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How can l use Regex.Replace method within LINQ

I have a controller with following method getMail():
public JsonResult getMail(string id)
{
int Id = Convert.ToInt32(id);
string pattern = #"\bmem_id\b";
string replace = "100";
var result = (from a in db.tblmail_type
where a.Id == Id
select new MailModel
{
subject = a.Subject,
Content = Regex.Replace(a.Content, pattern, replace);
});
return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
This method is used for getting mail content. Before getting content, I want to replace a "mem_id" to "100" in the mail content. Default content is given below:
Content = "You have successfully registered with Member ID: mem_id"
I have used Regex.Replace() method in the LINQ. But this code doesn't change the content. When I change this code to this form which is given below, it's work properly.
public JsonResult getMail(string id)
{
int Id = Convert.ToInt32(id);
var input = db.tblmail_type.Where(x=>x.Id==Id).FirstOrDefault().Content;
string pattern = #"\bmem_id\b";
string replace = "100";
string content = Regex.Replace(input, pattern, replace);
var result = (from a in db.tblmail_type
where a.Id == Id
select new MailModel
{
subject = a.Subject,
Content = content
});
return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
Why does this happen? Can anyone specify the reason behind this weird problem? How can I replace the "Content" within the LINQ?

You can use any one of the following solutions,
Solution 1:
Unfortunatelly, you won't be able to send the regex processing logic directly to the database.
You'll need to get the Content from the database and then iterate over the list and apply regex.
This can be done by using AsEnumerable(). It breaks the query into two part.
First part is inside part( query before AsEnumerable()) is executed as Linq-to-SQL.
Second part is outside part( query after AsEnumerable()) is executed as Linq-to-Objects.
First part is executed on database and all data brought in to the client side.
Second part (here it is where, select) is performed on the client side.
So in short AsEnumerable() operator move query processing to client side.
var result = ( from a in db.tblmail_type.AsEnumerable()
where a.Id == Id
select new MailModel {
subject = a.Subject,
Content = Regex.Replace(a.Content, pattern, replace)
});
Solution 2:
var result = db.tblmail_type.Where(x => x.Id == Id).AsEnumerable().Select(x => new MailModel { Content = Regex.Replace(x.Content, pattern, replace) , subject = x.Subject}).ToList();
Solution 3:
var result = db.tblmail_type.Where(x => x.Id == Id).ToList();
result.ForEach(x => x.Content = Regex.Replace(x.Content, pattern, replace));

