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c#lambdaexpression-treespartial-application

Replace parameter in lambda expression


Considering this code:

public class Foo
{
    public int a { get; set; }
    public int b { get; set; }
}

private void Test()
{
    List<Foo> foos = new List<Foo>();
    foos.Add(new Foo());
    foos.Add(new Foo());
    Expression<Func<Foo, int>> exp0 = f => f.a * f.b;
    Expression<Func<int>> exp1 = () => foos[0].a * foos[0].b;
    Expression<Func<int>> exp2 = () => foos[1].a * foos[1].b;
}

How can you take exp0 and turn it into two expressions identical to exp1 and exp2. Note that I don't want to just evaluate exp0 for each Foo in foos, but instead get two new expressions.

[Update]:

Basically, I want to be able to expand or "flatten" an expression passed to a Linq extension method such as Sum into one expression per item in the enumeration since these enumerations will be static, and because I already have code that reads expressions that don't take parameters (and then turns them into another language).

I'm using the MetadataToken as a references to properties that have a certain attribute (in this case a and b would have this attribute) and using it with a dictionary that correlates C# properties to another language's variables:

Foo foo = new Foo();
Expression<Func<int>> exp = () => foo.a * foo.a + foo.b;
string result1 = GetResult(exp); // gets "v_001 * v_001 + v_002"

List<Foo> foes = new List<Foo>();
foes.Add(new Foo());
foes.Add(new Foo());
Expression<Func<int>> exp2 = () => foes.Sum(f => f.a * f.a + f.b);
string result2 = GetResult(exp2); // should get "(v_001 * v_001 + v_002) + (v_003 * v_003 + v_004)"

Solution

  • I would do it this way:

    Write a parameter-replacer expression-visitor that manipulates the original expression as follows:

    1. Gets rid of the parameter you don't want entirely from the lambda signature.
    2. Replaces all uses of the parameter with the desired indexer expression.

    Here's a quick and dirty sample I whipped up based on my earlier answer on a different question:

    public static class ParameterReplacer
    {
        // Produces an expression identical to 'expression'
        // except with 'source' parameter replaced with 'target' expression.     
        public static Expression<TOutput> Replace<TInput, TOutput>
                        (Expression<TInput> expression,
                        ParameterExpression source,
                        Expression target)
        {
            return new ParameterReplacerVisitor<TOutput>(source, target)
                        .VisitAndConvert(expression);
        }
    
        private class ParameterReplacerVisitor<TOutput> : ExpressionVisitor
        {
            private ParameterExpression _source;
            private Expression _target;
    
            public ParameterReplacerVisitor
                    (ParameterExpression source, Expression target)
            {
                _source = source;
                _target = target;
            }
    
            internal Expression<TOutput> VisitAndConvert<T>(Expression<T> root)
            {
                return (Expression<TOutput>)VisitLambda(root);
            }
    
            protected override Expression VisitLambda<T>(Expression<T> node)
            {
                // Leave all parameters alone except the one we want to replace.
                var parameters = node.Parameters
                                     .Where(p => p != _source);
    
                return Expression.Lambda<TOutput>(Visit(node.Body), parameters);
            }
    
            protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
            {
                // Replace the source with the target, visit other params as usual.
                return node == _source ? _target : base.VisitParameter(node);
            }
        }
    }
    

    Usage for your scenario (tested):

    var zeroIndexIndexer = Expression.MakeIndex
            (Expression.Constant(foos),
             typeof(List<Foo>).GetProperty("Item"), 
             new[] { Expression.Constant(0) });
    
    
    // .ToString() of the below looks like the following: 
    //  () =>    (value(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[App.Foo]).Item[0].a
    //         *  value(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[App.Foo]).Item[0].b)
    var exp1Clone = ParameterReplacer.Replace<Func<Foo, int>, Func<int>>
                      (exp0, exp0.Parameters.Single(), zeroIndexIndexer);