How to convert an expression tree to a partial SQL query?

Question

When EF or LINQ to SQL runs a query, it:

1. Builds an expression tree from the code,
2. Converts the expression tree into an SQL query,
3. Executes th

Answer 1

Not sure if this is exactly what you need, but it looks like it might be close:

string[] companies = { "Consolidated Messenger", "Alpine Ski House", "Southridge Video", "City Power & Light",
                   "Coho Winery", "Wide World Importers", "Graphic Design Institute", "Adventure Works",
                   "Humongous Insurance", "Woodgrove Bank", "Margie's Travel", "Northwind Traders",
                   "Blue Yonder Airlines", "Trey Research", "The Phone Company",
                   "Wingtip Toys", "Lucerne Publishing", "Fourth Coffee" };

// The IQueryable data to query.
IQueryable<String> queryableData = companies.AsQueryable<string>();

// Compose the expression tree that represents the parameter to the predicate.
ParameterExpression pe = Expression.Parameter(typeof(string), "company");

// ***** Where(company => (company.ToLower() == "coho winery" || company.Length > 16)) *****
// Create an expression tree that represents the expression 'company.ToLower() == "coho winery"'.
Expression left = Expression.Call(pe, typeof(string).GetMethod("ToLower", System.Type.EmptyTypes));
Expression right = Expression.Constant("coho winery");
Expression e1 = Expression.Equal(left, right);

// Create an expression tree that represents the expression 'company.Length > 16'.
left = Expression.Property(pe, typeof(string).GetProperty("Length"));
right = Expression.Constant(16, typeof(int));
Expression e2 = Expression.GreaterThan(left, right);

// Combine the expression trees to create an expression tree that represents the
// expression '(company.ToLower() == "coho winery" || company.Length > 16)'.
Expression predicateBody = Expression.OrElse(e1, e2);

// Create an expression tree that represents the expression
// 'queryableData.Where(company => (company.ToLower() == "coho winery" || company.Length > 16))'
MethodCallExpression whereCallExpression = Expression.Call(
    typeof(Queryable),
    "Where",
    new Type[] { queryableData.ElementType },
    queryableData.Expression,
    Expression.Lambda<Func<string, bool>>(predicateBody, new ParameterExpression[] { pe }));
// ***** End Where *****

// ***** OrderBy(company => company) *****
// Create an expression tree that represents the expression
// 'whereCallExpression.OrderBy(company => company)'
MethodCallExpression orderByCallExpression = Expression.Call(
    typeof(Queryable),
    "OrderBy",
    new Type[] { queryableData.ElementType, queryableData.ElementType },
    whereCallExpression,
    Expression.Lambda<Func<string, string>>(pe, new ParameterExpression[] { pe }));
// ***** End OrderBy *****

// Create an executable query from the expression tree.
IQueryable<string> results = queryableData.Provider.CreateQuery<string>(orderByCallExpression);

// Enumerate the results.
foreach (string company in results)
    Console.WriteLine(company);

Answer 2

Yes it is possible, you can parse a LINQ expression tree using the visitor pattern. You would need to construct a query translator by subclassing ExpressionVisitor like below. By hooking into the correct points you can use the translator to construct your SQL string from your LINQ expression. Note that the code below only deals with basic where/orderby/skip/take clauses, but you can fill it out with more as needed. Hopefully it serves as a good first step.

