Multiple Include and Where Clauses Linq - c#

I have a database where I'm wanting to return a list of Clients.
These clients have a list of FamilyNames.
I started with this
var query = DbContext.Clients.Include(c => c.FamilyNames).ToList() //returns all clients, including their FamilyNames...Great.
But I want somebody to be able to search for a FamilyName, ifany results are returned, then show the clients to the user.
so I did this...
var query = DbContext.Clients.Include(c => c.FamilyNames.Where(fn => fn.familyName == textEnteredByUser)).ToList();
I tried...
var query = DbContext.Clients.Include(c => c.FamilyNames.Any(fn => fn.familyName == textEnteredByUser)).ToList();
and...
var query = DbContext.FamilyNames.Include(c => c.Clients).where(fn => fn.familyname == textEnteredByUser.Select(c => c.Clients)).ToList();
What I would like to know (obviously!) is how I could get this to work, but I would like it if at all possible to be done in one query to the database. Even if somebody can point me in the correct direction.
Kind regards

In Linq to Entities you can navigate on properties and they will be transformed to join statements.
This will return a list of clients.
var query = DbContext.Clients.Where(c => c.FamilyNames.Any(fn => fn == textEnteredByUser)).ToList();
If you want to include all their family names with eager loading, this should work:
var query = DbContext.Clients.Where(c => c.FamilyNames.Any(fn => fn == textEnteredByUser)).Include(c => c.FamilyNames).ToList();
Here is some reference about loading related entities if something doesn't work as expected.

You can use 'Projection', basically you select just the fields you want from any level into a new object, possibly anonymous.
var query = DbContext.Clients
.Where(c => c.FamilyNames.Any(fn => fn == textEnteredByUser))
// only calls that can be converted to SQL safely here
.Select(c => new {
ClientName = c.Name,
FamilyNames = c.FamilyNames
})
// force the query to be materialized so we can safely do other transforms
.ToList()
// convert the anon class to what we need
.Select(anon => new ClientViewModel() {
ClientName = anon.ClientName,
// convert IEnumerable<string> to List<string>
FamilyNames = anon.FamilyNames.ToList()
});
That creates an anonymous class with just those two properties, then forces the query to run, then performs a 2nd projection into a ViewModel class.
Usually I would be selecting into a ViewModel for passing to the UI, limiting it to just the bare minimum number of fields that the UI needs. Your needs may vary.

Related

How to make a linq-query with multiple Contains()/Any() on possibly empty lists?

I am trying to make a query to a database view based on earlier user-choices. The choices are stored in lists of objects.
What I want to achieve is for a record to be added to the reportViewList if the stated value exists in one of the lists, but if for example the clientList is empty the query should overlook this statement and add all clients in the selected date-range. The user-choices are stored in temporary lists of objects.
The first condition is a time-range, this works fine. I understand why my current solution does not work, but I can not seem to wrap my head around how to fix it. This example works when both a client and a product is chosen. When the lists are empty the reportViewList is obviously also empty.
I have played with the idea of adding all the records in the date-range and then removing the ones that does not fit, but this would be a bad solution and not efficient.
Any help or feedback is much appreciated.
List<ReportView> reportViews = new List<ReportView>();
using(var dbc = new localContext())
{
reportViewList = dbc.ReportViews.AsEnumerable()
.Where(x => x.OrderDateTime >= from && x.OrderDateTime <= to)
.Where(y => clientList.Any(x2 => x2.Id == y.ClientId)
.Where(z => productList.Any(x3 => x3.Id == z.ProductId)).ToList();
}
You should not call AsEnumerable() before you have added eeverything to your query. Calling AsEnumerable() here will cause your complete data to be loaded in memory and then be filtered in your application.
Without AsEnumerable() and before calling calling ToList() (Better call ToListAsync()), you are working with an IQueryable<ReportView>. You can easily compose it and just call ToList() on your final query.
Entity Framework will then examinate your IQueryable<ReportView> and generate an SQL expression out of it.
For your problem, you just need to check if the user has selected any filters and only add them to the query if they are present.
using var dbc = new localContext();
var reportViewQuery = dbc.ReportViews.AsQueryable(); // You could also write IQuryable<ReportView> reportViewQuery = dbc.ReportViews; but I prefer it this way as it is a little more save when you are refactoring.
// Assuming from and to are nullable and are null if the user has not selected them.
if (from.HasValue)
reportViewQuery = reportViewQuery.Where(r => r.OrderDateTime >= from);
if (to.HasValue)
reportViewQuery = reportViewQuery.Where(r => r.OrderDateTime <= to);
if(clientList is not null && clientList.Any())
{
var clientIds = clientList.Select(c => c.Id).ToHashSet();
reportViewQuery = reportViewQuery.Where(r => clientIds.Contains(y.ClientId));
}
if(productList is not null && productList.Any())
{
var productIds = productList.Select(p => p.Id).ToHashSet();
reportViewQuery = reportViewQuery.Where(r => productIds .Contains(r.ProductId));
}
var reportViews = await reportViewQuery.ToListAsync(); // You can also use ToList(), if you absolutely must, but I would not recommend it as it will block your current thread.

