Building a query (LINQ) with a sub-query

Question

For simplicity sake lets assume I have the following two classes:

public class ComplexClass
{
    public List<SubClass> SubClasses { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

public class SubClass
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

I have a List<ComplexClass> and I need to build a query based on some parameters.

It's an easy task if all I need to do is use the Name property of ComplexClass. Here's an example:

    static IQueryable<ComplexClass> GetQuery(string someParameter, string someOtherParameter)
    {
        var query = list.AsQueryable();
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someParameter))
            query = query.Where(c => c.Name.StartsWith(someParameter));
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someOtherParameter))
            query = query.Where(c => c.Name.EndsWith(someOtherParameter));
        return query;
    }

Based on the parameters I have I can add more query elements. Of course the above example is simple, but the actual problem contains more parameters, and that number can grow.

Things aren't as simple if I want to find those ComplexClass instances which have SubClass instances which meet criteria based on parameters:

    static IQueryable<ComplexClass> GetSubQuery(string someParameter, string someOtherParameter)
    {
        var query = list.AsQueryable();
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someParameter))
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someOtherParameter))
                return query.Where(c => c.SubClasses.Where(sc => sc.Name.StartsWith(someParameter) && sc.Name.EndsWith(someOtherParameter)).Any());
            else
                return query.Where(c => c.SubClasses.Where(sc => sc.Name.StartsWith(someParameter)).Any());
        else
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someOtherParameter))
                return query.Where(c => c.SubClasses.Where(sc => sc.Name.EndsWith(someOtherParameter)).Any());
            else
                return null;
    }

I can no longer just add bits of the query based on each parameter, I now need to write the whole query in one go, and this means I need to check every combination of parameters, which is hardly ideal.

I suspect the key is to build an Expression class and create a lambda expression from that, but I'm not sure how to tackle the problem.

Any suggestions? :)

EDIT:

My initial idea was this:

    static IQueryable<ComplexClass> GetSubQuery(string someParameter, string someOtherParameter)
    {
        var query = list.AsQueryable();
        query = query.Where(c =>
        {
            var subQuery = c.SubClasses.AsQueryable();
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someParameter))
                subQuery = subQuery.Where(sc => sc.Name.StartsWith(someParameter));
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someOtherParameter))
                subQuery = subQuery.Where(sc => sc.Name.EndsWith(someOtherParameter));
            return subQuery.Any();
        });
        return query;
    }

This works in my small console test application as it's using LINQ to Objects. Unfortunately, I need to use Entity Framework and LINQ to Entities, which causes an implementation similar to the one above to throw a A lambda expression with a statement body cannot be converted to an expression tree error message.

Answer 1

I implemented my solution in a simple Console Project:

internal class Program
{
    #region Constants and Fields

    private static readonly List<ComplexClass> list = new List<ComplexClass>
                                                          {
                                                              new ComplexClass
                                                                  {
                                                                      Name = "complex", 
                                                                      SubClasses = new List<SubClass>
                                                                                       {
                                                                                           new SubClass
                                                                                               {
                                                                                                   SubName = "foobar"
                                                                                               }
                                                                                       }
                                                                  }, 
                                                              new ComplexClass
                                                                  {
                                                                      Name = "complex", 
                                                                      SubClasses = new List<SubClass>
                                                                                       {
                                                                                           new SubClass
                                                                                               {
                                                                                                   SubName = "notfoobar"
                                                                                               }
                                                                                       }
                                                                  }
                                                          };

    #endregion

    #region Public Methods

    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("foo / bar :");
        GetSubQuery("foo", "bar");
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine("foo / null :");
        GetSubQuery("foo", null);
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine("string.Empty / bar :");
        GetSubQuery(string.Empty, "bar");
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine("maeh / bar :");
        GetSubQuery("maeh", "bar");

        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    #endregion

    #region Methods

    private static void GetSubQuery(string startsWith, 
        string endsWith)
    {
        var query = from item in list
                    let StartIsNull = string.IsNullOrEmpty(startsWith)
                    let EndIsNull = string.IsNullOrEmpty(endsWith)
                    where
                        (StartIsNull || item.SubClasses.Any(sc => sc.SubName.StartsWith(startsWith)))
                        && (EndIsNull || item.SubClasses.Any(sc => sc.SubName.EndsWith(endsWith)))
                    select item;

        foreach (var complexClass in query)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(complexClass.SubClasses.First().SubName);
        }
    }

    #endregion

    public class ComplexClass
    {
        #region Public Properties

        public string Name { get; set; }
        public List<SubClass> SubClasses { get; set; }

        #endregion
    }

    public class SubClass
    {
        #region Public Properties

        public string SubName { get; set; }

        #endregion
    }
}

The Console Output is:

foo / bar :
foobar

foo / null :
foobar

string.Empty / bar :
foobar
notfoobar

maeh / bar :

Answer 2

I'm assuming that in you real-life code the SubClasses property is IQueryable<SubClass> rather than List<SubClass>?

If so, then your query building becomes easy:

static IQueryable<ComplexClass> GetSubQuery(
    string someParameter, string someOtherParameter)
{
    var query = list.AsQueryable();
    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someParameter))
        query = query.Where(c => c.SubClasses
            .Where(sc => sc.Name.StartsWith(someParameter)).Any());
    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(someOtherParameter))
        query = query.Where(c => c.SubClasses
            .Where(sc => sc.Name.StartsWith(someOtherParameter)).Any());
    return query;
}

Mixing IEnumerable<T> and IQueryable<T> using AsQueryable() is never a good idea.