I'm using Specification pattern in EF Code First. When I do order by operation, VS throw a new exception
The specification pattern is copy from eShopOnWeb
I just change a little bit, here is my change code:
public class Specification<T> : ISpecification<T>
{
public Expression<Func<T, object>> OrderBy { get; private set; }
public Specification(Expression<Func<T, bool>> criteria)
{
Criteria = criteria;
}
public Specification<T> OrderByFunc(Expression<Func<T, object>> orderByExpression)
{
OrderBy = orderByExpression;
return this;
}
}
Here is my invoke code, it's very pretty simple:
static void TestSpec()
{
var spec = new Specification<ExcelData>(x => x.RowIndex == 5)
.OrderByFunc(x => x.ColumnIndex);
using (var dbContext = new TechDbContext())
{
var top10Data = dbContext.ExcelData.Take(10).ToList();
var listExcel = dbContext.ApplySpecification(spec).ToList();
Console.WriteLine();
}
}
If I comment OrderByFunc, then everything is fine to me. no error throw from vs.
I had try many times search the error message in google, but none of answer is my case.
So I have to ask a question in here.
When I debug OrderBy property in SpecificationEvaluator.cs, I found there is a Convert method.
So I know the error is about cast error, but how do I fix this cast type error?
Please help me!
The solution is to create new lambda expression with cast (Convert) removed, and then use it to call the Queryable class OrderBy / OrderByDescending method either dynamically (using DLR dispatch or reflection) or by emitting Expression.Call to it.
For the first part, add the following helper method to the SpecificationEvaluator class:
static LambdaExpression RemoveConvert(LambdaExpression source)
{
var body = source.Body;
while (body.NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert)
body = ((UnaryExpression)body).Operand;
return Expression.Lambda(body, source.Parameters);
}
Then replace the code
query = query.OrderBy(specification.OrderBy);
with either
query = Queryable.OrderBy((dynamic)query, (dynamic)RemoveConvert(specification.OrderBy));
or
var keySelector = RemoveConvert(specification.OrderBy);
query = query.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(Expression.Call(
typeof(Queryable), nameof(Queryable.OrderBy),
new[] { typeof(T), keySelector.ReturnType },
query.Expression, keySelector));
Do similar for the specification.OrderByDescending.
Related
I've taken a look at this answer on how to dynamically create an OrderBy expression in Entity Framework. But I'd like to also build a dynamic Where expression. Something along the lines of this:
public IEnumerable<InventoryItem> GetAll(string filterBy, object value)
{
var results = new List<InventoryItem>();
using (var db = new InventoryDb())
{
if (QueryHelper.PropertyExists<InventoryItem>(filterBy))
{
var query = db.rri_InventoryItems.WhereByProperty(filterBy, value);
foreach(var item in query.Where(expr))
{
results.Add(ConvertItem(item));
}
}
}
return results;
}
Passing in the property to filter by and a value as ab object. Queryable has two methods for Where that both take two parameters, so I am not even sure which is the proper one.
And it's at this point I get a little more lost. I'm not sure how to refactor the original OrderByProerty method to provide a WhereByProperty. I know what I have here is completely wrong. I'm not sure what to do with it.
Ideally, I'd want to extend this even more by providing a collection of objects that could be used to build a query with ands and or operators.
Queryable has two methods for Where that both take two parameters, so I am not even sure which is the proper one.
You need the one that receives Expression<Func<T, bool>> predicate.
