C# Entity framework 4.0
I have a database with 10's of table with 2 common columns 'id' and 'modstamp'
to access modstamp in a table I have a function
protected internal override string GetModStampinChild(int sid)
{
DBContext sq = new DBContext();
return sq.xxxx.Where(s => s.id == sid)
.Select(s => s.modstamp).SingleOrDefault().ToModStampString();
}
where xxxx change for every table.
I am presently overriding this function for every table.
Is there a way to use some kind of generic "class" which I could use where "xxxx" would be any table?
First, you would need to have all of your Entities implement either an interface or an abstract class that contains both the ID and ModStamp properties in it, let's call it Stampable:
public abstract class Stampable
{
[Key]
public int ID { get; set; }
[Required]
public string ModStamp { get; set; }
}
At that point, all you need to do for your method is to have it implement generic typing:
protected internal override string GetModStampInChild<T>(int sid) where T : Stampable
{
using (var sq = new DbContext())
{
return sq.Set<T>.Where(s => s.id == sid)
.Select(s => s.modstamp)
.SingleOrDefault()
.ToModStampString();
}
}
If I understand you correctly, you need a property Set<T> of DbContext class:
First, create base class of all your entity classes with id and modstamp properties. Then:
protected internal override string GetModStampInChild<T>(int sid) where T : BaseEntity
{
using (var sq = new DbContext())
{
return sq.Set<T>.Where(s => s.id == sid)
.Select(s => s.modstamp)
.SingleOrDefault()
.ToModStampString();
}
}
But you must use code-first paradigm for this method.
Another option would be add a new Property to your entity class via the partial class feature of c#.
So the entity definition generated might look like this, note I have no idea what the actual DataType of your ModStamp column is:
public partial class Company
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public byte[] ModStamp { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string City { get; set; }
public string State { get; set; }
}
Note the ModStamp column that you want to convert.
Then add to the Partial.cs file that EF creates code like this, note I have no idea what you actually want to do with the ModStamp value:
public static class ModConverter
{
public static string ToModStampString(byte[] modStamp)
{
return BitConverter.ToString(modStamp);
}
}
public partial class Company
{
public string ModStampString
{
get
{
return ModConverter.ToModStampString(this.ModStamp);
}
}
}
You would then have to manually add a new ModStampString Get Property for every Entity with a ModStamp Column like I did for the Company Entity.
Here is a solution that uses the Set method on the DbContext and expression trees to dynamically query that object.
private Expression<Func<TArg, bool>> CreatePredicate<TArg, TPredicateField>(string fieldName, TPredicateField value)
{
ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TArg), "o");
MemberExpression memberExpression = Expression.Property(parameter, fieldName);
var condition = Expression.Equal(memberExpression, Expression.Constant(value));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<TArg, bool>>(condition, parameter);
return lambda;
}
private Expression<Func<TArg, TPredicateField>> CreateSelector<TArg, TPredicateField>(string fieldName)
{
ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TArg), "o");
Expression propertyExpr = Expression.Property(parameter, fieldName);
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<TArg, TPredicateField>>(propertyExpr, parameter);
return lambda;
}
public TSelectorField GetModStamp<TEntity, TPredicateField, TSelectorField>(TPredicateField id) where TEntity : class
{
using (var ctx = new OnTheFlyEntities("Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=AscensionBO;Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True"))
{
var predicate = CreatePredicate<TEntity, TPredicateField>("Id", id);
var selector = CreateSelector<TEntity, TSelectorField>("ModStamp");
TSelectorField item = ctx.Set<TEntity>().Where(predicate).Select(selector).SingleOrDefault();
return item;
}
}
You can then call it like this:
GetModStamp<Entity2, int, string>(1)
If you were willing to just return the found entity, you could eliminate the TSelectorField and then grab the ModStamp from the item after it is retrieved. That will drop one of the expression tree methods and a generic input on the main method.
As someone else suggested, you could go the interface route and use that example, it will be much simpler.
