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databaselinqlinq-to-entities
knoia
knoia

Reputation: 165

Selecting Consecutive Entries with LINQ to Entities

I have a database table with rows that each contain a sequential index. I want to select groups of rows that are consecutive based upon this index column. For example, if I had rows with the following index values:

1
3
4
5
7
9
10
11
12
15
16

and I wanted to select all groups with 3 consecutive indices (this number will vary). I would get the following groups:

3, 4, 5

9, 10, 11

10, 11, 12

Basically, I'm trying to achieve something similar to the question posed here:

selecting consecutive numbers using SQL query

However, I want to implement this with LINQ to Entities, not actual SQL. I would also prefer not to use stored procedures, and I don't want to do any sort of ToList/looping approach.

Edit: Groups with more than the requested consecutive elements don't necessarily need to be split apart. i.e. in the previous example, a result of 9, 10, 11, 12 would also be acceptable.

Upvotes: 6

Views: 1730

Answers (4)

Francisco
Francisco

Reputation: 4101

I think this might work pretty efficiently (C# though):

int[] query = { 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 };
int count = 3;
List<List<int>> numbers = query
   .Where(p => query.Where(q => q >= p && q < p + count).Count() == count)
   .Select(p => Enumerable.Range(p, count).ToList())
   .ToList();

Upvotes: 1

knoia
knoia

Reputation: 165

So I think I've come up with a pretty good solution modeled after Brian's answer in the topic I linked to.

var q = from a in query
        from b in query
        where a.Index < b.Index
        && b.Index < a.Index + 3
        group b by new { a.Index }
            into myGroup
            where myGroup.Count() + 1 == 3
            select myGroup.Key.Index;

Change 3 to the number of consecutive rows you want. This gives you the first index of every group of consecutive rows. Applied to the original example I provided, you would get:

3
9
10

Upvotes: 1

Mikael Eliasson
Mikael Eliasson

Reputation: 5227

The following code will find every "root". 

    var query = this.commercialRepository.GetQuery();
    var count = 2;
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
    {
        query = query.Join(query, outer => outer.Index + 1, inner => inner.Index, (outer, inner) => outer);
    }

    var dummy = query.ToList();

It will only find the first item in each group so you will either have to modify the query to remeber the other ones or you could make a query based on the fact that you have the roots and from those you know which indexes to get. I'm sorry I couldn't wrap it up before I had to go but maybe it helps a bit.

PS. if count is 2 as in this case it means if finds groups of 3.

Upvotes: 0

Albin Sunnanbo
Albin Sunnanbo

Reputation: 47038

using (var model = new AlbinTestEntities())
{
    var triples = from t1 in model.Numbers
                  from t2 in model.Numbers
                  from t3 in model.Numbers
                  where t1.Number + 1 == t2.Number
                  where t2.Number + 1 == t3.Number
                  select new
                  {
                      t1 = t1.Number,
                      t2 = t2.Number,
                      t3 = t3.Number,
                  };

    foreach (var res in triples)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(res.t1 + ", " + res.t2 + ", " + res.t3);
    }
}

It generates the following SQL

SELECT 
[Extent1].[Number] AS [Number], 
[Extent2].[Number] AS [Number1], 
[Extent3].[Number] AS [Number2]
FROM   [dbo].[Numbers] AS [Extent1]
CROSS JOIN [dbo].[Numbers] AS [Extent2]
CROSS JOIN [dbo].[Numbers] AS [Extent3]
WHERE (([Extent1].[Number] + 1) = [Extent2].[Number]) AND (([Extent2].[Number] + 1) = [Extent3].[Number])

It might be even better to use an inner join like this

using (var model = new AlbinTestEntities())
{
    var triples = from t1 in model.Numbers
                  join t2 in model.Numbers on t1.Number + 1 equals t2.Number
                  join t3 in model.Numbers on t2.Number + 1 equals t3.Number
                  select new
                  {
                      t1 = t1.Number,
                      t2 = t2.Number,
                      t3 = t3.Number,
                  };

    foreach (var res in triples)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(res.t1 + ", " + res.t2 + ", " + res.t3);
    }
}

but when I compare the resulting queries in management studio they generate the same execution plan and take exactly the same time to execute. I have only this limited dataset you might compare the performance on your dataset if it is larger and pick the best if they differ.

Upvotes: 0

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