Considering this code:
public class Foo
{
public int a { get; set; }
public int b { get; set; }
}
private void Test()
{
List<Foo> foos = new List<Foo>();
foos.Add(new Foo());
foos.Add(new Foo());
Expression<Func<Foo, int>> exp0 = f => f.a * f.b;
Expression<Func<int>> exp1 = () => foos[0].a * foos[0].b;
Expression<Func<int>> exp2 = () => foos[1].a * foos[1].b;
}
How can you take exp0 and turn it into two expressions identical to exp1 and exp2. Note that I don't want to just evaluate exp0 for each Foo in foos, but instead get two new expressions.
[Update]:
Basically, I want to be able to expand or "flatten" an expression passed to a Linq extension method such as Sum into one expression per item in the enumeration since these enumerations will be static, and because I already have code that reads expressions that don't take parameters (and then turns them into another language).
I'm using the MetadataToken as a references to properties that have a certain attribute (in this case a and b would have this attribute) and using it with a dictionary that correlates C# properties to another language's variables:
Foo foo = new Foo();
Expression<Func<int>> exp = () => foo.a * foo.a + foo.b;
string result1 = GetResult(exp); // gets "v_001 * v_001 + v_002"
List<Foo> foes = new List<Foo>();
foes.Add(new Foo());
foes.Add(new Foo());
Expression<Func<int>> exp2 = () => foes.Sum(f => f.a * f.a + f.b);
string result2 = GetResult(exp2); // should get "(v_001 * v_001 + v_002) + (v_003 * v_003 + v_004)"
I would do it this way:
Write a parameter-replacer expression-visitor that manipulates the original expression as follows:
Gets rid of the parameter you don't want entirely from the lambda signature.
Replaces all uses of the parameter with the desired indexer expression.
Here's a quick and dirty sample I whipped up based on my earlier answer on a different question:
public static class ParameterReplacer
{
// Produces an expression identical to 'expression'
// except with 'source' parameter replaced with 'target' expression.
public static Expression<TOutput> Replace<TInput, TOutput>
(Expression<TInput> expression,
ParameterExpression source,
Expression target)
{
return new ParameterReplacerVisitor<TOutput>(source, target)
.VisitAndConvert(expression);
}
private class ParameterReplacerVisitor<TOutput> : ExpressionVisitor
{
private ParameterExpression _source;
private Expression _target;
public ParameterReplacerVisitor
(ParameterExpression source, Expression target)
{
_source = source;
_target = target;
}
internal Expression<TOutput> VisitAndConvert<T>(Expression<T> root)
{
return (Expression<TOutput>)VisitLambda(root);
}
protected override Expression VisitLambda<T>(Expression<T> node)
{
// Leave all parameters alone except the one we want to replace.
var parameters = node.Parameters
.Where(p => p != _source);
return Expression.Lambda<TOutput>(Visit(node.Body), parameters);
}
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
{
// Replace the source with the target, visit other params as usual.
return node == _source ? _target : base.VisitParameter(node);
}
}
}
Usage for your scenario (tested):
var zeroIndexIndexer = Expression.MakeIndex
(Expression.Constant(foos),
typeof(List<Foo>).GetProperty("Item"),
new[] { Expression.Constant(0) });
// .ToString() of the below looks like the following:
// () => (value(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[App.Foo]).Item[0].a
// * value(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[App.Foo]).Item[0].b)
var exp1Clone = ParameterReplacer.Replace<Func<Foo, int>, Func<int>>
(exp0, exp0.Parameters.Single(), zeroIndexIndexer);
Related
I have the following problem in my lambda expression: I need to rename the property because it will be passed from entity to entity. In other words: I need to use the same expression in more than one query in different entities.
For example:
var expr = x => x.Id == converterId
To be
var expr = x => x.ConverterId == converterId
I have tried to do the following
var oldParam = expr.Parameters[0];
var newParam = Expression.Parameter(oldParam.Type, "ConverterId");
This code replaces x not Id`
This isn't trivial, but can be done my writing (subclassing) an ExpressionVisitor, and overriding VisitMember, making the substitution for a different Expression.Property, but using the original target expression (from the expression in the original lambda)
However, for simple cases, it is probably easier to forget that, and just build the expression-tree manually from first principles, rather than using a lambda.
