Develop Reference

IQueryable WhereLike extension with unknown property type

I'm trying to create a WhereLike extension to IQueryable but I can't know the type of the property at runtime.
Here is my code:
public static IQueryable WhereLike(this IQueryable source, string propertyName, string pattern)
{
if (source == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
if (propertyName == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("propertyName");
var a = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "a");
var prop = Expression.Property(a, propertyName);
return source.Provider.CreateQuery(
Expression.Call(
typeof(SqlMethods), "Like",
null,
prop, Expression.Constant(pattern)));
}
I get the exception: Instance property 'foo' is not defined for type 'System.Object'
Do you know a way to handle property setting without knowing target type at compile time ?

If you are able to use the generic IQueryable<T> variant, this becomes a much easier problem since you no longer need CreateQuery and you can execute directly against the IQueryable<T> source.
public static IQueryable<T> WhereLike<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName,
string pattern)
{
if (source == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
if (propertyName == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("propertyName");
var a = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "a");
var prop = Expression.PropertyOrField(a, propertyName);
var expr = Expression.Call(
typeof(SqlMethods), "Like",
null,
prop, Expression.Constant(pattern));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(expr, a);
return source.Where(lambda);
}
Note two key points:
Instead of only grabbing properties, if we use PropertyOrField we can properly support code generated for Linq-2-SQL that may be exposing fields.
In addition, since we are executing against the IQueryable<T> source, we need to create a lambda expression from the results of our "Like" MethodCallExpression.
If you need the non-generic variant, you can still accomplish the same thing, although you'll need to wrap your Like MethodCallExpression in a Where MethodCallExpression in order for it to be properly structured:
public static IQueryable WhereLike(this IQueryable source, string propertyName,
string pattern)
{
if (source == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
if (propertyName == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("propertyName");
var a = Expression.Parameter(source.GetType().GetGenericArguments().First(), "a");
var prop = Expression.PropertyOrField(a, propertyName);
var expr = Expression.Call(
typeof(SqlMethods), "Like",
null,
prop, Expression.Constant(pattern));
MethodCallExpression whereCallExpression = Expression.Call(
typeof(Queryable),
"Where",
new Type[] { source.ElementType },
source.Expression,
Expression.Lambda(expr, a));
return source.Provider.CreateQuery(whereCallExpression);
}
You can invoke either variant with wildcards:
var data = source.WhereLike("ColumnName", "%o%");

Determines whether a specific character string matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include regular characters and wildcard characters. During pattern matching, regular characters must exactly match the characters specified in the character string. However, wildcard characters can be matched with arbitrary fragments of the character string. Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = and != string comparison operators. If any one of the arguments is not of character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts it to character string data type, if it is possible. MSDN
Like operator will work on string type only. If that's what you wanted to do you can achieve with Contains method only, There are also StartsWith and EndsWith equivalent.
You can use Where method only in this extension method
var containsParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "p");
MemberExpression multiSelectmember = Expression.Property(containsParam,propertyname);
var lstValues = stringvalue;
ConstantExpression multiSelectConstant = Expression.Constant(stringvalue);
var callExpression = Expression.Call(typeof(String), "Contains",
new[] { typeof(string) }, multiSelectConstant, multiSelectmember);
var containsexp = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(callExpression,
containsParam);

Dynamically building an expression tree

I'm following this excellent example: Convert Linq to Sql Expression to Expression Tree
In my case I'm trying to build an expression tree where the type to be filtered is only known at run time, and is expressed as a string. In the above example the type Region is already known and typed directly:
ParameterExpression pe = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Region), "region");
In my application I've been able to rewrite this as:
ParameterExpression pe = Expression.Parameter(Type.GetType("mystring"), "listData");
My stumbling block is this from the example:
MethodCallExpression whereCallExpression = Expression.Call(
typeof(Queryable),
"Where",
new Type[] { query.ElementType },
query.Expression,
Expression.Lambda<Func<Region, bool>>(e3, new ParameterExpression[] { pe }));
var results = query.Provider.CreateQuery<Region>(whereCallExpression);
In these two lines Region is directly typed. Is there a way of dynamically using a string "Region" to achieve the same thing?

