I'm trying to compare an object with a random value, which could be an ID, and ObjectKey or even with the same object. In short, I want to compare an object with anything, not just the same type.
To do this, I overrode the Equals() and GetHashCode() for the object, and it is working as expected. But I noticed Linq will not call these methods when I search via 'obj == value'.
If I change the queries to 'obj.Equals(value)', the Equals() method is called as it should. But it's not what I need.
Further, I've tried to overload '==' and '!=' operators, but as I'm searching via interfaces, these overloads are not being called.
At the end, I can't just change all my queries by hand, because someone may use the '==' anywhere in the future, breaking the code.
So I come to ExpressionVisitor. I noticed I can rewrite expressions for my Linq queries, but I'm kinda clueless. I've tried some examples I found, but I got some sort of errors.
Finally, this is what I need via ExpressionVisitor:
replace this: var objects = ctx.Where(obj => obj == value);
to this: var objects = ctx.Where(obj => obj.Equals(value));
Is it possible?
Yay. Found it:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//the sample:
Expression<Func<string, bool>> expr = name => name == "AA" || name.Length > 0 || name != "b";
Console.WriteLine(expr);
EqualsModifier treeModifier = new EqualsModifier();
Expression modifiedExpr = treeModifier.Modify((Expression)expr);
Console.WriteLine(modifiedExpr);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
//the ExpressionVisitor
public class EqualsModifier : ExpressionVisitor
{
public Expression Modify(Expression expression)
{
return Visit(expression);
}
protected override Expression VisitBinary(BinaryExpression b)
{
if (b.NodeType == ExpressionType.Equal)
{
Expression left = this.Visit(b.Left);
Expression right = this.Visit(b.Right);
MethodInfo equalsMethod = typeof(string).GetMethod("Equals", new[] { typeof(string) });
return Expression.Call(left, equalsMethod, right);
}
else if (b.NodeType == ExpressionType.NotEqual)
{
Expression left = this.Visit(b.Left);
Expression right = this.Visit(b.Right);
MethodInfo equalsMethod = typeof(string).GetMethod("Equals", new[] { typeof(string) });
return Expression.Not(Expression.Call(left, equalsMethod, right));
}
return base.VisitBinary(b);
}
}
These all output to:
Original: name => (((name == "AA") OrElse (name.Length < 0)) OrElse (name != "b"))
Converted: name => ((name.Equals("AA") OrElse (name.Length < 0)) OrElse Not(name.Equals("b")))