The following shows both approaches:
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
static class P
{
static void Main()
{
// the compiler-generated expression-tree from the question
Console.WriteLine(Baseline(42));
// build our own epression trees manually
Console.WriteLine(ByName(42, nameof(Foo.Id)));
Console.WriteLine(ByName(42, nameof(Foo.ConverterId)));
// take the compiler-generated expression tree, and rewrite it with a visitor
Console.WriteLine(Convert(Baseline(42), nameof(Foo.Id), nameof(Foo.ConverterId)));
}
static Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> Baseline(int converterId)
{
// note this uses a "captured variable", so the output
// looks uglier than you might expect
return x => x.Id == converterId;
}
static Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> ByName(int converterId, string propertyOrFieldName)
{
var p = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Foo), "x");
var body = Expression.Equal(
Expression.PropertyOrField(p, propertyOrFieldName),
Expression.Constant(converterId, typeof(int))
);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<Foo, bool>>(body, p);
}
static Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> Convert(
Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> lambda, string from, string to)
{
var visitor = new ConversionVisitor(from, to);
return (Expression<Func<Foo, bool>>)visitor.Visit(lambda);
}
class ConversionVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
private readonly string _from, _to;
public ConversionVisitor(string from, string to)
{
_from = from;
_to = to;
}
protected override Expression VisitMember(MemberExpression node)
{
if(node.Member.Name == _from)
{
return Expression.PropertyOrField(
node.Expression, _to);
}
return base.VisitMember(node);
}
}
}
class Foo
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int ConverterId { get; set; }
}
Check this fiddle for the error: https://dotnetfiddle.net/tlz4Qg
I have two classes like this:
public class ParentType{
private ParentType(){}
public int Id { get; protected set; }
public SubType Sub { get; protected set; }
}
public class SubType{
private SubType(){}
public int Id { get; protected set; }
}
I am going to transform a multilevel anonymous expression to a multilevel non-anonymous expression. To achieve this I have an expression like the below-mentioned one:
x => new
{
x.Id,
Sub = new
{
x.Sub.Id
}
}
To achieve that goal, I have transformed it to an expression like this:
x => new ParentType()
{
Id = x.Id,
Sub = new SubType()
{
Id = x.Sub.Id
},
}
But when I call Compile() method, I get the following error:
Variable 'x.Sub' of type 'SubType' referenced from scope '' but it is not defined
Here is my visitor class:
public class ReturnTypeVisitor<TIn, TOut> : ExpressionVisitor
{
private readonly Type funcToReplace;
private ParameterExpression currentParameter;
private ParameterExpression defaultParameter;
private Type currentType;
public ReturnTypeVisitor() => funcToReplace = typeof(Func<,>).MakeGenericType(typeof(TIn), typeof(object));
protected override Expression VisitNew(NewExpression node)
{
if (!node.Type.IsAnonymousType())
return base.VisitNew(node);
if (currentType == null)
currentType = typeof(TOut);
var ctor = currentType.GetPrivateConstructor();
if (ctor == null)
return base.VisitNew(node);
NewExpression expr = Expression.New(ctor);
IEnumerable<MemberBinding> bindings = node.Members.Select(x =>
{
var mi = currentType.GetProperty(x.Name);
//if the type is anonymous then I need to transform its body
if (((PropertyInfo)x).PropertyType.IsAnonymousType())
{
//This section is became unnecessary complex!