public class MyQueryTranslator : ExpressionVisitor
{
    private StringBuilder sb;
    private string _orderBy = string.Empty;
    private int? _skip = null;
    private int? _take = null;
    private string _whereClause = string.Empty;

    public int? Skip
    {
        get
        {
            return _skip;
        }
    }

    public int? Take
    {
        get
        {
            return _take;
        }
    }

    public string OrderBy
    {
        get
        {
            return _orderBy;
        }
    }

    public string WhereClause
    {
        get
        {
            return _whereClause;
        }
    }

    public MyQueryTranslator()
    {
    }

    public string Translate(Expression expression)
    {
        this.sb = new StringBuilder();
        this.Visit(expression);
        _whereClause = this.sb.ToString();
        return _whereClause;
    }

    private static Expression StripQuotes(Expression e)
    {
        while (e.NodeType == ExpressionType.Quote)
        {
            e = ((UnaryExpression)e).Operand;
        }
        return e;
    }

    protected override Expression VisitMethodCall(MethodCallExpression m)
    {
        if (m.Method.DeclaringType == typeof(Queryable) && m.Method.Name == "Where")
        {
            this.Visit(m.Arguments[0]);
            LambdaExpression lambda = (LambdaExpression)StripQuotes(m.Arguments[1]);
            this.Visit(lambda.Body);
            return m;
        }
        else if (m.Method.Name == "Take")
        {
            if (this.ParseTakeExpression(m))
            {
                Expression nextExpression = m.Arguments[0];
                return this.Visit(nextExpression);
            }
        }
        else if (m.Method.Name == "Skip")
        {
            if (this.ParseSkipExpression(m))
            {
                Expression nextExpression = m.Arguments[0];
                return this.Visit(nextExpression);
            }
        }
        else if (m.Method.Name == "OrderBy")
        {
            if (this.ParseOrderByExpression(m, "ASC"))
            {
                Expression nextExpression = m.Arguments[0];
                return this.Visit(nextExpression);
            }
        }
        else if (m.Method.Name == "OrderByDescending")
        {
            if (this.ParseOrderByExpression(m, "DESC"))
            {
                Expression nextExpression = m.Arguments[0];
                return this.Visit(nextExpression);
            }
        }

        throw new NotSupportedException(string.Format("The method '{0}' is not supported", m.Method.Name));
    }

    protected override Expression VisitUnary(UnaryExpression u)
    {
        switch (u.NodeType)
        {
            case ExpressionType.Not:
                sb.Append(" NOT ");
                this.Visit(u.Operand);
                break;
            case ExpressionType.Convert:
                this.Visit(u.Operand);
                break;
            default:
                throw new NotSupportedException(string.Format("The unary operator '{0}' is not supported", u.NodeType));
        }
        return u;
    }


    /// <summary>
    /// 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="b"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    protected override Expression VisitBinary(BinaryExpression b)
    {
        sb.Append("(");
        this.Visit(b.Left);

        switch (b.NodeType)
        {
            case ExpressionType.And:
                sb.Append(" AND ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.AndAlso:
                sb.Append(" AND ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.Or:
                sb.Append(" OR ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.OrElse:
                sb.Append(" OR ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.Equal:
                if (IsNullConstant(b.Right))
                {
                    sb.Append(" IS ");
                }
                else
                {
                    sb.Append(" = ");
                }
                break;

            case ExpressionType.NotEqual:
                if (IsNullConstant(b.Right))
                {
                    sb.Append(" IS NOT ");
                }
                else
                {
                    sb.Append(" <> ");
                }
                break;

            case ExpressionType.LessThan:
                sb.Append(" < ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.LessThanOrEqual:
                sb.Append(" <= ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.GreaterThan:
                sb.Append(" > ");
                break;

            case ExpressionType.GreaterThanOrEqual:
                sb.Append(" >= ");
                break;

            default:
                throw new NotSupportedException(string.Format("The binary operator '{0}' is not supported", b.NodeType));