Sure, but you'll have to understand the implications. The type name Region is the compile time type. With it, you can generate a strongly typed query. However, since you don't have the type at compile time, you can still generate a query, but it won't be strongly typed.
You can generate an lambda expression of unknown compile time type by using the non-generic overloads. Likewise with the CreateQuery() method.
Here's two versions of the same query which checks if some property value matches a given value. One is generic and the other is not.
The generic version implicitly takes the type from the type of the query.
public IQueryable<TSource> PropertyEqualsValue<TSource>(IQueryable<TSource> query,
string propertyName, object value)
{
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TSource));
var body = Expression.Equal(
Expression.Property(param, propertyName),
Expression.Constant(value)
);
var expr = Expression.Call(
typeof(Queryable),
"Where",
new[] { typeof(TSource) },
query.Expression,
Expression.Lambda<Func<TSource, bool>>(body, param)
);
return query.Provider.CreateQuery<TSource>(expr);
}
var query = PropertyEqualsValue(SomeTable, "SomeColumn", "SomeValue");
While the other the type is taken from the provided typeName. Note that when the query is created, we cannot provide the type, since we don't know what the type is at compile time.
public IQueryable PropertyEqualsValue(IQueryable query,
Type type, string propertyName, object value)
{
var param = Expression.Parameter(type);
var body = Expression.Equal(
Expression.Property(param, propertyName),
Expression.Constant(value)
);
var expr = Expression.Call(
typeof(Queryable),
"Where",
new[] { type },
query.Expression,
Expression.Lambda(body, param)
);
return query.Provider.CreateQuery(expr);
}
var type = Type.GetType("Some.Type.Name");
var query = PropertyEqualsValue(SomeTable, type, "SomeColumn", "SomeValue");

How to convert a LambdaExpression to typed Expression<Func<T, T>>

I'm dynamically building linq queries for nHibernate.
Due to dependencies, I wanted to cast/retrieve the typed expression at a later time, but I have been unsuccessfull so far.
This is not working (the cast is supposed to happen elsewhere):
var funcType = typeof (Func<,>).MakeGenericType(entityType, typeof (bool));
var typedExpression = (Func<T, bool>)Expression.Lambda(funcType, itemPredicate, parameter); //Fails
This is working:
var typedExpression = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(itemPredicate, parameter);
Is it possible to get the 'encapsulated' typed expression from a LambdaExpression?

var typedExpression =
(Func<T, bool>)Expression.Lambda(funcType, itemPredicate, parameter); //Fails
This is not surprising, as you have to Compile a LambdaExpression in order to get an actual delegate that can be invoked (which is what Func<T, bool> is).
So this would work, but I 'm not sure if it is what you need:
// This is no longer an expression and cannot be used with IQueryable
var myDelegate =
(Func<T, bool>)
Expression.Lambda(funcType, itemPredicate, parameter).Compile();
If you are not looking to compile the expression but instead to move an expression tree around, then the solution is to instead cast to an Expression<Func<T, bool>>:
var typedExpression = (Expression<Func<T, bool>>)
Expression.Lambda(funcType, itemPredicate, parameter);

IQueryable Extension: create lambda expression for querying a column for a keyword

