Domain model exention : GenericAttributes ?

Hi,

I spend some hours reading the best way to add properties to an existing model.
The official document talks about modifying directly the code :
http://docs.nopcommerce.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1442499

I also found topics where peoples deal with the usage of the fact that BaseEntity inherited classes are partial classes so : add a custom partial class within the same namespace + map additional properties using the PostInitialize() from BaseNopModel
https://www.nopcommerce.com/boards/t/30105/proposal-of-a-modified-nopcommerce-architecture-to-extend-entities.aspx?p=4

Finally yesterday I also found some posts dealing with the usage of GenericAttributes.

1) What is the recommended solution to add properties to an existing model ?

2) Why for example some properties have been added using GenericAttributes (FirstName, LastName) from Nop developers instead of juste adding properties ?

Thanks

Cladoo wrote:

I forgot to precise that these added properties concerns with the Customer domain model, and data can be found within the [dbo].[GenericAttribute] table in your db.