Dynamic linq Building Expression

Question

I need to create a dynamic linq expression for a dynamic search.The basic search is working but it fails to work with collection. I am able to get the book\'s title and auth

Answer 1

You can use the method described here.

You would need to cast the result of the method to Expression>. T being your type.

I will provide an complete example when i get home.

Edit:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Collections;
using System.Reflection;

namespace ExpressionPredicateBuilder
{
    public enum OperatorComparer
    {
        Contains,
        StartsWith,
        EndsWith,
        Equals = ExpressionType.Equal,
        GreaterThan = ExpressionType.GreaterThan,
        GreaterThanOrEqual = ExpressionType.GreaterThanOrEqual,
        LessThan = ExpressionType.LessThan,
        LessThanOrEqual = ExpressionType.LessThan,
        NotEqual = ExpressionType.NotEqual        
    }

public class ExpressionBuilder
{
    public static Expression> BuildPredicate(object value, OperatorComparer comparer, params string[] properties)
    {
        var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), typeof(T).Name);
        return (Expression>)BuildNavigationExpression(parameterExpression, comparer, value, properties);
    }

    private static Expression BuildNavigationExpression(Expression parameter, OperatorComparer comparer, object value, params string[] properties)
    {
        Expression resultExpression = null;
        Expression childParameter, predicate;
        Type childType = null;

        if (properties.Count() > 1)
        {
            //build path
            parameter = Expression.Property(parameter, properties[0]);
            var isCollection = typeof(IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(parameter.Type);
            //if it´s a collection we later need to use the predicate in the methodexpressioncall
            if (isCollection)
            {
                childType = parameter.Type.GetGenericArguments()[0];
                childParameter = Expression.Parameter(childType, childType.Name);
            }
            else
            {
                childParameter = parameter;
            }
            //skip current property and get navigation property expression recursivly
            var innerProperties = properties.Skip(1).ToArray();
            predicate = BuildNavigationExpression(childParameter, comparer, value, innerProperties);
            if (isCollection)
            {
                //build subquery
                resultExpression = BuildSubQuery(parameter, childType, predicate);
            }
            else
            {
                resultExpression = predicate;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            //build final predicate
            resultExpression = BuildCondition(parameter, properties[0], comparer, value);
        }
        return resultExpression;
    }

    private static Expression BuildSubQuery(Expression parameter, Type childType, Expression predicate)
    {
        var anyMethod = typeof(Enumerable).GetMethods().Single(m => m.Name == "Any" && m.GetParameters().Length == 2);
        anyMethod = anyMethod.MakeGenericMethod(childType);
        predicate = Expression.Call(anyMethod, parameter, predicate);
        return MakeLambda(parameter, predicate);
    }

    private static Expression BuildCondition(Expression parameter, string property, OperatorComparer comparer, object value)
    {
        var childProperty = parameter.Type.GetProperty(property);
        var left = Expression.Property(parameter, childProperty);
        var right = Expression.Constant(value);
        var predicate = BuildComparsion(left, comparer, right);
        return MakeLambda(parameter, predicate);
    }

    private static Expression BuildComparsion(Expression left, OperatorComparer comparer, Expression right)
    {
        var mask = new List{
            OperatorComparer.Contains,
            OperatorComparer.StartsWith,
            OperatorComparer.EndsWith
        };
        if(mask.Contains(comparer) && left.Type != typeof(string))
        {
            comparer = OperatorComparer.Equals;
        }
        if(!mask.Contains(comparer))
        {
            return Expression.MakeBinary((ExpressionType)comparer, left, Expression.Convert(right,left.Type));
        }
        return BuildStringCondition(left, comparer, right);            
    }

    private static Expression BuildStringCondition(Expression left, OperatorComparer comparer, Expression right)
    {
        var compareMethod = typeof(string).GetMethods().Single(m => m.Name.Equals(Enum.GetName(typeof(OperatorComparer), comparer)) && m.GetParameters().Count() == 1);
        //we assume ignoreCase, so call ToLower on paramter and memberexpression
        var toLowerMethod = typeof(string).GetMethods().Single(m => m.Name.Equals("ToLower") && m.GetParameters().Count() == 0);
        left = Expression.Call(left, toLowerMethod);
        right = Expression.Call(right, toLowerMethod);
        return Expression.Call(left, compareMethod, right);
    } 

    private static Expression MakeLambda(Expression parameter, Expression predicate)
    {
        var resultParameterVisitor = new ParameterVisitor();
        resultParameterVisitor.Visit(parameter);
        var resultParameter = resultParameterVisitor.Parameter;
        return Expression.Lambda(predicate, (ParameterExpression)resultParameter);
    }

    private class ParameterVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
    {
        public Expression Parameter
        {
            get;
            private set;
        }
        protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
        {
            Parameter = node;
            return node;
        }
    }
}

}

This can be used like

var predicate = ExpressionBuilder.BuildPredicate("Heading",OperatorComparer.Equals,"Page","Heading");
query = query.Where(predicate);