//
var property = (PropertyInfo)x;
var parentType = currentType;
var parentParameter = currentParameter;
currentType = currentType.GetProperty(property.Name).PropertyType;
currentParameter = Expression.Parameter(currentType, currentParameter.Name + "." + property.Name);
//I pass the inner anonymous expression to VisitNew and make the non-anonymous expression from it
var xOriginal = VisitNew(node.Arguments.FirstOrDefault(a => a.Type == property.PropertyType) as NewExpression);
currentType = parentType;
currentParameter = parentParameter;
return (MemberBinding)Expression.Bind(mi, xOriginal);
}
else//if type is not anonymous then simple find the property and make the memberbinding
{
var xOriginal = Expression.PropertyOrField(currentParameter, x.Name);
return (MemberBinding)Expression.Bind(mi, xOriginal);
}
});
return Expression.MemberInit(expr, bindings);
}
protected override Expression VisitLambda<T>(Expression<T> node)
{
if (typeof(T) != funcToReplace)
return base.VisitLambda(node);
defaultParameter = node.Parameters.First();
currentParameter = defaultParameter;
var body = Visit(node.Body);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TIn, TOut>>(body, currentParameter);
}
}
And use it like this:
public static Expression<Func<Tin, Tout>> Transform<Tin, Tout>(this Expression<Func<Tin, object>> source)
{
var visitor = new ReturnTypeVisitor<Tin, Tout>();
var result = (Expression<Func<Tin, Tout>>)visitor.Visit(source);
return result;// result.Compile() throw the aforementioned error
}
Here is the extension methods used inside my Visitor class:
public static ConstructorInfo GetPrivateConstructor(this Type type) =>
type.GetConstructor(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, Type.EmptyTypes, null);
// this hack taken from https://stackoverflow.com/a/2483054/4685428
// and https://stackoverflow.com/a/1650895/4685428
public static bool IsAnonymousType(this Type type)
{
var markedWithAttribute = type.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(CompilerGeneratedAttribute), inherit: false).Any();
var typeName = type.Name;
return markedWithAttribute
&& (typeName.StartsWith("<>") || type.Name.StartsWith("VB$"))
&& typeName.Contains("AnonymousType");
}
Update
Here is the .Net Fiddle link for the problem: https://dotnetfiddle.net/tlz4Qg
Update
I have removed the extra codes that seems to be out of the problem scope.
The cause of the problem in question is the line
currentParameter = Expression.Parameter(currentType, currentParameter.Name + "." + property.Name);
inside VisitNew method.
With your sample, it creates a new parameter called "x.Sub", so if we mark the parameters with {}, the actual result is
Sub = new SubType()
{
Id = {x.Sub}.Id
},
rather than expected
Sub = new SubType()
{
Id = {x}.Sub.Id
},
In general you should not create new ParameterExpressions except when remapping lambda expressions. And all newly created parameters should be passed to Expression.Lambda call, otherwise they will be considered "not defined".
Also please note that the visitor code has some assumptions which doesn't hold in general. For instance
var xOriginal = Expression.PropertyOrField(currentParameter, x.Name);
won't work inside nested new, because there you need access to a member of the x parameter like x.Sub.Id rather than x.Id. Which is basically the corersonding expression from NewExpression.Arguments.
Processing nested lambda expressions or collection type members and LINQ methods with expression visitors requires much more state control. While converting simple nested anonymous new expression like in the sample does not even need a ExpressionVisitor, because it could easily be achieved with simple recursive method like this:
public static Expression<Func<Tin, Tout>> Transform<Tin, Tout>(this Expression<Func<Tin, object>> source)
{
return Expression.Lambda<Func<Tin, Tout>>(
Transform(source.Body, typeof(Tout)),
source.Parameters);
}
static Expression Transform(Expression source, Type type)
{
if (source.Type != type && source is NewExpression newExpr && newExpr.Members.Count > 0)
{
return Expression.MemberInit(Expression.New(type), newExpr.Members
.Select(m => type.GetProperty(m.Name))
.Zip(newExpr.Arguments, (m, e) => Expression.Bind(m, Transform(e, m.PropertyType))));
}
return source;
}
I'm building a generic interface to expose selected string properties out of a class, and then I want to search for a text inside every one of those fields, to check if it's a match.
