I can fix your expression generator, and I can compose your GetDisplayNameExpression (so 1 and 3)
public class Member
{
public string ScreenName { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public static Expression<Func<Member, string>> GetRealNameExpression()
{
return m => (m.Name + " " + m.LastName).TrimEnd();
}
public static Expression<Func<Member, string>> GetDisplayNameExpression()
{
var isNullOrEmpty = typeof(string).GetMethod("IsNullOrEmpty", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public, null, new[] { typeof(string) }, null);
var e0 = GetRealNameExpression();
var par1 = e0.Parameters[0];
// Done in this way, refactoring will correctly rename m.ScreenName
// We could have used a similar trick for string.IsNullOrEmpty,
// but it would have been useless, because its name and signature won't
// ever change.
Expression<Func<Member, string>> e1 = m => m.ScreenName;
var screenName = (MemberExpression)e1.Body;
var prop = Expression.Property(par1, (PropertyInfo)screenName.Member);
var condition = Expression.Condition(Expression.Call(null, isNullOrEmpty, prop), e0.Body, prop);
var combinedExpression = Expression.Lambda<Func<Member, string>>(condition, par1);
return combinedExpression;
}
private static readonly Func<Member, string> GetDisplayNameExpressionCompiled = GetDisplayNameExpression().Compile();
private static readonly Func<Member, string> GetRealNameExpressionCompiled = GetRealNameExpression().Compile();
public string DisplayName
{
get
{
return GetDisplayNameExpressionCompiled(this);
}
}
public string RealName
{
get
{
return GetRealNameExpressionCompiled(this);
}
}
public static Expression<Func<Member, bool>> FilterMemberByDisplayNameExpression(string displayName)
{
var e0 = GetDisplayNameExpression();
var par1 = e0.Parameters[0];
var combinedExpression = Expression.Lambda<Func<Member, bool>>(
Expression.Equal(e0.Body, Expression.Constant(displayName)), par1);
return combinedExpression;
}
Note how I reuse the same parameter of the GetDisplayNameExpression expression e1.Parameters[0] (put in par1) so that I don't have to rewrite the expression (otherwise I would have needed to use an expression rewriter).
We could use this trick because we had only a single expression to handle, to which we had to attach some new code. Totally different (we would have needed an expression rewriter) would be the case of trying to combine two expressions (for example to do a GetRealNameExpression() + " " + GetDisplayNameExpression(), both require as a parameter a Member, but their parameters are separate... Probably this https://stackoverflow.com/a/5431309/613130 would work...
For the 2, I don't see any problem. You are correctly using static readonly. But please, look at GetDisplayNameExpression and think "is it better some business code duplication pay or that?"
Generic solution
Now... I was quite sure it was doable... and in fact it is doable: an expression "expander" that "expands" "special properties" to their Expression(s) "automagically".
public static class QueryableEx
{
private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<Type, Dictionary<PropertyInfo, LambdaExpression>> expressions = new ConcurrentDictionary<Type, Dictionary<PropertyInfo, LambdaExpression>>();
public static IQueryable<T> Expand<T>(this IQueryable<T> query)
{
var visitor = new QueryableVisitor();
Expression expression2 = visitor.Visit(query.Expression);
return query.Expression != expression2 ? query.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(expression2) : query;
}
private static Dictionary<PropertyInfo, LambdaExpression> Get(Type type)
{
Dictionary<PropertyInfo, LambdaExpression> dict;
if (expressions.TryGetValue(type, out dict))
{
return dict;
}
var props = type.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
dict = new Dictionary<PropertyInfo, LambdaExpression>();
foreach (var prop in props)
{
var exp = type.GetMember(prop.Name + "Expression", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static).Where(p => p.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field || p.MemberType == MemberTypes.Property).SingleOrDefault();
if (exp == null)
{
continue;
}
if (!typeof(LambdaExpression).IsAssignableFrom(exp.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field ? ((FieldInfo)exp).FieldType : ((PropertyInfo)exp).PropertyType))
{
continue;
}
var lambda = (LambdaExpression)(exp.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field ? ((FieldInfo)exp).GetValue(null) : ((PropertyInfo)exp).GetValue(null, null));
if (prop.PropertyType != lambda.ReturnType)
{
throw new Exception(string.Format("Mismatched return type of Expression of {0}.{1}, {0}.{2}", type.Name, prop.Name, exp.Name));
}
dict[prop] = lambda;
}
// We try to save some memory, removing empty dictionaries
if (dict.Count == 0)
{
dict = null;
}
// There is no problem if multiple threads generate their "versions"
// of the dict at the same time. They are all equivalent, so the worst
// case is that some CPU cycles are wasted.