Related
I have a table in my database with a lot of columns. I want to have a class where i load columns specified in the constructor into a list. I dont want to load all columns because that takes too long. Additionaly i may want to apply functions on specific columns becuase some data needs to be sanitized. Later i want to be able to return rows from this list by a keycolumn that is fixed (no need to specify it in the constructor).
This is kinda what i want:
public class DataHolder<TType> where TType:class
{
private List<TType> _data;
public DataHolder(DataContext context,Expression<Func<MyTable, TType>> select)
{
_data = context.MyTable.Select(select).DoSanitation().ToList();
//do sanitation on a column if it is in _data here
}
public TType Get(int id)
{
return _data.Single(d => d.Id == id);
}
}
And then i want to use it kinda like this:
var datHolder = new DataHolder(context, x=> new{x.Column1,x.Column2});
var row= datHolder.Get(123);
And row should have the fields "Column1" and "Column2" and "Id".
So i tried it by using anonymous types but because anonymous types cant use interfaces i am not able to make sure the type has the field "Id". Also the whole sanitation thing doesnt make sense on a anonymous type.
I have the sense that i am doing something i should not do or am not seeing a simple solution. I also had a look into Ado.Net which seems like it solve my problems because i can assemble columns adhoc. But all my other code runs with ef core so i am not sure if i should proceed in that direction.
You can't do this with anonymous types, but with types, known at compile time, you can do something like this:
public interface IEntity
{
public int Id { get; }
}
public class DataHolder<TType>
where TType : class, IEntity
{
private static readonly Lazy<IEnumerable<PropertyInfo>> MyTableProperties = new Lazy<IEnumerable<PropertyInfo>>(() => GetPublicInstanceProperties<MyTable>());
private static readonly Lazy<Expression<Func<MyTable, TType>>> Selector = new Lazy<Expression<Func<MyTable, TType>>>(GetSelector);
private readonly IReadOnlyDictionary<int, TType> data;
public DataHolder(MyContext context, Action<TType> doSanitation)
{
var entities = context.MyTable
.Select(Selector.Value)
.ToList();
foreach (var entity in entities)
{
doSanitation(entity);
}
data = entities.ToDictionary(_ => _.Id);
}
public TType Get(int id) => data[id];
private static Expression<Func<MyTable, TType>> GetSelector()
{
var lambdaParameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(MyTable));
var memberBindings = GetPublicInstanceProperties<TType>()
.Select(propertyInfo => Expression.Bind(propertyInfo, Expression.MakeMemberAccess(lambdaParameter, MyTableProperties.Value.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Name == propertyInfo.Name))));
var memberInit = Expression.MemberInit(Expression.New(typeof(TType)), memberBindings);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<MyTable, TType>>(memberInit, lambdaParameter);
}
private static IEnumerable<PropertyInfo> GetPublicInstanceProperties<T>() => typeof(T).GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public);
}
GetSelector method is just a simple mapper: it assigns property of TType object from the property of MyTable object with the same name.
Usage:
using (var context = new MyContext())
{
var dataHolder = new DataHolder<EntityA>(context, entity =>
{
// TODO:
});
var row = dataHolder.Get(1);
}
where EntityA is:
public class EntityA : IEntity
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int A { get; set; }
}
I am tryng to create a generic method that will join two tables and filter them by providing a predicate. The predicate needs to be dynamic because it will be different per user role in my application. So for example one role should see specific statuses and dates and another one might need to data for different dates.