Using LINQ to populate a string with a single column value

I'm a newbie both to C# and to LINQ and would appreciate a small push in the right direction.
Firstly, I have an Overrides SQL table (and a corresponding EF DB context), which has a Type, Value, and Override Value. The idea is that for a particular kind ("Type") of override, the code can check a particular value and go see if there is an override value that should be used instead.
var branchOverrides = overridesSqlContext.Overrides
.Where(q => q.Type == "Branch Override")
.Select(s => new
{
s.Value,
s.OverrideValue
});
In this case, I want the list of different override values of the "Branch Override" type. From there, I would like to be able to retrieve a specific override value at a given point within my code. How can I query the branchOverrides variable I've created to be able to say something like:
string readingOverride = select OverrideValue from branchOverrides where Value = "Reading"
My code will need to be able to read various override values for different branches at different points, and being able to query the branchOverrides variable at any point would seem like the ideal approach.
Thank you for any assistance on this.
You can use Single() on the query object you have:
string readingOverride = branchOverrides
.Single(bo => bo.Value == "Reading")
.OverrideValue;
This will throw an exception if an entry doesn't exist though so you probably want to use SingleOrDefault instead and check for a null return.
Also note that the branchOverrides object here is an IQueryable<> which means that every time you use it, it will send a query to the database. You may want to materialise that to a local list by adding .ToList() after the Select(...). Alternatively, you may want to look at caching this data, especially if it's going to be used frequently.
If I understood you right, you want the entry with Value = "Reading" and Type="Branch Override":
var branchOverride = overridesSqlContext.Overrides
.SingleOrdDefault(q => q.Type == "Branch Override"
&& q.Value == "Reading")
.Select(s => new
{
s.Value,
s.OverrideValue
});
if (branchOverride != null)
{
// do whatever ...
}
For performance issue is good to put .ToList() in the end of your LINQ expression if you need to iterante over that list too many times.
var branchOverrides = overridesSqlContext.Overrides
.Where(q => q.Type == "Branch Override")
.Select(s => new
{
s.Value,
s.OverrideValue
}).ToList();
If it you will load the entire list into the memory avoiding to execute the sql query to fetch the data if you need to iterate through your list.
Other thing that you can do is:
string readingOverride = string.Empty;
var branchOverride = branchOverrides.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Value == "Reading");
if(branchOverride != null)
{
readingOverride = branchOverride.OverrideValue;
}
Hope that helps.
If Value is unique within "Branch Override" perhaps you want to turn it to a dictionary for fast lookup
var branchOverrides = overridesSqlContext.Overrides
.Where(q => q.Type == "Branch Override")
.Select(s => new
{
s.Value,
s.OverrideValue
})
.ToDictionary(k => k.Value, v => v.OverrideValue);
Then later on you can find the override value quickly and efficiently
var readingOverride = branchOverrides["Reading"];