Here is how you can build dynamically a predicate similar to (T item) => item.Property == value:
public static partial class QueryableExtensions
{
public static IQueryable<T> WhereEquals<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string member, object value)
{
var item = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "item");
var memberValue = member.Split('.').Aggregate((Expression)item, Expression.PropertyOrField);
var memberType = memberValue.Type;
if (value != null && value.GetType() != memberType)
value = Convert.ChangeType(value, memberType);
var condition = Expression.Equal(memberValue, Expression.Constant(value, memberType));
var predicate = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(condition, item);
return source.Where(predicate);
}
}
I've tried to write it in such a way so you can step over the code in order to understand what it does. The only line that might need some explanation is:
var memberValue = member.Split('.').Aggregate((Expression)item, Expression.PropertyOrField);
This is a simple way of handling nested properties like obj.Prop1.Prop2 etc. If you don't need such capability, you can simply use this instead:
var memberValue = Expression.PropertyOrField(item, member);
I didn't need nested properties (yet). I modified your code slightly and have this that is working:
public static IQueryable<T> WhereEquals<T>(
this IQueryable<T> source, string propertyName, object value)
{
if (typeof(T).GetProperty(propertyName, BindingFlags.IgnoreCase |
BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance) == null)
{
return null;
}
ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "item");
Expression whereProperty = Expression.Property(parameter, propertyName);
Expression constant = Expression.Constant(value);
Expression condition = Expression.Equal(whereProperty, constant);
Expression<Func<T, bool>> lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(condition,parameter);
return source.Where(lambda);
}
I am writing a generic querying method in Entity Framework 6, based off of this helpful article. Here's how it looks:
public static T QueryEagerLoad<T>(Expression<Func<T, bool>> match) where T : class
{
using (var databaseContext = new ClearspanDatabaseContext())
{
databaseContext.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled = false;
T retrievedObject = databaseContext.Set<T>().SingleOrDefault(match);
return retrievedObject;
}
}
I'm attempting to eagerly load any related entities, so I include disable to configuration variable LazyLoadingEnabled. While it loads the object, it does not load the related entities, per my view in the debugger. Why would this be? Am I missing something? I should note that I'm using Npgsql. Thanks in advance.
See Mikael Östberg's answer to this question. To use a generic method for querying with eager loading, it seems necessary to inject the includes. Here's how the generic method shaped up:
public static T Query<T>(Expression<Func<T, bool>> match, List<Expression<Func<T, object>>> includes) where T : class
{
using (var databaseContext = new ClearspanDatabaseContext())
{
var dataSet = databaseContext.Set<T>(); // Get the relevant DataSet
T retrievedObject = includes.Aggregate( // Eagerly load the passed navigation properties
dataSet.AsQueryable(),
(current, include) => current.Include(include)
).SingleOrDefault(match); // Find exactly one or zero matches
return retrievedObject;
}
}
And an example of a call that injects the properties to eagerly load (the includes parameter in the generic method above):
public static Lumber GetLumber(int databaseId)
{
Expression<Func<Lumber, object>> lengthProperty = (lumber => lumber.Length);
Expression<Func<Lumber, object>> thicknessProperty = (lumber => lumber.Thickness);
Expression<Func<Lumber, object>> widthProperty = (lumber => lumber.Width);
List<Expression<Func<Lumber, object>>> lumberNaviationProperties = new List<Expression<Func<Lumber, object>>>() { lengthProperty, thicknessProperty, widthProperty };
Lumber retrievedLumber = DatabaseOperations.Query<Lumber>((lumber => lumber.DatabaseId == databaseId), lumberNaviationProperties);
return retrievedLumber;
}
I am using Entity Framework version 4. I need to compare a large (~1 million record) SQL Server table to a longish (~2000) array of complex objects returned from a web service. Five different properties need to be compared to determine whether an instance of the complex object is already in the database.
I created a function that returns an expression for use in .Where and .Any methods. It looks like this (where A is the complex object, and tblA is the EF class):
function Expression<tblA, bool> GetSearchPredicate(A a)
{
return ta => ta.Field1.Equals(a.Field1)
&& ta.Field2.Equals(a.Field2)
&& ta.Field3.Equals(a.Field3)
&& ta.Field4.Equals(a.Field4)
&& ta.Field5.Equals(a.Field5);
}
This works. And I can compare all 2000 instances of A by doing this:
IEnumerable<A> objects = [web service call];
var result = objects.Select(a => !db.tblA.Any(GetSearchPredicate(a)));
That works, too. But it's slow. So I looked into building a utility method that could build an expression that could be transmitted down to the database directly through EF.