How to create a custom store expression for my linq queries

Let me first explain what I'm trying to accomplish.
I'm working with a C# ASP.NET MVC 5 project using Entity Framework to communicate with a SQL Server database. Most of the queries utilizes linq for its queries. In various places on the frontend site I'm displaying lists of records and need to provide the means of searching these records via a search bar. The initial idea right now is to allow the user to enter a search phrase with keywords being separated by spaces, and those keywords are used to match any combination of fields in the records of a table.
For example, say my search is "John Doe" against a user table. Consider these being the records in this table:
uFirstName uLastName
---------- ----------
Johnny Doe
John Doe
Jane Doe
The first two records should be returned.
Here's an example method I would call to return the results I expect:
public static List<UserModel> GetUserList(string terms)
{
using (DBConnection dbcontext = new DBConnection())
{
var termlist = (terms == "") ? new List<string>() : terms.Split(' ').ToList();
var linqList = (from u in dbcontext.Users
where
(
(terms == "") ||
(termlist.Any(_s => u.uLastName.Contains(_s))) ||
(termlist.Any(_s => u.uFirstName.Contains(_s)))
)
select new { u.uLastName, u.uFirstName });
return linqList.ToList().ConvertAll<UserModel> ( u => new UserModel { LastName = u.uLastName, FirstName = u.uFirstName } );
}
}
In my project I'm utilizing this search bar in various places being used to search against a variety of tables that obviously have different fields. What I would like to do is create a helper method that allows me to pass in the "terms" string and have it matched against a list of field values within the linq statement generically. Here's an example pseudo method that shows what I would like to change the above method to:
public static List<UserModel> GetUserList(string terms)
{
using (DBConnection dbcontext = new DBConnection())
{
var linqList = (from u in dbcontext.Users
where SearchTermMatch(terms, new List<string>() { u.uLastName, u.uFirstName }) == true
select new { u.uLastName, u.uFirstName });
return linqList.ToList().ConvertAll<UserModel>(u => new UserModel { LastName = u.uLastName, FirstName = u.uFirstName });
}
}
And this is what the helper method would look like:
public static bool SearchTermMatch(string terms, List<string> fieldvalues)
{
if (terms == "") return true;
else
{
var termlist = terms.Split(' ').ToList();
var foundlist = new List<bool>();
foreach (string value in fieldvalues)
foundlist.Add(termlist.Any(s => value.Contains(s)));
return foundlist.Any(f => f == true);
}
}
Even though this compiles fine, at runtime it produces the following error:
LINQ to Entities does not recognize the method 'Boolean SearchTermMatch(System.String, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.String])' method, and this method cannot be translated into a store expression.
From all my searching on how to get this working, it's clear I need to utilize Expressions, but I can't for the life of me understand how those work. What I do understand is that Entity Framework wants to convert the linq statements into a query that SQL can understand, and my helper method isn't equipped to do so.
Ultimately what I want to accomplish is to build a helper method that I can later expand upon with more advanced searching techniques. I figure if I start simple with a search on all relevant fields based on a keyword split, I can later add more complexity that I would only have to do to this helper method and all my search bars will benefit from those advancements.
So I guess what I'm looking for is your help on how I can create this helper method that I can use throughout my various linq statements in my project.

Ok, I found a solution to my question. It's not completely ideal, but it gets the job done.
Let me first give reference to the sources I'm using for my solution. I first referred to this answer as the starting point:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/27993416/4566281
This answer referred to a source that I ended up using in my project. If you're using Visual Studio, you can find the package in NuGet, just search for "neinlinq", or get it from this GitHub repository:
https://github.com/axelheer/nein-linq
The only reason I don't consider this my ideal solution is that I was hoping to stick completely to the libraries in .NET / MVC. There's nothing wrong with using a 3rd party library, and in this case, it got the job done for me. But I was hoping to accomplish this as native as possible, and within reason.
So on to my code solution, as I hope this will help someone else in some capacity.
My "helper" function(s) ended up being this (don't forget to include "using NeinLinq;")
[InjectLambda]
public static bool SearchTermMatch(List<string> termlist, List<string> fieldvalues)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
public static Expression<Func<List<string>, List<string>, bool>> SearchTermMatch()
{
return (t,f) =>
(
(t.Count() == 0) ||
(t.Count(_t => f.Any(_f => _f.Contains(_t)) || _t == "") == t.Count())
);
}
And, my linq statement ended up being the following:
public static List<UserModel> GetUserList(string terms)
{
using (DBConnection dbcontext = new DBConnection())
{
var termlist = (terms == "") ? new List<string>() : terms.Split(' ').ToList();
var linqList = (from u in dbcontext.Users
where SearchTermMatch(termlist, new List<string>() { u.uLastName, u.uFirstName })
select new { u.uLastName, u.uFirstName });
return linqList.ToList().ConvertAll<UserModel>(u => new UserModel { LastName = u.uLastName, FirstName = u.uFirstName });
}
}
I also didn't like that I have to construct the "termlist" before the linq statement in order to make the comparisons I wanted. Ideally I'd like to have the "SearchTermMatch" expression to construct the list through something similar to Split so all I had to do was pass in the string "terms", but I couldn't figure out how to accomplish that in the expression. If someone has an idea on how to do that please let me know. I could then have the flexibility to establish my own set of search rules in the expression instead of having the calling linq statement make the list.
So, to come full circle on how this accomplishes my sitution, I can now repurpose SearchTermMatch for all my search bar scenarios. Take for example this statement:
var linqList = (from p in Person
join a in Address on p.AddressID equals a.AddressID
select new { p.ContactName, p.EmailAddress, a.Street, a.City, a.State, a.Zipcode });
I can now easily update it to the following to handle my search bar call:
var termlist = (terms == "") ? new List<string>() : terms.Split(' ').ToList();
var linqList = (from p in Person
join a in Address on p.AddressID equals a.AddressID
where SearchTermMatch(termlist, new List<string>() { p.ContactName, p.EmailAddress, a.Street, a.City, a.State, a.Zipcode })
select new { p.ContactName, p.EmailAddress, a.Street, a.City, a.State, a.Zipcode });

