EF Core - projections as string - entity-framework-core

I would like to create an API which lets query all fields and relations' fields (transitively) of an entity.
Let's see through an example, using from EF-demo Students-Courses-Ennrollment data model: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/data/ef-rp/intro
The following HTTP request would request 3 fields (I hope the syntax is understandable):
GET /students?$select=FirstName,Ennrollments(12345).Grade,Ennrollments(67890).Course.Title
Then the corresponding query would be something like:
context.Students.Select(s => new
{
s.FirstName,
s.Ennrollments.First(e => e.EnnrollmentId == 12345).Grade,
s.Ennrollments.First(e => e.EnnrollmentId == 67890).Course.Title
});
So I'd dynamically map string field "references" to projections/EF expressions. Is this something possible to achieve with EF Core? For example using Metadata?

Related

Foreign Key Object Missing in LINQ GroupBy?

I am using GroupBy in my LINQ queries. My query is working fine, except my foreign key objects are missing. Then, I tried to add Include in my query. Following is my code:
public ActionResult GetEmployees()
{
var Emloyees = db.Employees.AsQueryable();
Emloyees.GroupBy(e=> new {e.JobTitleId, e.GenderId})
.Select(tr => new MyObject
SalaryTotal = tr.Sum(r=>r.Salary)
}).Include(tr=>tr.JobTitle).Include(tr=>tr.Gender).ToList();
}
I am getting this exception:
The result type of the query is neither an EntityType nor a CollectionType with an entity element type. An Include path can only be specified for a query with one of these result types.
I tried to add it before GroupBy and directly in db.Employees.AsQueryable(), but nothing worked. What am I doing wrong?
The problem is that you are doing a projection with the .Select(...), after which your includes cannot be resolved. The result of that query will be a list MyObject, which does not work for includes that are actually on Employee.
So Try it like this:
Emloyees
.GroupBy(e=> new {e.JobTitleId, e.GenderId})
.Select(tr => new MyObject {
SalaryTotal = tr.Sum(r=>r.Salary),
JobTitle = tr.FirstOrDefault().JobTitle,
Gender = tr.FirstOrDefault().Gender
}).ToList();
You will have to extend MyObject with 2 additional properties, but the result of your query will be what you want (I assume).

How to filter records using group functionality in BreezeJs

I'm developing a client app that uses breezejs and Entity Framework 6 on the back end. I've got a statement like this:
var country = 'Mexico';
var customers = EntityQuery.from('customers')
.where('country', '==', country)
.expand('order')
I want to use There may be hundreds of orders that each customer has made. For the purposes of performance, I only want to retrieve the latest order for each customer. This will be based on the created date for the order. In SQL, I could write something like this:
SELECT c.customerId, companyName, ContactName, City, Country, max(o.OrderDate) as LatestOrder FROM Customers c
inner join Orders o on c.CustomerID = o.CustomerID
group by c.customerId, companyName, ContactName, City, Country
If this was run against the northwind database, only the most recent order row is returned for each customer.
How can I write a similar query in breeze, so that it runs on the server side and therefore returns less data to the client. I know I could handle this all on the client but writing some javascript in a querysucceeded method that could be run by the client - but that's not the goal here.
thanks
For a case like this, you should create a special endpoint method that will perform your query.
Then you can use an Entity Framework query to do what you want, using the LINQ syntax.
Here are two Web API examples:
[HttpGet]
public IQueryable<Object> CustomersLatestOrderEntities()
{
// IQueryable<Object> containing Customer and Order entity
var entities = ContextProvider.Context.Customers.Select(c => new { Customer = c, LatestOrder = c.Orders.OrderByDescending(o => o.OrderDate).FirstOrDefault() });
return entities;
}
[HttpGet]
public IQueryable<Object> CustomersLatestOrderProjections()
{
// IQueryable<Object> containing Customer and Order entity
var entities = ContextProvider.Context.Customers.Select(c => new { Customer = c, LatestOrder = c.Orders.OrderByDescending(o => o.OrderDate).FirstOrDefault() });
// IQueryable<Object> containing just data fields, no entities
var projections = entities.Select(e => new { e.Customer.CustomerID, e.Customer.ContactName, e.LatestOrder.OrderDate });
return projections;
}
Note that you have a choice here. You can return actual entities, or you can return just some data fields. Which is right for you depends upon how you are going to use them on the client. If they are just for display in a
non-editable list, you can just return the plain data (CustomersLatestOrderProjections above). If they can potentially
be edited, then return the object containing the entities (CustomersLatestOrderEntities). Breeze will merge the entities
into its cache, even though they are contained inside this anonymous object.
Either way, because it returns IQueryable, you can use the Breeze filtering syntax from the client to further qualify the query.
var projectionQuery = breeze.EntityQuery.from("CustomersLatestOrderProjections")
.skip(20)
.take(10);
var entityQuery = breeze.EntityQuery.from("CustomersLatestOrderEntities")
.where('customer.countryName', 'startsWith', 'C');
.take(10);

