How to construct Order By Expression dynamically in Entity Framework?

Question

I used the following methods to construct Order By Expression. Original Source

It is really slick. The downside is it only works if Property is

Answer 1

I have, IMHO, a simpler solution:

public static IOrderedQueryable<TSource> Sort<TSource>(this IQueryable<TSource> source, bool ascending , string sortingProperty)
{
    if (ascending)
        return source.OrderBy(item => item.GetReflectedPropertyValue(sortingProperty));
    else
        return source.OrderByDescending(item => item.GetReflectedPropertyValue(sortingProperty));
}

private static object GetReflectedPropertyValue(this object subject, string field)
{
    return subject.GetType().GetProperty(field).GetValue(subject, null);
}

The usage is:

myQueryableCollection.Sort(ascending: true, "Name")

Of course, the PropertyExist() helper is a great addition...

Answer 2

I found a solution with the help of Jon Skeet's old answer.

public static class QueryHelper
{
    private static readonly MethodInfo OrderByMethod =
        typeof (Queryable).GetMethods().Single(method => 
        method.Name == "OrderBy" && method.GetParameters().Length == 2);

    private static readonly MethodInfo OrderByDescendingMethod =
        typeof (Queryable).GetMethods().Single(method => 
        method.Name == "OrderByDescending" && method.GetParameters().Length == 2);

    public static bool PropertyExists<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName)
    {
        return typeof(T).GetProperty(propertyName, BindingFlags.IgnoreCase |
            BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance) != null;
    }

    public static IQueryable<T> OrderByProperty<T>(
       this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName)
    {
        if (typeof (T).GetProperty(propertyName, BindingFlags.IgnoreCase | 
            BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance) == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        ParameterExpression paramterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof (T));
        Expression orderByProperty = Expression.Property(paramterExpression, propertyName);
        LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(orderByProperty, paramterExpression);
        MethodInfo genericMethod = 
          OrderByMethod.MakeGenericMethod(typeof (T), orderByProperty.Type);
        object ret = genericMethod.Invoke(null, new object[] {source, lambda});
        return (IQueryable<T>) ret;
    }

    public static IQueryable<T> OrderByPropertyDescending<T>(
        this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName)
    {
        if (typeof (T).GetProperty(propertyName, BindingFlags.IgnoreCase | 
            BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance) == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        ParameterExpression paramterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof (T));
        Expression orderByProperty = Expression.Property(paramterExpression, propertyName);
        LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(orderByProperty, paramterExpression);
        MethodInfo genericMethod = 
          OrderByDescendingMethod.MakeGenericMethod(typeof (T), orderByProperty.Type);
        object ret = genericMethod.Invoke(null, new object[] {source, lambda});
        return (IQueryable<T>) ret;
    }
}

Usage

string orderBy = "Name";
if (query.PropertyExists(orderBy))
{
   query = query.OrderByProperty(orderBy);
   - OR - 
   query = query.OrderByPropertyDescending(orderBy);
}