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# Entity Inheritance

## Concrete Table Inheritance

You can reduce duplication in your code by using entity inheritance patterns.\
The simplest and the most effective is concrete table inheritance.

For example, you have `Photo`, `Question`, `Post` entities:

```typescript
@Entity()
export class Photo {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number

    @Column()
    title: string

    @Column()
    description: string

    @Column()
    size: string
}
```

```typescript
@Entity()
export class Question {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number

    @Column()
    title: string

    @Column()
    description: string

    @Column()
    answersCount: number
}
```

```typescript
@Entity()
export class Post {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number

    @Column()
    title: string

    @Column()
    description: string

    @Column()
    viewCount: number
}
```

As you can see all those entities have common columns: `id`, `title`, `description`.\
To reduce duplication and produce a better abstraction we can create a base class called `Content` for them:

```typescript
export abstract class Content {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number

    @Column()
    title: string

    @Column()
    description: string
}
```

```typescript
@Entity()
export class Photo extends Content {
    @Column()
    size: string
}
```

```typescript
@Entity()
export class Question extends Content {
    @Column()
    answersCount: number
}
```

```typescript
@Entity()
export class Post extends Content {
    @Column()
    viewCount: number
}
```

All columns (relations, embeds, etc.) from parent entities (parent can extend other entity as well)\
will be inherited and created in final entities.

This example will create 3 tables - `photo`, `question` and `post`.

## Single Table Inheritance

TypeORM also supports single table inheritance.\
Single table inheritance is a pattern when you have multiple classes with their own properties,\
but in the database they are stored in the same table.

```typescript
@Entity()
@TableInheritance({ column: { type: "varchar", name: "type" } })
export class Content {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number

    @Column()
    title: string

    @Column()
    description: string
}
```

```typescript
@ChildEntity()
export class Photo extends Content {
    @Column()
    size: string
}
```

```typescript
@ChildEntity()
export class Question extends Content {
    @Column()
    answersCount: number
}
```

```typescript
@ChildEntity()
export class Post extends Content {
    @Column()
    viewCount: number
}
```

This will create a single table called `content` and all instances of photos, questions and posts\
will be saved into this table.

## Using embeddeds

There is an amazing way to reduce duplication in your app (using composition over inheritance) by using `embedded columns`.\
Read more about embedded entities [here](/typeorm/docs/docs/entity/2-embedded-entities.md).


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