Entity Framework Query is too slow

I have to put a complex query on your database. But the query ends at 8000 ms. Do I do something wrong? I use .net 1.1 and Entity Framework core 1.1.2 version.
var fol = _context.UserRelations
.Where(u => u.FollowerId == id && u.State == true)
.Select(p => p.FollowingId)
.ToArray();
var Votes = await _context.Votes
.OrderByDescending(c => c.CreationDate)
.Skip(pageSize * pageIndex)
.Take(pageSize)
.Where(fo => fol.Contains(fo.UserId))
.Select(vote => new
{
Id = vote.Id,
VoteQuestions = vote.VoteQuestions,
VoteImages = _context.VoteMedias.Where(m => m.VoteId == vote.Id)
.Select(k => k.MediaUrl.ToString()),
Options = _context.VoteOptions.Where(m => m.VoteId == vote.Id).Select( ques => new
{
OptionsID = ques.Id,
OptionsName = ques.VoteOption,
OptionsCount = ques.VoteRating.Count(cout => cout.VoteOptionsId == ques.Id),
}),
User = _context.Users.Where(u => u.Id == vote.UserId).Select(usr => new
{
Id = usr.Id,
Name = usr.UserProperties.Where(o => o.UserId == vote.UserId).Select(l => l.Name.ToString())
.First(),
Surname = usr.UserProperties.Where(o => o.UserId == vote.UserId)
.Select(l => l.SurName.ToString()).First(),
ProfileImage = usr.UserProfileImages.Where(h => h.UserId == vote.UserId && h.State == true)
.Select(n => n.ImageUrl.ToString()).First()
}),
NextPage = nextPage
}).ToListAsync();
Have a look at the SQL queries you generate to the server (and results of this queries). For SQL Server the best option is SQL Server Profiler, there are ways for other servers too.
you create two queries. First creates fol array and then you pass it into the second query using Contains. Do you know how this works? You probably generate query with as many parameters as many items you have in the array. It is neither pretty or efficient. It is not necessary here, merge it into the main query and you would have only one parameter.
you do paginating before filtering, is this really the way it should work? Also have a look at other ways of paginating based on filtering by ids rather than simple skipping.
you do too much side queries in one query. When you query three sublists of 100 items each, you do not get 300 rows. To get it in one query you create join and get actually 100*100*100 = 1000000 rows. Unless you are sure the frameworks can split it into multiple queries (probably can not), you should query the sublists in separate queries. This would be probably the main performance problem you have.
please use singular to name tables, not plural
for performance analysis, indexes structure and execution plan are vital information and you can not really say much without them
As noted in the comments, you are potentially executing 100, 1000 or 10000 queries. For every Vote in your database that matches the first result you do 3 other queries.
For 1000 votes which result from the first query you need to do 3000 other queries to fetch the data. That's insane!
You have to use EF Cores eager loading feature to fetch this data with very few queries. If your models are designed well with relations and navigation properties its easy.
When you load flat models without a projection (using .Select), you have to use .Include to tell EF Which other related entities it should load.
// Assuming your navigation property is called VoteMedia
await _context.Votes.
.Include(vote => vote.VoteMedia)
...
This would load all VoteMedia objects with the vote. So extra query to get them is not necessary.
But if you use projects, the .Include calls are not necessary (in fact they are even ignored, when you reference navigation properties in the projection).
// Assuming your navigation property is called VoteMedia
await _context.Votes.
.Include(vote => vote.VoteMedia)
...
.Select( vote => new
{
Id = vote.Id,
VoteQuestions = vote.VoteQuestions,
// here you reference to VoteMedia from your Model
// EF Core recognize that and will load VoteMedia too.
//
// When using _context.VoteMedias.Where(...), EF won't do that
// because you directly call into the context
VoteImages = vote.VoteMedias.Where(m => m.VoteId == vote.Id)
.Select(k => k.MediaUrl.ToString()),
// Same here
Options = vote.VoteOptions.Where(m => m.VoteId == vote.Id).Select( ques => ... );
}

how to compare values from a list in Linq to Entity (any / contains)