        }

        this.Visit(b.Right);
        sb.Append(")");
        return b;
    }

    protected override Expression VisitConstant(ConstantExpression c)
    {
        IQueryable q = c.Value as IQueryable;

        if (q == null && c.Value == null)
        {
            sb.Append("NULL");
        }
        else if (q == null)
        {
            switch (Type.GetTypeCode(c.Value.GetType()))
            {
                case TypeCode.Boolean:
                    sb.Append(((bool)c.Value) ? 1 : 0);
                    break;

                case TypeCode.String:
                    sb.Append("'");
                    sb.Append(c.Value);
                    sb.Append("'");
                    break;

                case TypeCode.DateTime:
                    sb.Append("'");
                    sb.Append(c.Value);
                    sb.Append("'");
                    break;

                case TypeCode.Object:
                    throw new NotSupportedException(string.Format("The constant for '{0}' is not supported", c.Value));

                default:
                    sb.Append(c.Value);
                    break;
            }
        }

        return c;
    }

    protected override Expression VisitMember(MemberExpression m)
    {
        if (m.Expression != null && m.Expression.NodeType == ExpressionType.Parameter)
        {
            sb.Append(m.Member.Name);
            return m;
        }

        throw new NotSupportedException(string.Format("The member '{0}' is not supported", m.Member.Name));
    }

    protected bool IsNullConstant(Expression exp)
    {
        return (exp.NodeType == ExpressionType.Constant && ((ConstantExpression)exp).Value == null);
    }

    private bool ParseOrderByExpression(MethodCallExpression expression, string order)
    {
        UnaryExpression unary = (UnaryExpression)expression.Arguments[1];
        LambdaExpression lambdaExpression = (LambdaExpression)unary.Operand;

        lambdaExpression = (LambdaExpression)Evaluator.PartialEval(lambdaExpression);

        MemberExpression body = lambdaExpression.Body as MemberExpression;
        if (body != null)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(_orderBy))
            {
                _orderBy = string.Format("{0} {1}", body.Member.Name, order);
            }
            else
            {
                _orderBy = string.Format("{0}, {1} {2}", _orderBy, body.Member.Name, order);
            }

            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }

    private bool ParseTakeExpression(MethodCallExpression expression)
    {
        ConstantExpression sizeExpression = (ConstantExpression)expression.Arguments[1];

        int size;
        if (int.TryParse(sizeExpression.Value.ToString(), out size))
        {
            _take = size;
            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }

    private bool ParseSkipExpression(MethodCallExpression expression)
    {
        ConstantExpression sizeExpression = (ConstantExpression)expression.Arguments[1];

        int size;
        if (int.TryParse(sizeExpression.Value.ToString(), out size))
        {
            _skip = size;
            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }
}

Then visit the expression by calling:

var translator = new MyQueryTranslator();
string whereClause = translator.Translate(expression);

Answer 3

The short answer seems to be that you cannot use a part of EF or LINQ to SQL as a shortcut to translation. You need at least a subclass of ObjectContext to get at the internal protected QueryProvider property, and that means all the overhead of creating the context, including all the metadata and so on.

Assuming you are ok with that, to get a partial SQL query, for example, just the WHERE clause you're basically going to need the query provider and call IQueryProvider.CreateQuery() just as LINQ does in its implementation of Queryable.Where. To get a more complete query you can use ObjectQuery.ToTraceString().

As to where this happens, LINQ provider basics states generally that

IQueryProvider returns a reference to IQueryable with the constructed expression-tree passed by the LINQ framework, which is used for further calls. In general terms, each query block is converted to a bunch of method calls. For each method call, there are some expressions involved. While creating our provider - in the method IQueryProvider.CreateQuery - we run through the expressions and fill up a filter object, which is used in the IQueryProvider.Execute method to run a query against the data store

and that

the query can be executed in two ways, either by implementing the GetEnumerator method (defined in the IEnumerable interface) in the Query class, (which inherits from IQueryable); or it can be executed by the LINQ runtime directly

Checking EF under the debugger it's the former.

If you don't want to completely re-invent the wheel and neither EF nor LINQ to SQL are options, perhaps this series of articles would help:

• How to: LINQ to SQL Translation
• How to: LINQ to SQL Translation - Part II
• How to: LINQ to SQL Translation - Part III

Here are some sources for creating a query provider that probably involve much more heavy lifting on your part to implement what you want:

• LINQ: Building an IQueryable provider series
• Creating custom LINQ provider using LinqExtender