The only similar thing I have found is the following code which just runs a provided generic predicate in a single table to filter it. So i guess i should use something similar to it
public IEnumerable<T> Get_Data<T>(Expression<Func<T, bool>> predicate) where T : class
{
IEnumerable<T> items = null;
items = this.DbContext.Set<T>().Where(predicate);
return items;
}
I need to provide the tables I want to join and a combining predicate for filtering data from both tables with the type of data i want to return. Like the following maybe. I think something like the following
public IEnumerable<Action> Get_Data<T1,T2>(
Expression<Func<T1,T2,bool>> filterPredicate,
Expression<Func<T1, T2, bool>> joinPredicate)
where T1 : class
where T2 : class
{
IEnumerable<Action> items = null;
//join tables and filter them by using the predicate using linq
return items;
}
After searching around this is what I came up with. Let's say we have two context entities users and roles which we want to join and filter
public class Roles
{
public int ID { get; set; }
}
public class Users
{
public int ID { get; set; }
}
Create a class with all the required expressions. This contains the predicates which will filter the data and the keys that will be used for joining the tables
public class Expressions_BO<TObj, TBase>
{
public Expression<Func<TObj, bool>> Child_Predicate { get; set; }
public Expression<Func<TObj, decimal>> Child_Key { get; set; }
public Expression<Func<TBase, bool>> Base_Predicate { get; set; }
public Expression<Func<TBase, decimal>> Base_DS_Key { get; set; }
}
I create the generic method that will join and filter the data
public static IEnumerable<Users_With_Roles> Get_Data<TObj, TBase>(Expressions_BO<TObj, TBase> filter_Grid) where TObj : class where TBase : class
{
var roles_ctx = this.DbContext.Set<TObj>();
var users_ctx = this.DbContext.Set<TBase>();
var source = users_ctx
.Where(filter_Grid.Base_Predicate)
.Join(roles_ctx.Where(filter_Grid.Child_Predicate), filter_Grid.Base_DS_Key, filter_Grid.Child_Key,
(user, role) => new
{
});
return source;
}
Then if i want to use this I can call it like this
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var grid_Filters = new Expressions_BO<Roles, Users>()
{
//Any predicate you want. I am just using a default always true just for this example
Child_Predicate = (x) => true,
Base_Predicate = (x) => true,
//Dealslip Base Key
Base_DS_Key = (x) => x.ID,
//Dealslip Key
Child_Key = (x) => x.ID
};
Get_Data(grid_Filters);
}
Off course you can change the predicates in order to filter the data dynamically as you wish
How do I find the biggest Id of a DbSet.Set<T>()?
Note: not DbSet<TEntity>.
I don't know the type at runtime.
Context: I have 20 tables/entities, which I'm using a generic method to do processing.
The process involves looking up the biggest Id of that table/entity and comparing it with the record at hand.
If the record's id is bigger than the database's, than it would be inserted into the database.
So far I've tried using reflection:
DbSet<T> table = DbContext.Set<T>();
var lastRecord = table.LastOrDefault(); // throws not supported error
var idProperty = lastRecord.GetType().GetProperties()
.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Name.Equals("Id");
int maxId = (int)idProperty.GetValue(lastRecord);
I've also tried using an interface cast:
interface ICommonEntity
{ // this interface allows the generic method
string StringId { get;} // to know how to handle entity Id's of
int? IntId { get; } // different types (string vs int).
}
var whatever = table.OrderByDescending(e => (e as ICommonEntity).IntId).FirstOrDefault();
int maxId = (whatever as ICommonEntity).IntId ?? 0;
But the above yields the following error:
The 'TypeAs' expression with an input of type xx is not supported. and a check of type yy. Only entity types and complex types are supported in LINQ to Entities queries
Additional data: All my entities have the column/property Id of type int.
Web searches that I've done mainly point to solutions that the type is known e.g. TEntity, db.Users.xxx() etc..
Update
In response to Ian's answer, I can't use Id directly. Why?
One of my entity has a field named Id, but is of type string.
class EntityStringId : ICommonEntity
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string StringId => Id;
public int? IntId => null;
}
class EntityIntId : ICommonEntity
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string StringId => null;
public int? IntId => Id;
}
And if I try to use IntId for ordering,
private void SomeMethod<T>(string file)
//where T : class // original
//where T : ICommonEntity // cannot. DbContext.Set<T>(); requires class
where T : class, ICommonEntity // throws exception
{
var table_T = DbContext.Set<T>();
var maxId = table_T.Max(e => e.IntId); // throws exception ↓
}
The specified type member 'IntId' is not supported in LINQ to Entities.
Only initializers, entity members, and entity navigation properties are supported.
