I implemented a dynamic search based on this article
.NET Core Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore ILikeExpression
That's what I did:
I implement the [Searchable] attribute, with which I will mark the properties by which the search will be performed. Properties are only of type string, if necessary I can explain how to search for properties of type long and int.
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property)]
public class SearchableAttribute : Attribute
{
}
An extension has been created for IQueryable , which takes the input string from the search and implements the Like function according to the specified properties
public static class QueryableExtension
{
public static IQueryable<TEntityDto> ExecuteQueryFilter<TEntityDto>(this IQueryable<TEntityDto> queryable, string query)
where TEntityDto : class, IEntityDto
{
// If the incoming request is empty, skip the search
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(query))
{
return queryable;
}
// We get all properties with type of string marked with our attribute
var properties = typeof(TEntityDto).GetProperties()
.Where(p => p.PropertyType == typeof(string) &&
p.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(SearchableAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault() != null)
.Select(x => x.Name).ToList();
// If there are no such properties, skip the search
if (!properties.Any())
{
return queryable;
}
// Get our generic object
ParameterExpression entity = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TEntityDto), "entity");
// Get the Like Method from EF.Functions
var efLikeMethod = typeof(DbFunctionsExtensions).GetMethod("Like",
BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic,
null,
new[] { typeof(DbFunctions), typeof(string), typeof(string) },
null);
// We make a pattern for the search
var pattern = Expression.Constant($"%{query}%", typeof(string));
// Here we will collect a single search request for all properties
Expression body = Expression.Constant(false);
foreach (var propertyName in properties)
{
// Get property from our object
var property = Expression.Property(entity, propertyName);
// Сall the method with all the required arguments
Expression expr = Expression.Call(efLikeMethod,
Expression.Property(null, typeof(EF), nameof(EF.Functions)), property, pattern);
// Add to the main request
body = Expression.OrElse(body, expr);
}
// Compose and pass the expression to Where
var expression = Expression.Lambda<Func<TEntityDto, bool>>(body, entity);
return queryable.Where(expression);
}
}
The Dto object itself looks like this:
public class CategoryDto : IEntityDto
{
public long Id { get; set; }
[Searchable]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Searchable]
public string IconKey { get; set; }
public long UploadId { get; private set; }
[Searchable]
public string UploadFileName { get; set; }
[Searchable]
public string CreatedBy { get; set; }
public DateTime Created { get; set; }
}
I tested this search method on one million records, with objects name in one to five words. The search process very fast. The performance benefit here is that Expression is converted on the database side as LINQ to SQL