Here's my IFieldExposer interface:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
public interface IFieldExposer<T>
{
IEnumerable<Func<T, string>> GetFields();
}
Now, I implement it like this in my DataClass to expose the properties I would like to iterate. Note that I'm also exposing a property from my ChildClass:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class DataClass : IFieldExposer<DataClass>
{
public string PropertyOne { get; set; }
public string PropertyTwo { get; set; }
public ChildClass Child { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Func<DataClass, string>> GetFields()
{
return new List<Func<DataClass, string>>
{
a => a.PropertyOne,
b => b.Child.PropertyThree
};
}
}
class ChildClass
{
public string PropertyThree { get; set; }
}
I've also created extension methods for IFieldExposer<T> because I want to keep it simple and be able to simply call obj.Match(text, ignoreCase) everywhere else in my code. This method should tell me if my object is a match for my text. Here's the code for the ExtensionClass, which isn't working as expected:
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Reflection;
public static class ExtensionClass
{
public static bool Match<T>(this IFieldExposer<T> obj, string text, bool ignoreCase)
{
Func<bool> expression = Expression.Lambda<Func<bool>>(obj.CreateExpressionTree(text, ignoreCase)).Compile();
return expression();
}
private static Expression CreateExpressionTree<T>(this IFieldExposer<T> obj, string text, bool ignoreCase)
{
MethodInfo containsMethod = typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains", new Type[] { typeof(string) });
var exposedFields = obj.GetFields();
if (ignoreCase)
{
// How should I do convert these to lower too?
// exposedFields = exposedFields.Select(e => e.???.ToLower());
text = text.ToLower();
}
Expression textExp = Expression.Constant(text);
Expression orExpressions = Expression.Constant(false);
foreach (var field in exposedFields)
{
//How should I call the contains method on the string field?
Expression fieldExpression = Expression.Lambda<Func<string>>(Expression.Call(Expression.Constant(obj), field.Method)); //this doesn't work
Expression contains = Expression.Call(fieldExpression, containsMethod, textExp);
orExpressions = Expression.Or(orExpressions, contains);
}
return orExpressions;
}
}
Please check the comments in the code above. I would like to know how to convert all my string properties to lowercase (if desired) and how to call string.Contains in each one of them. I get this error when I create my fieldExpression:
Method 'System.String <GetFields>b__12_0(DataClass)' declared on type 'DataClass+<>c' cannot be called with instance of type 'DataClass'
I don't have experience working with Expression Trees. I've spent hours reading docs and other answers for similar issues but I still can't understand how to achieve what I want... I have no clue what to do now.
I'm testing this in a console app so here's the main class if you want to build it yourself:
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var data = new DataClass
{
PropertyOne = "Lorem",
PropertyTwo = "Ipsum",
Child = new ChildClass
{
PropertyThree = "Dolor"
}
};
var dataList = new List<DataClass> { data };
var results = dataList.Where(d => d.Match("dolor", true));
}
}
EDIT
I forgot to mention that my dataList should be IQueryable and I want to execute my code in SQL, that's why I'm trying to build the expression trees myself. So it appears my example code should be:
var dataList = new List<DataClass> { data };
var query = dataList.AsQueryable();
var results = query.Where(ExtensionClass.Match<DataClass>("lorem dolor"));
while my method becomes: (I'm following #sjb-sjb's answer and changed the GetFields() method in IFieldExposer<T> to a SelectedFields property)
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> Match<T>(string text, bool ignoreCase) where T : IFieldExposer<T>
{
ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "obj");
MemberExpression selectedFieldsExp = Expression.Property(parameter, "SelectedFields");
LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(selectedFieldsExp, parameter).Compile();
[...]
}
And then it seems that I have to dinamically call selectedFieldsExp with Expression.Lambda. I came up with:
Expression.Lambda(selectedFieldsExp, parameter).Compile();
and that works, but I don't know how to properly call DynamicInvoke() for the lambda expression.
It throws Parameter count mismatch. if I call it without parameters and Object of type 'System.Linq.Expressions.TypedParameterExpression' cannot be converted to type 'DataClass'. if I do DynamicInvoke(parameter).