Passing parameter to LINQ query

I have a method like below:
public void GetUserIdByCode(string userCode)
{
var query = from u in db.Users
where u.Code == userCode // userCode = "LRAZAK"
select u.Id;
var userId = query.FirstOrDefault(); // userId = 0 :(
}
When I ran the code, I got the default value of 0 assigned to userId meaning the Id was not found.
However, if I changed the userCode with a string like below, I will get the value I want.
public void GetUserIdByCode(string userCode)
{
var query = from u in db.Users
where u.Code == "LRAZAK" // Hard-coded string into the query
select u.Id;
var userId = query.FirstOrDefault(); // userId = 123 Happy days!!
}
My question is why passing the parameter into the LINQ query does not work?
When I stepped into the code, I got the SQL statement like so:
// Does not work...
{SELECT "Extent1"."LOGONNO" AS "LOGONNO"FROM "DEBTORSLIVE"."DEBTORS_LOGONS" "Extent1"WHERE ("Extent1"."LOGONCODE" = :p__linq__0)}
The hard-coded LINQ query (the working one) gives an SQL statement as below:
// Working just fine
{SELECT "Extent1"."LOGONNO" AS "LOGONNO"FROM "DEBTORSLIVE"."DEBTORS_LOGONS" "Extent1"WHERE ('LRAZAK' = "Extent1"."LOGONCODE")}
What would be the solution?

As a work-around, I use Dynamic Linq.
The code below is working for me.
public void GetUserIdByCode(string userCode)
{
string clause = String.Format("Code=\"{0}\"", userCode);
var userId = db.Users
.Where(clause)
.Select(u => u.Id)
.FirstOrDefault();
}
The database query returns an object of User with Code and Id as properties. This is defined in one of my classes.

Here is syntax that will work to pass an argument to a LINQ query.
Not sure how many people will be searching this topic so many years later, but here's a code example that gets the job done:
string cuties = "777";
// string collection
IList<string> stringList = new List<string>() {
"eg. 1",
"ie LAMBDA",
"777"
};
var result = from s in stringList
where (s == cuties)
select s;
foreach (var str in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(str); // Output: "777"
}

Is there an "Explain Query" for MongoDB Linq?

Is there a way to run .explain() or equivalent on Linq queries? I would want to know
The text of the actual JSON query
The output of .explain() (indexes used, etc)
It would also be nice to have the execution time of the query

You can get the Json easily enough if you have a query wrapper;
var qLinq = Query<T>.Where(x => x.name=="jim");
Console.WriteLine(qLinq.ToJson());
There's also an Explain() method on MongoCursor, so you could do this;
var exp = Collection.FindAs<T>(qLinq).Explain()
Console.WriteLine(exp.ToJson());
So if you want the time taken, "millis" is in there;
var msTaken = exp.First(x => x.Name == "millis").Value.AsInt32;
If you have an IQueryable, try something like this;
void Do(MongoCollection col, IQueryable iq)
{
// Json Mongo Query
var imq = (iq as MongoQueryable<Blob>).GetMongoQuery();
Console.WriteLine(imq.ToString());
// you could also just do;
// var cursor = col.FindAs(typeof(Blob), imq);
var cursor = MongoCursor.Create(typeof(Blob), col, imq, ReadPreference.Nearest);
var explainDoc = cursor.Explain();
Console.WriteLine(explainDoc);
}//Do()

If you want this functionality in a library, I just created a GitHub project entitled
MongoDB query helper for .NET
https://github.com/mikeckennedy/mongodb-query-helper-for-dotnet
It will:
Explain a LINQ query as a strongly typed object (does it use an index for example)
Convert a LINQ query to the JavaScript code run in MongoDB
Check it out and contribute if you find it interesting.

