We Keep Coding

How can I convert a Parameter Expression into a function?

If I have a dynamically created ParameterExpression:
class Product
{
public string Name { get; set; }
}
var propertyName = "Name";
var propertyType = typeof(Product).GetProperty(propertyName).PropertyType;
var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(propertyType , propertyName);
How can I covert it into a Func<Product, TPropertyType>?
I specifically want to pass this into the Where or OrderBy linq methods used by entity framework.
I'm also open to other suggestions not using Expressions, but I highly doubt it's possible.
Edit 1: Removed the where use case as Where and OrderBy will have different implementations Removed in an attempt to narrow the scope of the question.

Here is an example with generating expressions for OrderBy and Where. As Johnathon Sullinger said in comments, you must know type of property you ordering by at compile time, because it is mentioned in signature of OrderBY. However you don't have to know it for Where:
class Product
{
public string Name { get; set; }
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var products = new List<Product> {
new Product { Name = "ZZZ"},
new Product { Name = "AAA"}
};
var propertyName = "Name";
var ordered = products.AsQueryable().OrderBy(GetOrderExpression<string>(propertyName));
Console.WriteLine(ordered.ElementAt(0).Name);
Console.WriteLine(ordered.ElementAt(1).Name);
var filtered = products.AsQueryable().Where(GetWhereExpression(propertyName, "AAA"));
Console.WriteLine(filtered.Count());
Console.WriteLine(filtered.ElementAt(0).Name);
Console.ReadKey();
}
static Expression<Func<Product, TKey>> GetOrderExpression<TKey>(string propertyName)
{
var prm = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Product), "p");
var prop = Expression.Property(prm, typeof(Product), propertyName);
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Product, TKey>>(prop, "p", new[] { prm });
return lambda;
}
static Expression<Func<Product, bool>> GetWhereExpression(string propertyName, object value)
{
var prm = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Product), "p");
var prop = Expression.Property(prm, typeof(Product), propertyName);
var equal = Expression.Equal(prop, Expression.Constant(value));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Product, bool>>(equal, "p", new[] { prm });
return lambda;
}
Hope it helps.

cast left side of expression predicate into string

i am having a generic method which return an expression predicate to filter data from list.
MemberExpression member = Expression.Property(param, filter.ColumnName);
ConstantExpression constant = Expression.Constant(filter.TextToBeFiltered);
switch (filter.FilterOperation)
{
case FilterEnum.Equals:
return Expression.Equal(member, constant);
}
var res = List.Where(reqExpression).ToList();
Problem is the properties in list some of are string,int,guid etc so i want to cast left side of expression into string because i need to compare all properties with string only like a=> a.Id.tostring() == inputstringso how to perform it in my code.

Take a look at this full example:
class Program
{
class MyType
{
public int Column { get; set; }
};
public static string AsString(object obj)
{
return obj?.ToString();
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(MyType));
//your member
MemberExpression member = Expression.Property(param, "Column");
var asString = typeof(Program).GetMethod("AsString");
var stringMember = Expression.Call(asString, Expression.Convert(member, typeof(object)));
//your value
ConstantExpression constant = Expression.Constant("23");
//your switch
var expression = Expression.Equal(stringMember, constant);
var lambda = Expression.Lambda(expression, param);
var list = new List<MyType>
{
new MyType{Column = 23},
new MyType{Column= 24}
};
var res = list.Where((Func<MyType,bool>)lambda.Compile()).ToList();
}
}
You can also use ToString method (beware nulls!) or Convert.ChangeType. Own AsString method is good for custom types and... for debugging.
Think as building code:
p => AsString((object)p.Column) == "23"