Any ideas?
Before getting to the implementation, there are some design flaws that needs to be fixed.
First, almost all query providers (except LINQ to Object which simply compiles the lambda expressions to delegates and executes them) don't support invocation expressions and custom (unknown) methods. That's because they do not execute the expressions, but translate them to something else (SQL for instance), and translation is based on pre knowledge.
One example of invocation expression are Func<...> delegates. So the first thing you should do is to use Expression<Func<...>> wherever you currently have Func<...>.
Second, the query expression trees are built statically, i.e. there is no real object instance you can use to obtain the metadata, so the idea of IFieldExposer<T> won't work. You'd need a statically exposed list of expressions like this:
class DataClass //: IFieldExposer<DataClass>
{
// ...
public static IEnumerable<Expression<Func<DataClass, string>>> GetFields()
{
return new List<Expression<Func<DataClass, string>>>
{
a => a.PropertyOne,
b => b.Child.PropertyThree
};
}
}
Then the signature of the method in question could be like this
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> Match<T>(
this IEnumerable<Expression<Func<T, string>>> fields, string text, bool ignoreCase)
with usage like this
var dataList = new List<DataClass> { data };
var query = dataList.AsQueryable()
.Where(DataClass.GetFields().Match("lorem", true));
Now the implementation. The desired expression could be built purely with Expression class methods, but I'll show you an easier (IMHO) method, which composes expression from compile time expression by replacing the parameter(s) with other expression(s).
All you need is a small helper utility method for replacing lambda expression parameter with another expression:
public static partial class ExpressionUtils
{
public static Expression ReplaceParameter(this Expression expression, ParameterExpression source, Expression target)
{
return new ParameterReplacer { Source = source, Target = target }.Visit(expression);
}
class ParameterReplacer : ExpressionVisitor
{
public ParameterExpression Source;
public Expression Target;
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
=> node == Source ? Target : base.VisitParameter(node);
}
}
Internally it uses ExpressionVistor to find each instance of the passed ParameterExpression and replace it with the passed Expression.
With this helper method, the implementation could be like this:
public static partial class ExpressionUtils
{
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> Match<T>(this IEnumerable<Expression<Func<T, string>>> fields, string text, bool ignoreCase)
{
Expression<Func<string, bool>> match;
if (ignoreCase)
{
text = text.ToLower();
match = input => input.ToLower().Contains(text);
}
else
{
match = input => input.Contains(text);
}
// T source =>
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "source");
Expression anyMatch = null;
foreach (var field in fields)
{
// a.PropertyOne --> source.PropertyOne
// b.Child.PropertyThree --> source.Child.PropertyThree
var fieldAccess = field.Body.ReplaceParameter(field.Parameters[0], parameter);
// input --> source.PropertyOne
// input --> source.Child.PropertyThree
var fieldMatch = match.Body.ReplaceParameter(match.Parameters[0], fieldAccess);
// matchA || matchB
anyMatch = anyMatch == null ? fieldMatch : Expression.OrElse(anyMatch, fieldMatch);
}
if (anyMatch == null) anyMatch = Expression.Constant(false);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(anyMatch, parameter);
}
}
The input => input.ToLower().Contains(text) or input => input.Contains(text) is our compile time match expression, which we then replace the input parameter with the body of the passed Expression<Func<T, string>> lambda expressions, with their parameter replaced with a common parameter used in the final expression. The resulting bool expressions are combined with Expression.OrElse which is the equivalent of the C# || operator (while Expression.Or is for bitwise | operator and in general should not be used with logical operations). Same btw for && - use Expression.AndAlso and not Expression.And which is for bitwise &.
This process is pretty much the expression equivalent of the string.Replace. In case the explanations and code comments are not enough, you can step through the code and see the exact expression transformations and expression building process.