Yes, there is. It shows everything .explain does and has a boolean for verbosity (it includes the time it took to execute):
var database = new MongoClient().GetServer().GetDatabase("db");
var collection = database.GetCollection<Hamster>("Hamsters");
var explanation = collection.AsQueryable().Where(hamster => hamster.Name == "bar").Explain(true);
Console.WriteLine(explanation);
It doesn't show the query though. Here's an extension method for that:
public static string GetMongoQuery<TItem>(this IQueryable<TItem> query)
{
var mongoQuery = query as MongoQueryable<TItem>;
return mongoQuery == null ? null : mongoQuery.GetMongoQuery().ToString();
}
Usage:
var query = collection.AsQueryable().Where(hamster => hamster.Name == "bar").GetMongoQuery();
Console.WriteLine(query);

In mongodb 3 C# I used following:
var users = Mongo.db.GetCollection<User>("Users");
var r = users(m => m._id == yourIdHere)
.Project(m => new { m._id, m.UserName, m.FirstName, m.LastName })
.Limit(1);
Console.WriteLine(r.ToString());
Result:
find({ "_id" : ObjectId("56030e87ca42192008ed0955") }, { "_id" : 1, "UserName" : 1, "FirstName" : 1, "LastName" : 1 }).limit(1)

How can I conditionally apply a Linq operator?

We're working on a Log Viewer. The use will have the option to filter by user, severity, etc. In the Sql days I'd add to the query string, but I want to do it with Linq. How can I conditionally add where-clauses?

if you want to only filter if certain criteria is passed, do something like this
var logs = from log in context.Logs
select log;
if (filterBySeverity)
logs = logs.Where(p => p.Severity == severity);
if (filterByUser)
logs = logs.Where(p => p.User == user);
Doing so this way will allow your Expression tree to be exactly what you want. That way the SQL created will be exactly what you need and nothing less.

If you need to filter base on a List / Array use the following:
public List<Data> GetData(List<string> Numbers, List<string> Letters)
{
if (Numbers == null)
Numbers = new List<string>();
if (Letters == null)
Letters = new List<string>();
var q = from d in database.table
where (Numbers.Count == 0 || Numbers.Contains(d.Number))
where (Letters.Count == 0 || Letters.Contains(d.Letter))
select new Data
{
Number = d.Number,
Letter = d.Letter,
};
return q.ToList();
}

I ended using an answer similar to Daren's, but with an IQueryable interface:
IQueryable<Log> matches = m_Locator.Logs;
// Users filter
if (usersFilter)
matches = matches.Where(l => l.UserName == comboBoxUsers.Text);
// Severity filter
if (severityFilter)
matches = matches.Where(l => l.Severity == comboBoxSeverity.Text);
Logs = (from log in matches
orderby log.EventTime descending
select log).ToList();
That builds up the query before hitting the database. The command won't run until .ToList() at the end.

I solved this with an extension method to allow LINQ to be conditionally enabled in the middle of a fluent expression. This removes the need to break up the expression with if statements.
.If() extension method:
public static IQueryable<TSource> If<TSource>(
this IQueryable<TSource> source,
bool condition,
Func<IQueryable<TSource>, IQueryable<TSource>> branch)
{
return condition ? branch(source) : source;
}
This allows you to do this:
return context.Logs
.If(filterBySeverity, q => q.Where(p => p.Severity == severity))
.If(filterByUser, q => q.Where(p => p.User == user))
.ToList();
Here's also an IEnumerable<T> version which will handle most other LINQ expressions:
public static IEnumerable<TSource> If<TSource>(
this IEnumerable<TSource> source,
bool condition,
Func<IEnumerable<TSource>, IEnumerable<TSource>> branch)
{
return condition ? branch(source) : source;
}

When it comes to conditional linq, I am very fond of the filters and pipes pattern.
http://blog.wekeroad.com/mvc-storefront/mvcstore-part-3/
Basically you create an extension method for each filter case that takes in the IQueryable and a parameter.
public static IQueryable<Type> HasID(this IQueryable<Type> query, long? id)
{
return id.HasValue ? query.Where(o => i.ID.Equals(id.Value)) : query;
}

Doing this:
bool lastNameSearch = true/false; // depending if they want to search by last name,
having this in the where statement:
where (lastNameSearch && name.LastNameSearch == "smith")
means that when the final query is created, if lastNameSearch is false the query will completely omit any SQL for the last name search.