Generic Expression tree with 'OR' clause for each supplied property

I have created a generic search extension method for IQueryable that enables you to search for a single property to see if a search term is contained within it.
http://jnye.co/Posts/6/c%23-generic-search-extension-method-for-iqueryable
I now want to enable the user to select multiple properties to search within each, matching if any property contains the text.
The code:
The user enters the following code to perform this search:
string searchTerm = "Essex";
context.Clubs.Search(searchTerm, club => club.Name, club => club.County)
//Note: If possible I would rather something closer to the following syntax...
context.Clubs.Search(club => new[]{ club.Name, club.County}, searchTerm);
// ... or, even better, something similar to this...
context.Clubs.Search(club => new { club.Name, club.County}, searchTerm);
This will return any golf club with 'Essex' in the Name or as the County.
public static IQueryable<TSource> Search<TSource>(this IQueryable<TSource> source, string searchTerm, params Expression<Func<TSource, string>>[] stringProperties)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(searchTerm))
{
return source;
}
// The lamda I would like to reproduce:
// source.Where(x => x.[property1].Contains(searchTerm)
// || x.[property2].Contains(searchTerm)
// || x.[property3].Contains(searchTerm)...)
//Create expression to represent x.[property1].Contains(searchTerm)
var searchTermExpression = Expression.Constant(searchTerm);
//Build parameters
var parameters = stringProperties.SelectMany(prop => prop.Parameters);
Expression orExpression = null;
//Build a contains expression for each property
foreach (var stringProperty in stringProperties)
{
var checkContainsExpression = Expression.Call(stringProperty.Body, typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains"), searchTermExpression);
if (orExpression == null)
{
orExpression = checkContainsExpression;
}
//Build or expression for each property
orExpression = Expression.OrElse(orExpression, checkContainsExpression);
}
var methodCallExpression = Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable),
"Where",
new Type[] { source.ElementType },
source.Expression,
Expression.Lambda<Func<TSource, bool>>(orExpression, parameters));
return source.Provider.CreateQuery<TSource>(methodCallExpression);
}
The error
If I change the number of parameters supplied to 1:
Expression.Lambda<Func<TSource, bool>>(orExpression, parameters.First()));
I get a new error:
UPDATE
I have written a post on the work discussed in this question. Check it out on GitHub too.

Here we go; you were pretty close - as I noted in comments, the key piece here is to use ExpressionVisitor to re-write the trees in terms of the single parameter you want to keep:
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
var data = new[] { new Foo { A = "x1", B = "y1", C = "y1" }, new Foo { A = "y2", B = "y2", C = "y2" },
new Foo { A = "y3", B = "y3", C = "x3" } }.AsQueryable();
var result = data.Search("x", x => x.A, x => x.B, x => x.C);
foreach (var row in result)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0}, {1}, {2}", row.A, row.B, row.C);
}
}
class Foo
{
public string A { get; set; }
public string B { get; set; }
public string C { get; set; }
}
public class SwapVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
private readonly Expression from, to;
public SwapVisitor(Expression from, Expression to)
{
this.from = from;
this.to = to;
}
public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
{
return node == from ? to : base.Visit(node);
}
public static Expression Swap(Expression body, Expression from, Expression to)
{
return new SwapVisitor(from, to).Visit(body);
}
}
public static IQueryable<TSource> Search<TSource>(this IQueryable<TSource> source, string searchTerm, params Expression<Func<TSource, string>>[] stringProperties)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(searchTerm))
{
return source;
}
if (stringProperties.Length == 0) return source.Where(x => false);
// The lamda I would like to reproduce:
// source.Where(x => x.[property1].Contains(searchTerm)
// || x.[property2].Contains(searchTerm)
// || x.[property3].Contains(searchTerm)...)
//Create expression to represent x.[property1].Contains(searchTerm)
var searchTermExpression = Expression.Constant(searchTerm);
var param = stringProperties[0].Parameters.Single();
Expression orExpression = null;
//Build a contains expression for each property
foreach (var stringProperty in stringProperties)
{
// re-write the property using the param we want to keep
var body = SwapVisitor.Swap(stringProperty.Body, stringProperty.Parameters.Single(), param);
var checkContainsExpression = Expression.Call(
body, typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains"), searchTermExpression);
if (orExpression == null)
{
orExpression = checkContainsExpression;
}
else
{ // compose
orExpression = Expression.OrElse(orExpression, checkContainsExpression);
}
}
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<TSource, bool>>(orExpression, param);
return source.Where(lambda);
}
}

Using given properties as strings

I would like to use a single, general method to retrieve an ordered list for a given string representing a property inside a lambda expression.
I know people requested this before but it didn't work for me. I tried this and it threw error:
db.Books.OrderByDescending(x => x.GetType().GetProperty("Discount").GetValue(x,null))
.Take(3);
I'm using this at the moment:
public IQueryable<Book> GetCheapestBooks()
{
return db.Books.OrderBy(x => x.Discount)
.Take(3);
}

maybe this is what you are looking for:
Dynamic Linq
With this you can write queries like:
var result = db.Books.OrderBy( "Discount" ).Take( 3 );

