How do I dynamically create an Expression<Func<MyClass, bool>> predicate from Expression<Func<MyClass, string>>?

Question

I trying to append where predicates and my goal is to create the same expression as:

Services.Where(s => s.Name == "Modules" && s.Namespace == "Namespace");

I have the following code:

Expression<Func<Service,string>> sel1 = s => s.Name;
Expression<Func<Service,string>> sel2 = s => s.Namespace;

var val1 = Expression.Constant("Modules");
var val2 = Expression.Constant("Namespace");

Expression e1 = Expression.Equal(sel1.Body, val1);
Expression e2 = Expression.Equal(sel2.Body, val2);
var andExp = Expression.AndAlso(e1, e2);

ParameterExpression argParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(string), "s");
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<string, bool>>(andExp, argParam);

This create the following output:

s => ((s.Name == "Modules") AndAlso (s.Namespace == "Namespace"))

However, this is faulty since the parameter for Name and Namespace isn't the same. If I change one of the expression selector to:

Expression<Func<Service,string>> sel2 = srv => srv.Namespace;

The output will be:

s => ((s.Name == "Modules") AndAlso (srv.Namespace == "Namespace"))

How can I create a valid expression with use of sel1 and sel2?

UPDATE (28 feb 2011)

I solved it by creating invoke expressions: Expression.Invoke so the lambda expressions sel1 and sel2 don't necessary need to be a MemberExpression:

Expression<Func<Service,string>> sel1 = s => s.Name;
Expression<Func<Service,string>> sel2 = srv => srv.Namespace;

var val1 = Expression.Constant("Modules");
var val2 = Expression.Constant("Namespace");

Expression<Func<Service, bool>> lambda = m => true;
var modelParameter = lambda.Parameters.First();

// sel1 predicate
{
    var invokedExpr = Expression.Invoke(sel1, modelParameter);
    var binaryExpression = Expression.Equal(invokedExpr, val1);
    lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Service, bool>>(Expression.AndAlso(binaryExpression, lambda.Body), lambda.Parameters);
}
// sel2 predicate
{
    var invokedExpr = Expression.Invoke(sel2, modelParameter);
    var binaryExpression = Expression.Equal(invokedExpr, val2);
    lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Service, bool>>(Expression.AndAlso(binaryExpression, lambda.Body), lambda.Parameters);
}

Answer 1

It's hard to mix compiler-generated expression trees and hand-made ones, precisely because of this sort of thing - extracting out the ParameterExpressions is tricky. So let's start from scratch:

ParameterExpression argParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Service), "s");
Expression nameProperty = Expression.Property(argParam, "Name");
Expression namespaceProperty = Expression.Property(argParam, "Namespace");

var val1 = Expression.Constant("Modules");
var val2 = Expression.Constant("Namespace");

Expression e1 = Expression.Equal(nameProperty, val1);
Expression e2 = Expression.Equal(namespaceProperty, val2);
var andExp = Expression.AndAlso(e1, e2);

var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Service, bool>>(andExp, argParam);

One important aspect I've changed is the type passed to Expression.Parameter - it certainly looks like it should be a Service rather than a string.

I've given that a try, and it seemed to work when I called lambda.Compile and executed it on a couple of sample Service objects...

Answer 2

You can create an Expression tree for nullable types, suppose you have a nullable field BoardId, you can create expression tree dynamically like this

var nameValue="BoardId=111";

you need to determine first Property type, whether its Nullable or not

Below code create a Dynamic tree expression for nullable and Non Nullable types

 public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> BuildWhereExpression<T>(string nameValueQuery ) where  T : class 
        {
            Expression<Func<T, bool>> predicate = null;
            PropertyInfo prop = null;
            var fieldName = nameValueQuery.Split("=")[0];
            var fieldValue = nameValueQuery.Split("=")[1];
            var properties = typeof(T).GetProperties();
            foreach (var property in properties)
            {
                if (property.Name.ToLower() == fieldName.ToLower())
                {
                    prop = property;
                }
            } 
            if (prop != null)
            {
                var isNullable = prop.PropertyType.IsNullableType();
                var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "x");
                var member = Expression.Property(parameter, fieldName); 

                if (isNullable)
                {
                    var filter1 =
                        Expression.Constant(
                            Convert.ChangeType(fieldValue, member.Type.GetGenericArguments()[0]));
                    Expression typeFilter = Expression.Convert(filter1, member.Type);
                    var body = Expression.Equal(member, typeFilter);  
                    predicate = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(body, parameter);  
                }
                else
                {
                    if (prop.PropertyType == typeof(string) && likeOerator.ToLower() == "like")
                    {
                        var parameterExp = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "type");
                        var propertyExp = Expression.Property(parameterExp, prop);
                        MethodInfo method = typeof(string).GetMethod("Contains", new[] { typeof(string) });
                        var someValue = Expression.Constant(fieldValue, typeof(string));
                        var containsMethodExp = Expression.Call(propertyExp, method, someValue);
                        predicate = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(containsMethodExp, parameterExp);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        var constant = Expression.Constant(Convert.ChangeType(fieldValue, prop.PropertyType));
                        var body = Expression.Equal(member, constant);  
                        predicate = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(body, parameter); `enter code here`
                    }
                }
            }
            return predicate;
        }

1- This Solution first checks for the Nullable value and generate the expression. This is How you can determine if the type is Nullable. I have created an extension method for that purpose

  public static bool IsNullableType(this Type type) {  return
    type.IsGenericType &&
    (type.GetGenericTypeDefinition().Equals(typeof(Nullable<>))); }

2- the second step is to check the type if its string then create an expression for a string.

3- the Third step is to check is value is not nullable not string then create an expression using equal