I started with the IQueryable extension methods from this example on CodePlex.
What i believe i need is an IQueryable extension method to "Where", where the method signature looks like:
public static IQueryable<T> Where<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string columnName, string keyword)
and effectively does this (assuming T.columnName is of type string):
source.Where(p => p.ColumnName.Contains("keyword"))
using the above CodePlex example, i think i understand how he got the OrderBy method working, but my problem seems a bit more complex and I don't know how to get the Contains("keyword") part working.
Thanks in advance,
--Ed
Update: 9/13/2010 6:26pm PST
I thought the following would work, but end up getting a NotSupportedException (The LINQ expression node type 'Invoke' is not supported in LINQ to Entities.) when I execute the expression via Count(). Any ideas?
public static IQueryable<T> Where<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string columnName, string keyword)
{
var type = typeof(T);
var property = type.GetProperty(columnName);
if (property.PropertyType == typeof(string))
{
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(type, "p");
var propertyAccess = Expression.MakeMemberAccess(parameter, property);
var sel = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, string>>(propertyAccess, parameter);
var compiledSel = sel.Compile();
return source.Where(item => compiledSel(item).Contains(keyword));
}
else
{
return source;
}
}

public static IQueryable<T> Where<T>(
this IQueryable<T> source, string columnName, string keyword)
{
var arg = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "p");
var body = Expression.Call(
Expression.Property(arg, columnName),
"Contains",
null,
Expression.Constant(keyword));
var predicate = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(body, arg);
return source.Where(predicate);
}

Well a couple of years later, but if anybody still need this, here it is:
public static IQueryable<T> Has<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName, string keyword)
{
if (source == null || propertyName.IsNull() || keyword.IsNull())
{
return source;
}
keyword = keyword.ToLower();
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(source.ElementType, String.Empty);
var property = Expression.Property(parameter, propertyName);
var CONTAINS_METHOD = typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains", new[] { typeof(string) });
var TO_LOWER_METHOD = typeof(string).GetMethod("ToLower", new Type[] { });
var toLowerExpression = Expression.Call(property, TO_LOWER_METHOD);
var termConstant = Expression.Constant(keyword, typeof(string));
var containsExpression = Expression.Call(toLowerExpression, CONTAINS_METHOD, termConstant);
var predicate = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(containsExpression, parameter);
var methodCallExpression = Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable), "Where",
new Type[] { source.ElementType },
source.Expression, Expression.Quote(predicate));
return source.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(methodCallExpression);
}
I called my method "Has" just to keep it short, sample usage:
filtered = filtered.AsQueryable().Has("City", strCity)
And you can concatenate to make it even more expressive:
filtered = filtered.AsQueryable().Has("Name", strName).Has("City", strCity).Has("State", strState);
By the way, the "IsNull()" attached to the strings is just another simple extension method:
public static Boolean IsNull(this string str)
{
return string.IsNullOrEmpty(str);
}

The .Contains("keyword") part is exactly right in your example.
It's the p.ColumnName part that's going to cause trouble.
Now, there are a number of ways of doing this, generally involving either reflection or Expression<>, neither of which is particularly efficent.
The problem here is by passing the column name as a string, you are doing to undo that exact thing LINQ was invented to allow.
However, there are probably better ways of accomplishing your overall task besides that way.
So, let's look at alternate ways:
You want to be able to say :
var selector = new Selector("Column1", "keyword");
mylist.Where(item => selector(item));
and have it was the equivalent of
mylist.Where(item=> item.Column1.Contains("keyword"));
How 'bout we go with:
Func<MyClass, string> selector = i => i.Column1;
mylist.Where(item => selector(item).Contains("keyword"));
or
Func<MyClass, bool> selector = i => i.Column1.Contains("keyword");
mylist.Where(item => selector(item));
These are easily expanded for alternatives:
Func<MyClass, string> selector;
if (option == 1)
selector = i => i.Column1;
else
selector = i => i.Column2;
mylist.Where(item => selector(item).Contains("keyword"));

See, in generics type of the object works dynamically. So when p.ColumnName is taken as string, the Contains of string is been executed.
Generally for any lambda expression you specify, it parses the thing into an Expression and ultimately produces the output at runtime.
If you see my post :
http://www.abhisheksur.com/2010/09/use-of-expression-trees-in-lamda-c.html
you will understand how it works actually.

How do I dynamically create an Expression<Func<MyClass, bool>> predicate?