I used the code in this question as a basis for building that utility method. The example in that question shows comparing a single property to a series of constants, while my version would have to compare multiple properties to multiple constants. My best effort is below:
public static IQueryable<TEntity> WhereIn<TEntity>
(
this ObjectQuery<TEntity> query,
IEnumerable<Expression<Func<TEntity, bool>>> predicates
)
{
if (predicates == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("predicates");
IEnumerable<ParameterExpression> p = predicates.Select(pred => pred.Parameters.Single()).ToArray();
IEnumerable<Expression> equals = predicates.Select(value =>
(Expression)value.Body);
Expression bigEqual = equals.Aggregate((accumulate, equal) =>
Expression.Or(accumulate, equal));
var result1 = Expression.Lambda<Func<TEntity, bool>>(bigEqual, p.First());
var result = query.Where(result1);
return result;
}
This would be invoked like this:
IEnumerable<A> objects = [web service call];
var result = db.tblA.WhereIn(objects.Select(a => GetSearchPredicate(a)));
What I get is a message saying that "ta" (the placeholder for the TEntity object) is not bound. I thought this was because I had multiple expressions (the variable predicates) being combined, and maybe this message was being thrown because I was only passing the parameter from the first of the predicates IEnumerable. But this happens even if predicates is one expression long.
I am reasonably sure, based on the method I linked to, that I could build an expression comparing each of the five properties to a constant (the values of A.Field1 through A.Field5), rather than passing in the parameter predicates that already has them assembled into a series of expressions. But I would rather not, since that would require my method to know that it's working with types A and tblA, and that's the opposite of generic and general-purpose. (It'd also be complex and messy.)
I hope the examples I've shown explain what I want to do. Can it be done in a generic way?
You will need to replace the parameter in the predicate bodies with a single parameter. Something like this should work:
public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> BuildOr<T>(
IEnumerable<Expression<Func<T, bool>>> predicates)
{
Expression body = null;
ParameterExpression p = null;
Expression<Func<T, bool>> first = null;
foreach (Expression<Func<T, bool>> item in predicates)
{
if (first == null)
{
first = item;
}
else
{
if (body == null)
{
body = first.Body;
p = first.Parameters[0];
}
var toReplace = item.Parameters[0];
var itemBody = ReplacementVisitor.Transform(item, toReplace, p);
body = Expression.OrElse(body, itemBody);
}
}
if (first == null)
{
throw new ArgumentException("Sequence contains no elements.", "predicates");
}
return (body == null) ? first : Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(body, p);
}
private sealed class ReplacementVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
private IList<ParameterExpression> SourceParameters { get; set; }
private Expression ToFind { get; set; }
private Expression ReplaceWith { get; set; }
public static Expression Transform(
LambdaExpression source,
Expression toFind,
Expression replaceWith)
{
var visitor = new ReplacementVisitor
{
SourceParameters = source.Parameters,
ToFind = toFind,
ReplaceWith = replaceWith,
};
return visitor.Visit(source.Body);
}
private Expression ReplaceNode(Expression node)
{
return (node == ToFind) ? ReplaceWith : node;
}
protected override Expression VisitConstant(ConstantExpression node)
{
return ReplaceNode(node);
}
protected override Expression VisitBinary(BinaryExpression node)
{
var result = ReplaceNode(node);
if (result == node) result = base.VisitBinary(node);
return result;
}
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
{
if (SourceParameters.Contains(node)) return ReplaceNode(node);
return SourceParameters.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Name == node.Name) ?? node;
}
}
Your WhereIn method then becomes:
public static IQueryable<TEntity> WhereIn<TEntity>(
this ObjectQuery<TEntity> query,
IEnumerable<Expression<Func<TEntity, bool>>> predicates)
{
if (predicates == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("predicates");
var predicate = BuildOr(predicates);
return query.Where(predicate);
}
I am trying to order an IQueryable of entities by date from a passed in Expression< Func< T, object>> and am getting the error: "Unable to cast the type 'System.Nullable`1' to type 'System.Object'. LINQ to Entities only supports casting Entity Data Model primitive types." The entity has a nullable datetime property on it on which I am trying to sort:
Example: (where e.Date is a nullable DateTime)
Expression<Func<T,object>> sorter = (e) => e.Date;
IOrderedQueryable<T> sortedData = data.OrderBy(sorter);
Thanks in advance!
