provides the ValueConverterAttribute used to persist types that are not supported by default.