There is the issue of time (maintaining acceleration in a curve), and there is the issue of maintainability. If I were a T4 expert, that might work. But I'm an OOP software developer: creating and modifying objects is a lot of what I do. So, maintaining a class-based system fits right in.

Also, I like my metadata where data belongs: in tables. <s> And I extend my metadata, and then modify the class(es) to use that metadata. Doing it with a class means I write and test that process. With a template, well, you get the idea.

Partial classes seem like a good idea, but change a field name or control name and then what?

Anyway, it's obvious that templates/generators work fine for many, perhaps most folks. I'm just describing what works for me.

Hank

>>Generators are the wrong solution for a problem that should never have existed, as I see it.
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>>Hank
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>I defer to your greater knowledge on all this, but don't partial class moot the point about the drawbacks of generated code? Winforms is a good example at the MS level, but in most frameworks I've seen where code is generated, one partial class is regenerated and then untouched while other partial class is for developer code. Seems like the best of both worlds, in that one can still trace, debug ( and in the case of winforms twiddle where, for example, you want to quickly change inheritence of a bunch of controls ) the generated stuff and not worry about breaking it or spending a lot of time writing the tedious plumbing.