How can I include one expression in another expression?

Question

I have a DateRange class that I\'d like to apply to an IQueryable as a where predicate, automatically using the begin and end dates and automatically using an open or closed int

Answer 1

What you're looking to do here is to compose expressions; you're trying to apply one expression to the result of another. You can actually write a method to do that:

public static Expression> Compose(
    this Expression> first,
    Expression> second)
{
    var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TSource));
    var intermediateValue = first.Body.ReplaceParameter(first.Parameters[0], param);
    var body = second.Body.ReplaceParameter(second.Parameters[0], intermediateValue);
    return Expression.Lambda>(body, param);
}

It uses the following method to replace the parameter of an expression with an expression.

public static Expression ReplaceParameter(this Expression expression,
    ParameterExpression toReplace,
    Expression newExpression)
{
    return new ParameterReplaceVisitor(toReplace, newExpression)
        .Visit(expression);
}
public class ParameterReplaceVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
    private ParameterExpression from;
    private Expression to;
    public ParameterReplaceVisitor(ParameterExpression from, Expression to)
    {
        this.from = from;
        this.to = to;
    }
    protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
    {
        return node == from ? to : node;
    }
}

This allows you to write your code as:

public IQueryable Apply(IQueryable source, 
    Expression> dateField)
{
    var result = source;
    if (BeginDate.HasValue)
    {
        if (BeginInclusive)
            result = result.Where(dateField.Compose(date => date >= BeginDate));
        else
            result = result.Where(dateField.Compose(date => date > BeginDate));
    }
    if (EndDate.HasValue)
    {
        if (EndInclusive)
            result = result.Where(dateField.Compose(date => date <= EndDate));
        else
            result = result.Where(dateField.Compose(date => date < EndDate));
    }
    return result;
}