Simple console application.
class A
{
public int prop1 { get; set; }
public int prop2 { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
static IEnumerable<T> GenericOrderByDescending<T>(IEnumerable<T> arg, string property, int take)
{
return arg.OrderByDescending(x => x.GetType().GetProperty(property).GetValue(x, null)).Take(take);
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
IEnumerable<A> arr = new List<A>()
{
new A(){ prop1 = 1, prop2 = 2},
new A(){prop1 = 2,prop2 =2},
new A(){prop1 = 3,prop2 =2},
new A(){prop1 = 441,prop2 =2},
new A(){prop1 = 2,prop2 =2}
};
foreach(var a1 in GenericOrderByDescending<A>(arr, "prop1", 3))
{
Console.WriteLine(a1.prop1);
}
}
}
U can pass your db.Boks.AsEnumerable() as parameter for GenericOrderByDescending<T>() method. Instead of T you should type the type of your db.Boks items. My example sorts an array of instances of class A and I've got no errors, it works fine. Did I understand you correctly?

You can try with this code
public IQueryable<Book> GetCheapestBooks()
{
db.Books.OrderBy(x => x.Discount).Take(3).AsQueryable<Book>();
}

You could create an extension method which creates the property expression:
private static IOrderedQueryable<T> OrderBy<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName)
{
PropertyInfo prop = typeof(T).GetProperty(propertyName);
ParameterExpression paramExpr = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "obj");
MemberExpression propExpr = Expression.Property(paramExpr, prop);
Type funcType = typeof(Func<,>).MakeGenericType(typeof(T), prop.PropertyType);
Type keySelectorType = typeof(Expression<>).MakeGenericType(funcType);
LambdaExpression keySelector = Expression.Lambda(funcType, propExpr, paramExpr);
MethodInfo orderByMethod = typeof(Queryable).GetMethods().Single(m => m.Name == "OrderBy" && m.GetParameters().Length == 2).MakeGenericMethod(typeof(T), prop.PropertyType);
return (IOrderedQueryable<T>) orderByMethod.Invoke(null, new object[] { source, keySelector });
}

How can I create a dynamic Select on an IEnumerable<T> at runtime?

Given that I have an IEnumerable<T>, where T is any object, how can I select a specific property from it, given that I know the name of the one of the property names at run time as a string?
For example:
var externalIEnumerable = DataPassedFromConsumingCode(); // `IEnumerable<T>`
string knownPropertyName = "Foo";
var fooSelect = externalIEnumerable.Select(...);
In essence, I'm obviously just doing externalIEnumerable.Select(x=> x.Foo);, but I need to perform this Select at runtime, when I don't have control over when it's initially created.
--
ANSWER: Based on AlanT's answer, here's what I actually did:
public Expression<Func<TItem, object>> SelectExpression<TItem>(string fieldName)
{
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TItem), "item");
var field = Expression.Property(param, fieldName);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TItem, object>>(field,
new ParameterExpression[] { param });
}
I kept it as an Expression, because calling Compile caused the IQueryable to be Enumerated, which meant the database was hit unnecessarily. So, to use it, I just do the following:
string primaryKey = _map.GetPrimaryKeys(typeof(TOriginator)).Single();
var primaryKeyExpression = SelectExpression<TOriginator>(primaryKey);
var primaryKeyResults = query.Select(primaryKeyExpression).ToList();

It is possible to do this using an Expression
e.g.
private class Foo {
public string Bar { get; set; }
}
private IEnumerable<Foo> SomeFoos = new List<Foo>() {
new Foo{Bar = "Jan"},
new Foo{Bar = "Feb"},
new Foo{Bar = "Mar"},
new Foo{Bar = "Apr"},
};
[TestMethod]
public void GetDynamicProperty() {
var expr = SelectExpression<Foo, string>("Bar");
var propValues = SomeFoos.Select(expr);
Assert.IsTrue(new[] { "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr" }.SequenceEqual(propValues));
}
public static Func<TItem, TField> SelectExpression<TItem, TField>(string fieldName) {
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TItem), "item");
var field = Expression.Property(param, fieldName);
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TItem, TField>>(field, new ParameterExpression[] { param }).Compile();
}
hth,
Alan.

The dynamic linq library allows you to specify predicates and projections on the fly and may fit your use case-
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/01/07/dynamic-linq-part-1-using-the-linq-dynamic-query-library.aspx

You can dynamically build an Expression<Func<T, U>>.