For a better picture, my method's logic:
private void ProcessCsvToDb<T>(
DbSet<T> table,
T csvRecord) where T : class
{
var iRecord = csvRecord as ICommonEntity;
T dbRecord = null;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(iRecord.StringId))
{
dbRecord = table.Find(iRecord.StringId);
}
else if (iRecord.IntId != null)
{
dbRecord = table.Find(iRecord.IntId);
}
}
In order to do this without a base class/interface, you will need to manually compose the expression:
public static IOrderedQueryable<int> OrderById(Type entityType)
{
var dbSet = context.Set(entityType);
var item = Expression.Parameter(entityType, "item");
var property = Expression.Property(item, "Id");
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, int>>(property, item);
// the above generates:
// item => item.Id
return dbSet.OrderByDescending(lambda);
}
You can build expression to sort by Id, but DynamicQueryable class does it for you:
DbSet<T> table = assignFromSomeWhere();
var maxId = table.OrderBy("Id desc").FirstOrDefault();
DynamicQueryable also gives you different extension methods (dynamic Where, Select). Obviously it is bigger satisfaction to build expressions on your own, but sometimes it is very complicated and this library helps a lot.
If you have an interface, as discussed in comments, is there any reason you can't do this to avoid the cast:
public static int? GetMaxId<T>(DBSet<T> dbSet)
where T : ICommonEntity
{
return dbSet.OrderByDescending(e => e.Id).FirstOrDefault();
}
Let's say I have a simple model:
public class Movie
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
And a DbContext:
public class MoviesContext : DbContext
{
...
public DbSet<Movie> Movies { get; set; }
}
Also I have a method in MoviesContext class that filters Movies by substring like this:
return Movies.Where(m => m.Name.Contains(filterString)).Select(m => m);
Now suppose I'd like to add a new model, say:
public class Person
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string MiddleName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string FullName { get { return FirstName + (MiddleName?.Length > 0 ? $" {MiddleName}" : "") + $" {LastName}"; } }
}
I also want to filter persons (DbSet Persons) by name (i.e. FullName). I'd like DRY, so it is preferrable to generalize a filter method of MoviesContext. And, what is important, I'd like to do filtering on the database level. So I have to deal with LINQ for Entities.
If not for this, the task is pretty simple. I could use an abstract class and add a virtual method that do the "contains substring" logic. Alternatively, I could use an interface. Unfortunately, because of LINQ for Entities, I can't use a FullName property (which is not convenient but bearable) and I can't write something like this:
return dbset.Where(ent => ent.NameContains(filterString)).Select(ent => ent);
So, how to solve this problem? I've found some solution (almost have my head broken), but I am not very happy with it. I'll post my solution separately, but I hope there is a more elegant one.
Reading your code a little more closely, instead of your NameFilterable abstract class, could you not do something like this:
public interface IHasPredicateGetter<T> {
[NotNull] Expression<Func<T, bool>> GetPredicateFromString([NotNull] string pValue);
}
public class Movie : IHasPredicateGetter<Movie> {
public int ID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public Expression<Func<Movie, bool>> GetPredicateFromString(string pValue) {
return m => m.Name.Contains(pValue);
}
}
This prevents you from needing a cast, for example. It's so hard to grasp just what you're trying to do here, so I'm not sure this is the whole thing or not. You're still stuck with an instance method that should probably be a static method, but it couldn't implement an interface otherwise.
My solution looks like this.
[1] The base class:
public abstract class NameFilterable
{
protected static Expression<Func<T, bool>> False<T>() { return f => false; }
public virtual Expression<Func<T, bool>> GetNameContainsPredicate<T>(string filterString)
{
return False<T>();
}
}
[2] The Person class (I'll omit the Movie class, it is more simple):
public class Person : NameFilterable
{
...
