Lambda Expression With Contains Not Working

Question

I'm new to Lambda Expressions and I'm having some problems getting the output that I want. More specifically, I'm having trouble with getting the LINQ contains part of the Lambda Expression correct.

Here's what I have so far:

// The following line is what I want for my Final Result
var distinctValues = db.Equipment.Where(m => m.Model != null && m.Model.Contains(SearchTerm)).Select(m => m.Model).Distinct().ToList();

var queryableData = db.Equipment.AsQueryable();

var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Equipment), Column);
var constant = Expression.Constant(null);

var property = Expression.Property(parameterExpression, Column);
var expression1 = Expression.NotEqual(property, constant);
var expression2 = Expression.Equal(property,constant);

Expression callContains = Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable), "Contains", new[] { <string> } );

var lambda1 = Expression.Lambda<Func<Equipment, bool>>(expression1, parameterExpression);
var lambda2 = Expression.Lambda<Func<Equipment, string>>(property, parameterExpression);
var lambda3 = Expression.Lambda<Func<Equipment, bool>>(callContains, parameterExpression);
var compiledLambda1 = lambda1.Compile();
var compiledLambda2 = lambda2.Compile();

I'm passing in any property and a search term and I want to generate the equivalent of the LINQ Query above as a Lambda Expression that starts with "var distinctValues". I'm having trouble with the line that starts with "Expression callContains".

Any assistance is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

Answer 1

Thank you Xanatos. With your help I was able to solve my issue. Here's the final solution that I've come up with. Just a few minor changes:

  // m => 
                var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Equipment), "m");

                // m.Model
                var modelProperty = Expression.Property(parameterExpression, Column);
                // m.Model != null
                var nonNullExpression = Expression.NotEqual(modelProperty, Expression.Constant(null, typeof(string)));

                // SearchTerm
                var searchTermConstant = Expression.Constant(SearchTerm);

                // m.Model.Contains(SearchTerm)
                var containsExpression = Expression.Call(modelProperty, "contains", null, searchTermConstant);

                // m.Model != null && m.Model.Contains(SearchTerm)
                var andExpression = Expression.AndAlso(nonNullExpression, containsExpression);

                var lambda1 = Expression.Lambda<Func<Equipment, string>>(modelProperty, parameterExpression);
                var lambda2 = Expression.Lambda<Func<Equipment, bool>>(andExpression, parameterExpression);

                var compiledLambda1 = lambda1.Compile();
                var compiledLambda2 = lambda2.Compile();

                var distinctValues1 = db.Equipment.Where(compiledLambda2).Select(compiledLambda1).Distinct().ToList();

First, I used a different overload for containsExpression. Second, I wanted the model property as a parameter. Basically, I wanted to pass in a variable property (Column) and variable searchterm. That's it.