I wrote a simple class for ordering entities based on a lambda expression at runtime.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Reflection;
namespace DataModeling
{
public class QueryOrderer<TEntity>
where TEntity : class
{
private LambdaExpression defaultSortExpression;
private Dictionary<string, LambdaExpression> orderFieldLookup;
public QueryOrderer()
{
orderFieldLookup = new Dictionary<string, LambdaExpression>();
}
public void AddOrderMapping<TProp>(string fieldName, Expression<Func<TEntity, TProp>> selector)
{
orderFieldLookup[fieldName] = selector;
}
public void SetDefaultSortExpression<TProp>(Expression<Func<TEntity, TProp>> selector)
{
defaultSortExpression = selector;
}
public IQueryable<TEntity> GetOrderedEntries(string field, bool isDescending, IQueryable<TEntity> entries)
{
return orderEntries(entries, field, isDescending);
}
private IQueryable<TEntity> orderEntries(IQueryable<TEntity> entries, string fieldName, bool isDescending)
{
dynamic lambda = getOrderByLambda(entries, fieldName);
if (lambda == null)
{
return entries;
}
if (isDescending)
{
return Queryable.OrderByDescending(entries, lambda);
}
else
{
return Queryable.OrderBy(entries, lambda);
}
}
private dynamic getOrderByLambda(IQueryable<TEntity> entries, string fieldName)
{
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fieldName) && orderFieldLookup.ContainsKey(fieldName))
{
return orderFieldLookup[fieldName];
}
else
{
return defaultSortExpression;
}
}
}
}
You use this class by initially setting up all of the fields:
QueryOrderer<User> orderer = new QueryOrderer<User>();
orderer.SetDefaultSortExpression(u => u.FullName);
orderer.AddOrderMapping("UserId", u => u.UserId);
orderer.AddOrderMapping("Name", u => u.FullName);
orderer.AddOrderMapping("Email", u => u.Email);
orderer.AddOrderMapping("CreatedOn", u => u.CreatedOn);
...
var users = orderer.GetOrderedEntries("CreatedOn", isDescending: false, context.Users);
I nice feature of this code is that it handles look-up values perfectly. For instance, if you're trying to sort using the description rather than a key, you can use the outer context when building up the sort expression:
orderer.AddOrderMapping("UserType",
u => context.UserTypes
.Where(t => t.UserTypeId == u.UserTypeId)
.Select(t => t.Description)
.FirstOrDefault());
Entity Framework is smart enough to just fold the sub-query right into the outer query.
Two problem here: First you use object in your sorter, you should use DateTime. Secondly every element must have a place in the order so you have to define what should happen with elements where Date is null:
Expression<Func<T, DateTime>> sorter = (e) => e.Date ?? DateTime.MaxValue;
IOrderedQueryable<T> sortedData = data.OrderBy(sorter);
Try to reconstruct expression body
private LambdaExpression CreateLambdaPropertyGetter(Expression<Func<TEntity, object>> expression)
{
Expression body;
if (expression.Body is UnaryExpression && ((UnaryExpression)expression.Body).NodeType == ExpressionType.Convert)
body = ((UnaryExpression)expression.Body).Operand;
else
body = expression.Body;
var lambda = Expression.Lambda(body, expression.Parameters);
return lambda;
}
Try using Func delegate instead on Expression<Func>
Func<T,object> sorter = (e) => e.Date;
IOrderedEnumerable<T> sortedData = data.OrderBy(sorter);
Could anyone help me in assessing why the code below doesn't work. I'm using the common extension method for implementing Include when using IObjectset. In our repositories we were seeing this not returning correctly so I've isolated the code in test app as below. I've also included the interface based Context if this may prove relevant and a screenshot of the relevant model section. This occurs for all Includes on IObjectSet properties not just the DPASelections one I've chosen for this example.