There is no need to get into the complexities of dynamically creating an Expression, because you can just invoke the Func delegate directly:
public interface IFieldExposer<T>
{
IEnumerable<Func<T,string>> SelectedFields { get; }
}
public static class FieldExposerExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<Func<T,string>> MatchIgnoreCase<T>( this IEnumerable<Func<T,string>> stringProperties, T source, string matchText)
{
return stringProperties.Where(stringProperty => String.Equals( stringProperty( source), matchText, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
}
}
class DataClass : IFieldExposer<DataClass>
{
public string PropertyOne { get; set; }
public string PropertyTwo { get; set; }
public ChildClass Child { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Func<DataClass, string>> SelectedFields {
get {
return new Func<DataClass, string>[] { #this => #this.PropertyOne, #this => #this.Child.PropertyThree };
}
}
public override string ToString() => this.PropertyOne + " " + this.PropertyTwo + " " + this.Child.PropertyThree;
}
class ChildClass
{
public string PropertyThree { get; set; }
}
Then to use it,
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var data = new DataClass {
PropertyOne = "Lorem",
PropertyTwo = "Ipsum",
Child = new ChildClass {
PropertyThree = "Dolor"
}
};
var data2 = new DataClass {
PropertyOne = "lorem",
PropertyTwo = "ipsum",
Child = new ChildClass {
PropertyThree = "doloreusement"
}
};
var dataList = new List<DataClass>() { data, data2 };
IEnumerable<DataClass> results = dataList.Where( d => d.SelectedFields.MatchIgnoreCase( d, "lorem").Any());
foreach (DataClass source in results) {
Console.WriteLine(source.ToString());
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
Following up on my comment above, I think you could do it like this:
class DataClass
{
…
static public Expression<Func<DataClass,bool>> MatchSelectedFields( string text, bool ignoreCase)
{
return #this => (
String.Equals( text, #this.PropertyOne, (ignoreCase? StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase: StringComparison.Ordinal))
|| String.Equals( text, #this.Child.PropertyThree, (ignoreCase? StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase: StringComparison.Ordinal))
);
}
}
Then the query is just
Expression<Func<DataClass,bool>> match = DataClass.MatchSelectedFields( "lorem", ignoreCase);
IEnumerable<DataClass> results = dataList.Where( d => match(d));
I wouldn't usually post a second answer but I thought it would be useful to see how to avoid dynamic modification of Expressions.
Caveat: I didn't actually try to compile it.
How to convert a ExpressionTree of form
Expression<Func<POCO1, bool>> exp = p => p.Age > 50;
to
Expression<Func<POCO2, bool>> exp2 = p => p.Age > 50;
where POCO1 and POCO2 are C# objects and both have Int32 Age property
well, you can make custom expression visitor that will replace parameter references and patch member access expressions
class Converter<TTo>
{
class ConversionVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
private readonly ParameterExpression newParameter;
private readonly ParameterExpression oldParameter;
public ConversionVisitor(ParameterExpression newParameter, ParameterExpression oldParameter)
{
this.newParameter = newParameter;
this.oldParameter = oldParameter;
}
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
{
return newParameter; // replace all old param references with new ones
}
protected override Expression VisitMember(MemberExpression node)
{
if (node.Expression != oldParameter) // if instance is not old parameter - do nothing
return base.VisitMember(node);
var newObj = Visit(node.Expression);
var newMember = newParameter.Type.GetMember(node.Member.Name).First();
return Expression.MakeMemberAccess(newObj, newMember);
}
}
public static Expression<Func<TTo, TR>> Convert<TFrom, TR>(
Expression<Func<TFrom, TR>> e
)
{
var oldParameter = e.Parameters[0];
var newParameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TTo), oldParameter.Name);
var converter = new ConversionVisitor(newParameter, oldParameter);
var newBody = converter.Visit(e.Body);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TTo, TR>>(newBody, newParameter);
}
}
class A
{
public int Value { get; set; }
}
class B
{
public int Value { get; set; }
}
Expression<Func<A, int>> f = x => x.Value;
var f2 = Converter<B>.Convert(f);
Rough Steps:
Get the expression Cast it to BinaryExpression
Get the left operand Cast it to MemberExpression
Get the Underlying Type that the property belong to
Change it to your new type if you can.