public override Expression<Func<T, bool>> GetNameContainsPredicate<T>(string filterString)
{
return entity =>
String.IsNullOrEmpty(filterString) ||
(entity as Person).LastName.Contains(filterString) ||
(entity as Person).FirstName.Contains(filterString) ||
(((entity as Person).MiddleName != null) && (entity as Person).MiddleName.Contains(filterString))
;
}
}
[3] The filter methods in MoviesContext:
private static IQueryable<T> _filterDbSet<T>(DbSet<T> set, Expression<Func<T, bool>> filterPredicate) where T : class
{
return set
.Where(filterPredicate)
.Select(ent => ent);
}
private static IQueryable<T> _filterDbSet<T>(DbSet<T> set, string search = null) where T : NameFilterable, new()
{
T ent = new T();
return _filterDbSet<T>(set, (ent as NameFilterable).GetNameContainsPredicate<T>(search));
}
public static ICollection<T> Filter<T>(DbSet<T> set, string search = null) where T : NameFilterable, new()
{
return _filterDbSet(set, search).ToList();
}
And it seems that all this works pretty well. But I can't say it is very elegant.
[1] I have to use a generic T, though on the Person level I always work with Person objects (or descendants). So I have to convert T to Person (as Person).
[2] In GetNameContainsPredicate method, I can't write (because of LINQ for Entities):
return entity =>
{
Person p = entity as Person;
String.IsNullOrEmpty(filterString) ||
p.LastName.Contains(filterString) ||
p.FirstName.Contains(filterString) ||
((p.MiddleName != null) && p.MiddleName.Contains(filterString))
};
[3] I can't use static methods (statics couldn't be overridden), so I have to create a dummy T object (T ent = new T();).
[4] I still can't use a FullName.Contains(filterString)
So, the question remains: Maybe I miss something and there is a more elegant solution to the problem?
You could create a method that is responsible for search if a type has a particular property and filter for that property,if the object has not the property simply return null. Whith this you can create an expression that filters for this property
//gets the property info of the property with the giving name
public static PropertyInfo GetPropetyInfo<T>(string name)
{
var type = typeof(T);
var property = type.GetProperty(name);
return property;
}
//Creates an expression thats represents the query
public static Func<T, bool> GetFilterExpression<T>( string propertyName, object propertyValue)
{
var prop = GetPropetyInfo<T>(propertyName);
if(prop==null)return t=>false;
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "t");
Expression expression = parameter;
var left = Expression.Property(expression, prop);
if (prop.PropertyType == typeof(string))
{
var toLower = typeof(string).GetMethods().FirstOrDefault(t => t.Name.Equals("ToLower"));
var tlCall = Expression.Call(left, toLower);
var right = Expression.Constant(propertyValue.ToString().ToLower());
var contains = Expression.Call(tlCall, typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains"), right);
var containsCall = Expression.IsTrue(contains);
expression = Expression.AndAlso(Expression.NotEqual(left, Expression.Constant(null)), containsCall);
}
else
{
if (prop.PropertyType.ToString().ToLower().Contains("nullable"))
{
var getValue = prop.PropertyType.GetMethods().FirstOrDefault(t => t.Name.Equals("GetValueOrDefault"));
var getValueCall = Expression.Call(left, getValue);
var right = Expression.Constant(propertyValue);
expression = Expression.Equal(getValueCall, right);
}
else
{
var value = Convert.ChangeType(propertyValue,prop.PropertyType);
var right = Expression.Constant(value);
expression = Expression.Equal(left, right);
}
}
return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(expression, new ParameterExpression[] { parameter }).Compile();
}
The you can use it as follow
var expression = YOURCLASS.GetFilterExpression<Person>("LastName", "Jhon");
var result=dbset.Where(expression);
There are a few things I've done to get polymorphism with EF, but in your specific case of wanting reusable filters, I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. I've basically tried to do the same exact thing, but every time I end up realizing that there's no point. Ask yourself: what exactly are the benefits of doing this, and how is it any more flexible than what a Where clause already offers?
There are two issues. One is that it's hard or nigh impossible to get a filter to be used between two separate classes by using a shared interface (INamedObject for example). This is because you need a strongly typed expression. You can make a function that returns a strongly typed expression, but why would you not have just wrote the expression in the first place? The other issue is that you need a new filter expression for every search value, which is pretty close to where we are already.
