How would I go about using an Expression Tree to dynamically create a predicate that looks something like...
(p.Length== 5) && (p.SomeOtherProperty == "hello")
So that I can stick the predicate into a lambda expression like so...
q.Where(myDynamicExpression)...
I just need to be pointed in the right direction.
Update: Sorry folks, I left out the fact that I want the predicate to have multiple conditions as above. Sorry for the confusion.
Original
Like so:
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(string), "p");
var len = Expression.PropertyOrField(param, "Length");
var body = Expression.Equal(
len, Expression.Constant(5));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<string, bool>>(
body, param);
Updated
re (p.Length== 5) && (p.SomeOtherProperty == "hello")
:
var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(SomeType), "p");
var body = Expression.AndAlso(
Expression.Equal(
Expression.PropertyOrField(param, "Length"),
Expression.Constant(5)
),
Expression.Equal(
Expression.PropertyOrField(param, "SomeOtherProperty"),
Expression.Constant("hello")
));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<SomeType, bool>>(body, param);
Use the predicate builder.
http://www.albahari.com/nutshell/predicatebuilder.aspx
Its pretty easy!
To combine several predicates with the &&
operator, you join them together two at a time.
So if you have a list of Expression objects called predicates
, do this:
Expression combined = predicates.Aggregate((l, r) => Expression.AndAlso(l, r));
To associate Lambda expression each other:
An other way is to use the following code. It s more flexible than the Schotime answer in my advice and work perfectly. No external Nuggets needed
Framework 4.0
// Usage first.Compose(second, Expression.And)
public static Expression<T> Compose<T>(this Expression<T> First, Expression<T> Second, Func<Expression, Expression, Expression> Merge)
{
// build parameter map (from parameters of second to parameters of first)
Dictionary<ParameterExpression,ParameterExpression> map = First.Parameters.Select((f, i) => new { f, s = Second.Parameters[i] }).ToDictionary(p => p.s, p => p.f);
// replace parameters in the second lambda expression with parameters from the first
Expression secondBody = ParameterRebinder.ReplaceParameters(map, Second.Body);
// apply composition of lambda expression bodies to parameters from the first expression
return Expression.Lambda<T>(Merge(First.Body, secondBody), First.Parameters);
}
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> And<T>(this Expression<Func<T, bool>> First, Expression<Func<T, bool>> Second)
{
return First.Compose(Second, Expression.And);
}
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> Or<T>(this Expression<Func<T, bool>> First, Expression<Func<T, bool>> second)
{
return First.Compose(second, Expression.Or);
}
public class ParameterRebinder : ExpressionVisitor
{
private readonly Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression> map;
public ParameterRebinder(Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression> map)
{
this.map = map ?? new Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression>();
}
public static Expression ReplaceParameters(Dictionary<ParameterExpression, ParameterExpression> map, Expression exp)
{
return new ParameterRebinder(map).Visit(exp);
}
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression p)
{
ParameterExpression replacement;
if (map.TryGetValue(p, out replacement))
{
p = replacement;
}
return base.VisitParameter(p);
}
}