The type you get here is a property without setter as I guessed.
Expression<Func<MainWindow, bool >> exp1 = o => this.ActualHeight>50;
var type = ((MemberExpression)((BinaryExpression)exp1.Body).Left).Expression.Type;
So you must build a new expression
Here is the way
manually build linq expression for x => x.Child == itemToCompare.Child
Ideally - you don't. Make an interface that describes the Age property, and build the expression to refer to that. If you can't modify the POCO types, use a language like Go, where interfaces are implicit :-).
Update: This does work, I was being stupid :(
i have the following extension method
public static string ExtMethod(this object self, object myparameter);
at runtime this is called in any number of ways ways, i think these are all possibilities:
Expression<Func<T, string>> expr = x => x.property.ExtMethod(5);
Expression<Func<T, string>> expr = x => x.property.ExtMethod(new object());
Expression<Func<T, string>> expr = x => x.property.ExtMethod(someMethod());
Expression<Func<T, string>> expr = x => x.property.ExtMethod(x.someMethod());
Expression<Func<T, string>> expr = x => x.property.ExtMethod(x.OtherProperty);
what i need to do is evaluate the "myparameter", given "expr" and a "T"
because of the two cases where x is used in myparameter, i thought i needed to create a delegate of the form:
Expression<Func<T, object>> expr = x => [myparameter expression here]
i thought this would work:
var extMethodExpr = expr.Body as MethodCallExpression;
var myparameterExpr = extMethodExpr.Arguments[1];
var myparam = Expression.Lambda(myparameterExpr, expr.Parameters).Compile().Invoke(someT)
but for the expressions that do not involve x, i get TargetParameterCountException :(
in these cases, if i do:
var myparam = Expression.Lambda(myparameterExpr).Compile().Invoke(someT)
it works fine.
How do I solve this?
thanks
OK; got to the bottom of it; in the line:
var myparam = Expression.Lambda(myparameterExpr).Compile().Invoke(someT);
If you weren't trying to pass in a someT, this would work for those expressions that don't involve x in the argument; for those that do, you need to tell the lambda to include the parameter (the same one from the original lambda) - simply by:
var myparam = Expression.Lambda(myparameterExpr,
outerLambda.Parameters[0]).Compile().Invoke(someT);
Here's some working code that evaluates the inner parameter (given an instance of the argument type); note that I use the parameter even if it doesn't involve an x - otherwise, what would it do with the instance?
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Reflection;
class Foo {
public string Bar {get;set;}
public int someMethod() { return 4; }
public int OtherProperty { get { return 3; } }
}
static class Program
{
static int someMethod() { return 3; }
static void Main()
{
Foo foo = new Foo();
Test<Foo>(x => x.Bar.ExtMethod(5), foo);
Test<Foo>(x => x.Bar.ExtMethod(new object()), foo);
Test<Foo>(x => x.Bar.ExtMethod(someMethod()), foo);
Test<Foo>(x => x.Bar.ExtMethod(x.someMethod()), foo);
Test<Foo>(x => x.Bar.ExtMethod(x.OtherProperty), foo);
}
static void Test<T>(Expression<Func<T, string>> expr, T instance)
{
if (expr.Body.NodeType != ExpressionType.Call)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("Call expected");
}
var call = ((MethodCallExpression)expr.Body);
if (call.Method != typeof(Program).GetMethod(
"ExtMethod", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic))
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("ExtMethod expected");
}
// we know that ExtMethod has 2 args; pick myParameter (the 2nd);
// then build an expression over arg, re-using our outer param
var newLambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, object>>(
call.Arguments[1], expr.Parameters[0]);
// evaluate it and show the argument value
object value = newLambda.Compile()(instance);
Console.WriteLine(value);
}
static string ExtMethod(this object self, object myParameter) {
return self.ToString();
}
}
What if you check expr.Parameters.Count and if it's 0, invoke without the parameters?