If you perfected this, what would you have? The ability to infer type, specify a search value, and get an expression you could use? Isn't that essentially what we already have? The way Where clauses already are, they already have strong typing, and the ability to use dynamic search values. While it might feel a tiny bit redundant to say x => x.Name == value in more than one place, really the ability to specify such a concise and powerful filter statement is already a pretty amazing place to be.
I would like to automatically generate SQL statements from a class instance. The method should look like Update(object[] Properties, object PrimaryKeyProperty). The method is part of an instance (class, base method - generic for any child). Array of properties is an array of class properties, that will be used in update statement. Property names are equal to table field names.
The problem is that I can't get property names.
Is there any option to get a property name inside class instance?
sample:
public class MyClass {
public int iMyProperty { get; set; }
public string cMyProperty2 { get; set; }
{
main() {
MyClass _main = new MyClass();
_main.iMyProperty.*PropertyName* // should return string "iMyProperty"
{
I am aware of PropertyInfo, but I don't know hot to get the ID of a property from GetProperties() array.
Any suggestion?
Just wrote an implementation of this for a presentation on lambdas for our usergroup last Tuesday.
You can do
MembersOf<Animal>.GetName(x => x.Status)
Or
var a = new Animal()
a.MemberName(x => x.Status)
the code:
public static class MembersOf<T> {
public static string GetName<R>(Expression<Func<T,R>> expr) {
var node = expr.Body as MemberExpression;
if (object.ReferenceEquals(null, node))
throw new InvalidOperationException("Expression must be of member access");
return node.Member.Name;
}
}
Link to the presentation and code samples.
Also in SVN (more likely to be updated): http://gim-projects.googlecode.com/svn/presentations/CantDanceTheLambda
I found a perfect solution in This Post
public static string GetPropertyName<T>(Expression<Func<T>> propertyExpression)
{
return (propertyExpression.Body as MemberExpression).Member.Name;
}
And then for the usage :
var propertyName = GetPropertyName(
() => myObject.AProperty); // returns "AProperty"
Works like a charm
You can do something like this:
Type t = someInstance.getType();
foreach (MemberInfo mi in t.GetMembers())
{
if (mi.MemberType == MemberTypes.Property)
{
Console.WriteLine(mi.Name);
}
}
to get all the property names for instance's type.
You can get the name (I assume that's what you meant by ID) of a property using PropertyInfo.Name. Just loop through the PropertyInfo[] returned from typeof(className).GetProperties()
foreach (PropertyInfo info in typeof(MyClass).GetProperties())
{
string name = info.Name;
// use name here
}
Since you already have an explicit handle to the specific property you want, you know the name - can you just type it?
Not 100% sure if this will get you what you're looking for, this will fetch all properties with [Column] attribute inside your class:
In the datacontext I have:
public ReadOnlyCollection<MetaDataMember> ColumnNames<TEntity>( )
{
return this.Mapping.MappingSource.GetModel(typeof(DataContext)).GetMetaType(typeof(TEntity)).DataMembers;
}
Fetching the table column-names that are properties inside the class:
MyDataContext db = GetDataContext();
var allColumnPropertyNames = db.ColumnNames<Animal>().Where(n => n.Member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Data.Linq.Mapping.ColumnAttribute), false).FirstOrDefault() != null).Select(n => n.Name);
Let's say (from the first sample, method update of a class MyClass):
public class MyClass {
public int iMyStatusProperty { get; set; }
public int iMyKey { get; set; }
public int UpdateStatusProperty(int iValue){
this.iMyStatusProperty = iValue;
return _Update( new[iMyStatusProperty ], iMyKey); // this should generate SQL: "UPDATE MyClass set iMyStatusProperty = {iMyStatusProperty} where iMyKey = {iMyKey}"
}
{iMyStatusProperty} and {iMyKey} are property values of a class instance.
So, the problem is how to get property name (reflection) from a property without using names of properties as strings (to avoid field name typos).