There is a list, policiesToDelete of entity class, MonitoringRelations. Out of this list I have selected two elements and construed a new list:
var policyKeysToDelete = policiesToDelete
.Select(r => new {r.PolicyId, r.GroupId})
.ToList();
Now, I have a query where I want to compare elements from policyKeysToDelete list.
var objectsToDelete = (from p in storageContext.MonitoringRelations
where policyKeysToDelete
.Any(x => x == new {p.PolicyId, p.GroupId})
select p)
.ToList();
The problem: the query above throws this exception:
NotSupportedException: Unable to create a constant value of type 'Anonymous type'. Only primitive types or enumeration types are supported in this context.
I have tried changing the anonymous list to a list<tuple<PolicyId, GroupId>> , but that also didn't help, throwing the almost same exception. I tried using Contains in place of Any but that also didn't help.
Any idea how can I solve this problem?
EF cannot translate a list of complex objects into the SQL query. What EF can do, is translate a list of simple values into SQL when you use it with the .Contains method.
So if you extract a list of PolicyId's and a list of GroupId's from the policyKeysToDelete, and use it to select as much as you can with EF, then you can do the full check in the resultset which is then in-memory, using Linq-to-objects.
Warning: you are extracting too much from the database, so depending on the amount of data, a different solution might be better.
var policyKeysToDelete = policiesToDelete
.Select(r => new {r.PolicyId, r.GroupId})
.ToList();
// List of values types, which can be translated to SQL
var policyIds = policyKeysToDelete.Select(x => x.PolicyId).ToList();
var groupIds = policyKeysToDelete.Select(x => x.GroupId).ToList();
var objectsToDelete = storageContext.MonitoringRelations
// Do the part that we can do in the database, which is select the records
// which have an corresponding PolicyId or GroupId
.Where(x => policyIds.Contains(x.PolicyId) || groupIds.Contains(x.GroupId))
// Use this method to indicate that whatever follows after should not be
// translated to SQL
.AsEnumerable()
// Do the full check in-memory
.Where(x => policyKeysToDelete
.Any(y => x.PolicyId == y.PolicyId && x.GroupId == y.GroupId)
)
.ToList();

Best Practices: Adding properties to a LINQ-to-Entities query result?

I'm writing an ASP.NET Web Pages application and in it, I have a massive LINQ to Entities query. This query pulls data from a table in the database, filters it, groups the data twice, and adds extra properties to the result set. I then loop through the table, outputting the rows.
The query is quite big, sorry:
accountOrders = db.EventOrders
.Where(order => order.EventID == eventID)
.OrderBy(order => order.ProductCode)
.GroupBy(order => new { order.AccountNum, order.Exhibitor, order.Booth })
.Select(orders =>
new {
Key = orders.Key,
ProductOrders = orders
.GroupBy(order => new { order.ProductCode, order.Product, order.Price })
.Select(productOrders =>
new {
Key = productOrders.Key,
Quantity = productOrders.Sum(item => item.Quantity),
HtmlID = String.Join(",", productOrders.Select(o => (o.OrderNum + "-" + o.OrderLine))),
AssignedLines = productOrders.SelectMany(order => order.LineAssignments)
})
})
.Select(account =>
new {
Key = account.Key,
// Property to see whether a booth number should be displayed
HasBooth = !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(account.Key.Booth),
HasAssignedDigitalLines = account.ProductOrders.Any(order => order.AssignedLines.Any(line => line.Type == "digital")),
// Dividing the orders into their respective product group
PhoneOrders = account.ProductOrders.Where(prod => ProductCodes.PHONE_CODES.Contains(prod.Key.ProductCode)),
InternetOrders = account.ProductOrders.Where(prod => ProductCodes.INTERNET_CODES.Contains(prod.Key.ProductCode)),
AdditionalOrders = account.ProductOrders.Where(prod => ProductCodes.ADDITIONAL_CODES.Contains(prod.Key.ProductCode))
})
.ToList();
I use the added properties to help style the output. For example, I use HasBooth property to check whether or not I should output the booth location in brackets beside the exhibitor name. The problem is I have to save this big query as an IEnumerable, meaning I get the error: Cannot use a lambda expression as an argument to a dynamically dispatched operation without first casting it to a delegate or expression tree type. Should I even be manipulating the query this way?
Any advice is much appreciated!
At some point, you are passing in a dynamic datatype to the method, which in turn changes the return type to simply dynamic. You can either cast the dynamic type to a type that is recognised at compile time or explicitly set the return type instead of using var.
You can read more about this issue here: http://www.mikesdotnetting.com/Article/198/Cannot-use-a-lambda-expression-as-an-argument-to-a-dynamically-dispatched-operation

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