dict = expressions.GetOrAdd(type, dict);
return dict;
}
private class SingleParameterReplacer : ExpressionVisitor
{
public readonly ParameterExpression From;
public readonly Expression To;
public SingleParameterReplacer(ParameterExpression from, Expression to)
{
this.From = from;
this.To = to;
}
protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
{
return node != this.From ? base.VisitParameter(node) : this.Visit(this.To);
}
}
private class QueryableVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
protected static readonly Assembly MsCorLib = typeof(int).Assembly;
protected static readonly Assembly Core = typeof(IQueryable).Assembly;
// Used to check for recursion
protected readonly List<MemberInfo> MembersBeingVisited = new List<MemberInfo>();
protected override Expression VisitMember(MemberExpression node)
{
var declaringType = node.Member.DeclaringType;
var assembly = declaringType.Assembly;
if (assembly != MsCorLib && assembly != Core && node.Member.MemberType == MemberTypes.Property)
{
var dict = QueryableEx.Get(declaringType);
LambdaExpression lambda;
if (dict != null && dict.TryGetValue((PropertyInfo)node.Member, out lambda))
{
// Anti recursion check
if (this.MembersBeingVisited.Contains(node.Member))
{
throw new Exception(string.Format("Recursively visited member. Chain: {0}", string.Join("->", this.MembersBeingVisited.Concat(new[] { node.Member }).Select(p => p.DeclaringType.Name + "." + p.Name))));
}
this.MembersBeingVisited.Add(node.Member);
// Replace the parameters of the expression with "our" reference
var body = new SingleParameterReplacer(lambda.Parameters[0], node.Expression).Visit(lambda.Body);
Expression exp = this.Visit(body);
this.MembersBeingVisited.RemoveAt(this.MembersBeingVisited.Count - 1);
return exp;
}
}
return base.VisitMember(node);
}
}
}
- How does it work? Magic, reflection, fairy dust...
- Does it support properties referencing other properties? Yes
- What does it need?
It needs that every "special" property of name Foo has a corresponding static field/static property named FooExpression that returns an Expression<Func<Class, something>>
It needs that the query is "transformed" through the extension method Expand() at some point before the materialization/enumeration. So:
public class Member
{
// can be private/protected/internal
public static readonly Expression<Func<Member, string>> RealNameExpression =
m => (m.Name + " " + m.LastName).TrimEnd();
// Here we are referencing another "special" property, and it just works!
public static readonly Expression<Func<Member, string>> DisplayNameExpression =
m => string.IsNullOrEmpty(m.ScreenName) ? m.RealName : m.ScreenName;
public string RealName
{
get
{
// return the real name however you want, probably reusing
// the expression through a compiled readonly
// RealNameExpressionCompiled as you had done
}
}
public string DisplayName
{
get
{
}
}
}
// Note the use of .Expand();
var res = (from p in ctx.Member
where p.RealName == "Something" || p.RealName.Contains("Anything") ||
p.DisplayName == "Foo"
select new { p.RealName, p.DisplayName, p.Name }).Expand();
// now you can use res normally.
Limits 1: one problem is with methods like Single(Expression), First(Expression), Any(Expression) and similar, that don't return an IQueryable. Change by using first a Where(Expression).Expand().Single()
Limit 2: "special" properties can't reference themselves in cycles. So if A uses B, B can't use A, and tricks like using ternary expressions won't make it work.
