How To Combine A Linq Query Dynamically?

Suppose I have a table, containing formatted values in a string (nvarchar) column. These values are supposed to be strings separated by some const symbol (let it be a semi-colon ;)

Solution 1:

public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> OrTheseFiltersTogether<T>(
  this IEnumerable<Expression<Func<T, bool>>> filters)
{
    Expression<Func<T, bool>> firstFilter = filters.FirstOrDefault();
    if (firstFilter == null)
    {
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> alwaysTrue = x => true;
        return alwaysTrue;
    }

    var body = firstFilter.Body;
    var param = firstFilter.Parameters.ToArray();
    foreach (var nextFilter in filters.Skip(1))
    {
        var nextBody = Expression.Invoke(nextFilter, param);
        body = Expression.OrElse(body, nextBody);
    }
    Expression<Func<T, bool>> result = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(body, param);
    return result;
}

So, you can build a List of filters easily from the input set:

List<string> list = new List<string>() { "somevalue1", "somevalue2" };
List<Expression<Func<SomeTable, bool>>> equalsFilters = list
  .Select(s => row => row.Value == s).ToList();
List<Expression<Func<SomeTable, bool>>> startsWithFilters = list
  .Select(s => row => row.Value.StartsWith(s + ";")).ToList();
List<Expression<Func<SomeTable, bool>>> endsWithFilters = list
  .Select(s => row => row.Value.EndsWith(";" + s).ToList();
List<Expression<Func<SomeTable, bool>>> middleFilters = list
  .Select(s => row => row.Value.Contains(";" + s + ";")).ToList();

Expression<Func<SomeTable, bool>> theFilter = OrTheseFiltersTogether(
  equalsFilters.Concat(startsWithFilters).Concat(endsWithFilters).Concat(middleFilters)
);

query = query.Where(theFilter);

Solution 2:

I guess a UNION would suit your needs:

IQueryable<SomeTable> baseQuery = dc.SomeTable;
IQueryable<SomeTable> query = new List<SomeTable>().AsQueryable();
foreach (string l in list)
{
    string s = l;

    query.Union(baseQuery.Where(b => b.Value.StartsWith(s + separator) ||
                             b.Value.EndsWith(separator + s) ||
                             b.Value.Contains(separator + s + separator) ||
                             b.Value.Equals(s)));
}
if (query.Any()) {/*...*/}