If I update the context to return ObjectSet (still using the POCO entities) rather than IObjectSet it all works fine. When using IObjectSet and the extension method and step through the code I see that the extension method is completing correctly with a call to the ObjectQuery we're casting to but the included entities are never returned on the graph. As said, this works perfectly when I don't interface out the Context and return ObjectSet properties hence calling Include directly on ObjectSet.
I'm not getting any errors on executing the query so this isn't the same as several other questions on SO which refer to compiled queries.
Has anyone else experienced problems with this extension method implementation or can anyone spot what I'm doing wrong here?
Any help very much appreciated.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (var context = new AssocEntities())
{
context.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = false;
Candidate candidate = context.Candidates
.Include("DPASelections.DPAOption")
.SingleOrDefault(c => c.Number == "N100064");
//Count is 0 when using ext. method and IObjectSet through AssocContext but correct when using Include
//on ObjectSet through AssocContext
Console.WriteLine("DPASelection count = {0}",candidate.DPASelections.Count);
//This is always null when using IObjectSet and ext. method but populated
//when using Include on ObjectSet
var option = candidate.DPASelections.First().DPAOption;
Console.WriteLine("First DPAOption = {0} : {1}",option.Id,option.Text);
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
public static class Extensions
{
public static IQueryable<TSource> Include<TSource>(this IQueryable<TSource> source, string path)
{
var objectQuery = source as ObjectQuery<TSource>;
if (objectQuery != null)
{
objectQuery.Include(path);
}
return source;
}
}
//Subset of custom context implementing IObjectSet as returns.
//Works fine when I return ObjectSet rather than IObjectSet and use
//the Include method directly
public partial class AssocEntities : ObjectContext
{
public const string ConnectionString = "name=AssocEntities";
public const string ContainerName = "AssocEntities";
#region Constructors
public AssocEntities()
: base(ConnectionString, ContainerName)
{
this.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
}
public AssocEntities(string connectionString)
: base(connectionString, ContainerName)
{
this.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
}
public AssocEntities(EntityConnection connection)
: base(connection, ContainerName)
{
this.ContextOptions.LazyLoadingEnabled = true;
}
#endregion
#region IObjectSet Properties
public IObjectSet<Address> Addresses
{
get { return _addresses ?? (_addresses = CreateObjectSet<Address>("Addresses")); }
}
private IObjectSet<Address> _addresses;
public IObjectSet<Answer> Answers
{
get { return _answers ?? (_answers = CreateObjectSet<Answer>("Answers")); }
}
private IObjectSet<Answer> _answers;
public IObjectSet<Candidate> Candidates
{
get { return _candidates ?? (_candidates = CreateObjectSet<Candidate>("Candidates")); }
}
}
And the model...
I needed to replace objectQuery.Include(path); with objectQuery = objectQuery.Include(path);
In .Net framework 4.0 there is a build-in Extentionmethod for Include
just add the System.Data.Entity namespace.
It uses reflection - here is how it works:
private static T CommonInclude<T>(T source, string path)
{
MethodInfo method = source.GetType().GetMethod("Include", DbExtensions.StringIncludeTypes);
if (!(method != (MethodInfo) null) || !typeof (T).IsAssignableFrom(method.ReturnType))
return source;
return (T) method.Invoke((object) source, new object[1]
{
(object) path
});
}