Another option would be to use something like the PredicateBuilder discussed here.
It allows you to write code like the following:
var newKids = Product.ContainsInDescription ("BlackBerry", "iPhone");
var classics = Product.ContainsInDescription ("Nokia", "Ericsson")
.And (Product.IsSelling());
var query = from p in Data.Products.Where (newKids.Or (classics))
select p;
Note that I've only got this to work with Linq 2 SQL. EntityFramework does not implement Expression.Invoke, which is required for this method to work. I have a question regarding this issue here.

It isn't the prettiest thing but you can use a lambda expression and pass your conditions optionally. In TSQL I do a lot of the following to make parameters optional:
WHERE Field = #FieldVar OR #FieldVar IS NULL
You could duplicate the same style with a the following lambda (an example of checking authentication):
MyDataContext db = new MyDataContext();
void RunQuery(string param1, string param2, int? param3){
Func checkUser = user =>
((param1.Length > 0)? user.Param1 == param1 : 1 == 1) &&
((param2.Length > 0)? user.Param2 == param2 : 1 == 1) &&
((param3 != null)? user.Param3 == param3 : 1 == 1);
User foundUser = db.Users.SingleOrDefault(checkUser);
}

I had a similar requirement recently and eventually found this in he MSDN.
CSharp Samples for Visual Studio 2008
The classes included in the DynamicQuery sample of the download allow you to create dynamic queries at runtime in the following format:
var query =
db.Customers.
Where("City = #0 and Orders.Count >= #1", "London", 10).
OrderBy("CompanyName").
Select("new(CompanyName as Name, Phone)");
Using this you can build a query string dynamically at runtime and pass it into the Where() method:
string dynamicQueryString = "City = \"London\" and Order.Count >= 10";
var q = from c in db.Customers.Where(queryString, null)
orderby c.CompanyName
select c;

You can create and use this extension method
public static IQueryable<TSource> WhereIf<TSource>(this IQueryable<TSource> source, bool isToExecute, Expression<Func<TSource, bool>> predicate)
{
return isToExecute ? source.Where(predicate) : source;
}

Just use C#'s && operator:
var items = dc.Users.Where(l => l.Date == DateTime.Today && l.Severity == "Critical")
Edit: Ah, need to read more carefully. You wanted to know how to conditionally add additional clauses. In that case, I have no idea. :) What I'd probably do is just prepare several queries, and execute the right one, depending on what I ended up needing.

You could use an external method:
var results =
from rec in GetSomeRecs()
where ConditionalCheck(rec)
select rec;
...
bool ConditionalCheck( typeofRec input ) {
...
}
This would work, but can't be broken down into expression trees, which means Linq to SQL would run the check code against every record.
Alternatively:
var results =
from rec in GetSomeRecs()
where
(!filterBySeverity || rec.Severity == severity) &&
(!filterByUser|| rec.User == user)
select rec;
That might work in expression trees, meaning Linq to SQL would be optimised.

Well, what I thought was you could put the filter conditions into a generic list of Predicates:
var list = new List<string> { "me", "you", "meyou", "mow" };
var predicates = new List<Predicate<string>>();
predicates.Add(i => i.Contains("me"));
predicates.Add(i => i.EndsWith("w"));
var results = new List<string>();
foreach (var p in predicates)
results.AddRange(from i in list where p.Invoke(i) select i);
That results in a list containing "me", "meyou", and "mow".
You could optimize that by doing the foreach with the predicates in a totally different function that ORs all the predicates.