CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netlinqentity-frameworklambdaexpression-trees
dstr
dstr

Reputation: 8928

Like operator in Expression Tree

I have a Linq extension method to dynamically filter Linq queries using string values. For example: query.WhereHelper("columName", ">", 1). I could use many different filter operators like GreaterThan or NotEqual etc. but not "Like". There is no Expression.Like or Expression.StartsWith etc. How can I implement Like operator to my Expression tree? Here's my code:

public static IQueryable<T> WhereHelper<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string columnName, object value, string filterType)
{
    ParameterExpression table = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "");
    Expression column = Expression.PropertyOrField(table, columnName);
    Expression valueExpression = Expression.Convert(Expression.Constant(value), column.Type);
    Expression where = null;

    switch (filterType)
    {
        case "<":
            where = Expression.LessThan(column, valueExpression);
            break;
        case "<=":
            where = Expression.LessThanOrEqual(column, valueExpression);
            break;
        case "=":
            where = Expression.Equal(column, valueExpression);
            break;
        case ">":
            where = Expression.GreaterThan(column, valueExpression;
            break;
        case ">=":
            where = Expression.GreaterThanOrEqual(column, valueExpression);
            break;
        case "<>":
            where = Expression.NotEqual(column, valueExpression);
            break;
    }

    Expression lambda = Expression.Lambda(where, new ParameterExpression[] { table });

    Type[] exprArgTypes = { source.ElementType };

    MethodCallExpression methodCall = Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable),
                                                      "Where",
                                                      exprArgTypes,
                                                      source.Expression,
                                                      lambda);

    return (IQueryable<T>)source.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(methodCall);

Upvotes: 6

Views: 3663

Answers (2)

K.Kirivarnan
K.Kirivarnan

Reputation: 828

You can define LIKE expression as follows,

var propertyName = "Firstname";
var propertyValue= "xxxx";

MethodInfo refmethod = typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains", new[] { typeof(string) });
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "type");
var property = Expression.Property(parameter, propertyName);
var value = Expression.Constant(propertyValue, typeof(string));
var containsMethodExp = Expression.Call(property, refmethod, value);

Upvotes: 6

Marc Gravell
Marc Gravell

Reputation: 1063619

You would use Expression.Call with the string.StartsWith, string.Contains, string.EndsWith etc methods. It is for the consuming code to translate it back to TSQL. Note that for LINQ-to-SQL there are also some additional helper functions here, but not with EF.

Upvotes: 7

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