Using Glass to add content with fluent config - map to interface and concrete class

Question

My typical build-out for Glass and fluent config is to use an interface and map file (using SitecoreGlassMap) for modeling, but I know if I need to use the model to add data to Sitecore I can't use the interface type. From a best practice standpoint, if my model is to be used for adding content, should I map only to the concrete class? For example, if I have this interface:

public interface ITemplate {
  string Field { get; set; }
}

And then I have this mapping:

public class TemplateMap : SitecoreGlassMap<ITemplate> {
  public override void Configure() =>
    Map(config => {
      config.Field(f => f.Field).FieldName("Field");
    });
}

If I need to add a concrete class of Template like so:

public class Template : ITemplate {
  public string Field { get; set; }
}

Will the fluent mapping capture both the interface and the concrete class? Or would I need to reconfigure the map to be SitecoreGlassMap<Template> instead, and I should just use that for all my references to this template? Basically, do I need to go back through my code and change any ITemplate item = GetItem<ITemplate>() reference to use the concrete class instead? I suppose I could create a second mapping file for the concrete class, but that seems redundant and inefficient.

Answer 1

I've experimented with this a bit, and the answer appears to be changing the type in SitecoreGlassMap to the concrete class. So continuing the example above, the mapping would be:

public class TemplateMap : SitecoreGlassMap<Template> {
  public override void Configure() =>
    Map(config => {
      config.Field(f => f.Field).FieldName("Field");
    });
}

The you can still get the item with:

ITemplate item = SitecoreService.GetItem<ITemplate>(new GetItemByIdOptions(Guid.Parse("{}")));

And create a new item with:

ITemplate newItem = new Template {
  Name = "Test Item"
};

using (new SecurityDisabler()) {
  ITemplate createOrg = SitecoreService.CreateItem<ITemplate>(new CreateByModelOptions {
    Model = newItem,
    Parent = item
  });
}

It's a pretty good solution...at least there's no need for two maps or using attribute configuration on the concrete class to make the mapping work right.