Filtering related entities in entity framework 6

I want to fetch the candidate and the work exp where it is not deleted. I am using repository pattern in my c# app mvc.
Kind of having trouble filtering the record and its related child entities
I have list of candidates which have collection of workexp kind of throws error saying cannot build expression from the body.
I tried putting out anonymous object but error still persist, but if I use a VM or DTO for returning the data the query works.
It's like EF doesn't like newing up of the existing entity within its current context.
var candidate = dbcontext.candidate
.where(c=>c.candiate.ID == id).include(c=>c.WorkExperience)
.select(e=>new candidate
{
WorkExperience = e.WorkExperience.where(k=>k.isdeleted==false).tolist()
});
Is there any workaround for this?
You cannot call ToList in the expression that is traslated to SQL. Alternatively, you can start you query from selecting from WorkExperience table. I'm not aware of the structure of your database, but something like this might work:
var candidate = dbcontext.WorkExperience
.Include(exp => exp.Candidate)
.Where(exp => exp.isdeleted == false && exp.Candidate.ID == id)
.GroupBy(exp => exp.Candidate)
.ToArray() //query actually gets executed and return grouped data from the DB
.Select(groped => new {
Candidate = grouped.Key,
Experience = grouped.ToArray()
});
var candidate =
from(dbcontext.candidate.Include(c=>c.WorkExperience)
where(c=>c.candiate.ID == id)
select c).ToList().Select(cand => new candidate{WorkExperience = cand.WorkExperience.where(k=>k.isdeleted==false).tolist()});

Linq to Entities Distinct on Column without Anonymous Type

I am using Entity Framework 5.0 and I wish to return a list of objects, however, I want to perform a DISTINCT on one of the properties on each object within the list.
I know there are a few questions similar to mine already on Stackoverflow, however, I am still struggling with this one.
Currently my query looks like this
public IList<tblcours> GetAllCoursesByOrgID(int id)
{
return _UoW.tblcoursRepo.All.Where(c => c.tblCourseCategoryLinks.Any(cl => cl.tblUnitCategory.tblUnit.ParentID == id))
.OrderBy(c => c.CourseTitle)
.ToList();
}
However, I need to perform a DISTINCT on the property MainHeadingID to remove any objects already with the same ID, but still returning the entire object with all its properties.
Preferably, I would like to return IList, as you can see from my method, and not an Anonymous Type.
Any help with this is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Have you tried using GroupBy?
_UoW.tblcoursRepo.All.GroupBy(c => c.MainHeadingId)
.Select(g => g.FirstOrDefault())

Fetch only key value from EF association

I've set up a many-to-many association between two tables based on a third table that just holds a pair of key values. Now I'd like to do a query that groups the right tables key values by the lefts without needing other data.
LeftTable { LeftID, LeftField1, LeftField2 }
JoinTable { LeftID, RightID}
RightTable { RightID, RightField1, RightField2 }
Is there any way to essentially just query the JoinTable and get all the 'RightIDs' grouped by the 'LeftIDs' without the SQL trying to fetch the fields from either side?
The JoinTable is not an entity in its own right in the model, but is mapped to the association.
I've experimented a bit with both using ObjectQuery and EntityCommand (ESQL) and both seem to still load in the other fields by joining to RightTable which I don't need.
My ESQL looks something like:
SELECT lt.LeftID, (SELECT rt.RightID
FROM NAVIGATE(lt, MyModel.LeftToRightAssoc, RightTable) as rt)
FROM MyEntities.LeftTable as lt;
but the generated SQL is still fetching in RightField1 and RightField2.
Surely there must be a simpler way to do this?
Assuming that your class Left has a navigation property Rights (a collection of Right entities) you could try this:
var list = context.Lefts.Select(l => new
{
LeftId = l.LeftId,
RightIds = l.Rights.Select(r => r.RightId)
});
foreach (var item in list)
{
Console.WriteLine("LeftId = {0}", item.LeftId);
foreach (var rightId in item.RightIds)
{
Console.WriteLine("RightId = {0}", rightId);
}
}
You would get a collection of anonymous type objects where each element has the LeftId and a collection of corresponding RightIds. This query should not touch the other fields like RightField1, etc. Instead of an anonymous type you could also create your own custom type and then project into this type in the query above.