How would I go about using an Expression Tree to dynamically create a predicate that looks something like...
(p.Length== 5) && (p.SomeOtherProperty == "hello")
So that I can stick the predicate into a lambda expression like so...
q.Where(myDynamicExpression)...
I just need to be pointed in the right direction.
Update: Sorry folks, I left out the fact that I want the predicate to have multiple conditions as above. Sorry for the confusion.

Original
Like so:
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(string), "p");
var len = Expression.PropertyOrField(param, "Length");
var body = Expression.Equal(
len, Expression.Constant(5));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<string, bool>>(
body, param);
Updated
re (p.Length== 5) && (p.SomeOtherProperty == "hello"):
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(SomeType), "p");
var body = Expression.AndAlso(
Expression.Equal(
Expression.PropertyOrField(param, "Length"),
Expression.Constant(5)
),
Expression.Equal(
Expression.PropertyOrField(param, "SomeOtherProperty"),
Expression.Constant("hello")
));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<SomeType, bool>>(body, param);

Use the predicate builder.
http://www.albahari.com/nutshell/predicatebuilder.aspx
Its pretty easy!

To combine several predicates with the && operator, you join them together two at a time.
So if you have a list of Expression objects called predicates, do this:
Expression combined = predicates.Aggregate((l, r) => Expression.AndAlso(l, r));

To associate Lambda expression each other:
An other way is to use the following code. It s more flexible than the Schotime answer in my advice and work perfectly. No external Nuggets needed
Framework 4.0
// Usage first.Compose(second, Expression.And)
public static Expression<T> Compose<T>(this Expression<T> First, Expression<T> Second, Func<Expression, Expression, Expression> Merge)
{
// build parameter map (from parameters of second to parameters of first)
Dictionary<ParameterExpression,ParameterExpression> map = First.Parameters.Select((f, i) => new { f, s = Second.Parameters[i] }).ToDictionary(p => p.s, p => p.f);
// replace parameters in the second lambda expression with parameters from the first
Expression secondBody = ParameterRebinder.ReplaceParameters(map, Second.Body);
// apply composition of lambda expression bodies to parameters from the first expression
return Expression.Lambda<T>(Merge(First.Body, secondBody), First.Parameters);
}
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> And<T>(this Expression<Func<T, bool>> First, Expression<Func<T, bool>> Second)
{
return First.Compose(Second, Expression.And);
}
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> Or<T>(this Expression<Func<T, bool>> First, Expression<Func<T, bool>> second)
{
return First.Compose(second, Expression.Or);
}
public class ParameterRebinder : ExpressionVisitor
{
private readonly Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression> map;
public ParameterRebinder(Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression> map)
{
this.map = map ?? new Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression>();
}
public static Expression ReplaceParameters(Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression> map, Expression exp)
{
return new ParameterRebinder(map).Visit(exp);
}
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression p)
{
ParameterExpression replacement;
if (map.TryGetValue(p, out replacement))
{
p = replacement;
}
return base.VisitParameter(p);
}
}

I have a open-source project called Exprelsior that provides very simple ways to create dynamic predicates:
Based on your example:
var exp1 = ExpressionBuilder.CreateBinary<YourClass>("MyProperty.Length", 5, ExpressionOperator.Equals);
var exp2 = ExpressionBuilder.CreateBinary<YourClass>("SomeOtherProperty", "hello", ExpressionOperator.Equals);
var fullExp = exp1.And(exp2);
// Use it normally...
q.Where(fullExp)
It even supports full text predicate generation, so you can receive any dynamic query from an HTTP GET method, for example:
var exp1 = ExpressionBuilder.CreateBinaryFromQuery<YourClass>("eq('MyProperty.Length', '5')");
var exp2 = ExpressionBuilder.CreateBinaryFromQuery<YourClass>("eq('SomeOtherProperty', 'hello')");
var fullExp = exp1.And(exp2);
// Use it normally...
q.Where(fullExp)
It supports a lot more data types and operators.
Link: https://github.com/alexmurari/Exprelsior