How to create LINQ Expression Tree to select an anonymous type

Question

How to create LINQ Expression Tree to select an anonymous type

c# entity-framework expression-trees linq linq-to-entities

Question

I would like to generate the following select statement dynamically using expression trees:

var v = from c in Countries
        where c.City == "London"
        select new {c.Name, c.Population};

I have worked out how to generate

var v = from c in Countries
        where c.City == "London"
        select new {c.Name};

but I cannot seem to find a constructor/overload that will let me specify multiple properties in my select lambda.

Tom Deloford

Popular Answer

The accepted answer is very useful, but I needed something a little closer to a real anonymous type.

A real anonymous type has read-only properties, a constructor for filling in all of the values, an implementation of Equals/GetHashCode for comparing the values of each property, and an implementation ToString that includes the name/value of each property. (See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397696.aspx for a full description of anonymous types.)

Based on that definition of anonymous classes, I put a class that generates dynamic anonymous types on github at https://github.com/dotlattice/LatticeUtils/blob/master/LatticeUtils/AnonymousTypeUtils.cs. The project also contains some unit tests to make sure the fake anonymous types behave like real ones.

Here's a very basic example of how to use it:

AnonymousTypeUtils.CreateObject(new Dictionary<string, object>
{
    { "a", 1 },
    { "b", 2 }
});

Also, another note: I found that when using a dynamic anonymous type with Entity Framework, the constructor must be called with the "members" parameter set. For example:

Expression.New(
    constructor: anonymousType.GetConstructors().Single(), 
    arguments: propertyExpressions,
    members: anonymousType.GetProperties().Cast<MemberInfo>().ToArray()
);

If you used one of the versions of Expression.New that does not include the "members" parameter, Entity Framework would not recognize it as the constructor of an anonymous type. So I assume that means a real anonymous type's constructor expression would include that "members" information.

dotlattice

View more on Stack Overflow

Accepted Answer

This can be done, as mentioned, with the help of Reflection Emit and a helper class I've included below. The code below is a work in progress, so take it for what it's worth... 'it works on my box'. The SelectDynamic method class should be tossed in a static extension method class.

As expected, you won't get any Intellisense since the type isn't created until runtime. Works good on late-bound data controls.

public static IQueryable SelectDynamic(this IQueryable source, IEnumerable<string> fieldNames)
{
    Dictionary<string, PropertyInfo> sourceProperties = fieldNames.ToDictionary(name => name, name => source.ElementType.GetProperty(name));
    Type dynamicType = LinqRuntimeTypeBuilder.GetDynamicType(sourceProperties.Values);

    ParameterExpression sourceItem = Expression.Parameter(source.ElementType, "t");
    IEnumerable<MemberBinding> bindings = dynamicType.GetFields().Select(p => Expression.Bind(p, Expression.Property(sourceItem, sourceProperties[p.Name]))).OfType<MemberBinding>();

    Expression selector = Expression.Lambda(Expression.MemberInit(
        Expression.New(dynamicType.GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes)), bindings), sourceItem);

    return source.Provider.CreateQuery(Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable), "Select", new Type[] { source.ElementType, dynamicType },
                 Expression.Constant(source), selector));
}



public static class LinqRuntimeTypeBuilder
{
    private static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);
    private static AssemblyName assemblyName = new AssemblyName() { Name = "DynamicLinqTypes" };
    private static ModuleBuilder moduleBuilder = null;
    private static Dictionary<string, Type> builtTypes = new Dictionary<string, Type>();

    static LinqRuntimeTypeBuilder()
    {
        moduleBuilder = Thread.GetDomain().DefineDynamicAssembly(assemblyName, AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run).DefineDynamicModule(assemblyName.Name);
    }

    private static string GetTypeKey(Dictionary<string, Type> fields)
    {
        //TODO: optimize the type caching -- if fields are simply reordered, that doesn't mean that they're actually different types, so this needs to be smarter
        string key = string.Empty;
        foreach (var field in fields)
            key += field.Key + ";" + field.Value.Name + ";";

        return key;
    }

    public static Type GetDynamicType(Dictionary<string, Type> fields)
    {
        if (null == fields)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("fields");
        if (0 == fields.Count)
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("fields", "fields must have at least 1 field definition");

        try
        {
            Monitor.Enter(builtTypes);
            string className = GetTypeKey(fields);

            if (builtTypes.ContainsKey(className))
                return builtTypes[className];

            TypeBuilder typeBuilder = moduleBuilder.DefineType(className, TypeAttributes.Public | TypeAttributes.Class | TypeAttributes.Serializable);

            foreach (var field in fields)                    
                typeBuilder.DefineField(field.Key, field.Value, FieldAttributes.Public);

            builtTypes[className] = typeBuilder.CreateType();

            return builtTypes[className];
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            log.Error(ex);
        }
        finally
        {
            Monitor.Exit(builtTypes);
        }

        return null;
    }


    private static string GetTypeKey(IEnumerable<PropertyInfo> fields)
    {
        return GetTypeKey(fields.ToDictionary(f => f.Name, f => f.PropertyType));
    }

    public static Type GetDynamicType(IEnumerable<PropertyInfo> fields)
    {
        return GetDynamicType(fields.ToDictionary(f => f.Name, f => f.PropertyType));
    }
}

How to create LINQ Expression Tree to select an anonymous type

Question

Fastest Entity Framework Extensions

Accepted Answer

Popular Answer

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