How to create expression for ordering string by length

Question

I am new to expression tree. I need to order my collection base on string length and then string. I dont want to repeat my code for every entity. Any body know how to write it with expression tree?

somthing like this:

public static IQueryable<T> OrderByPropertyOrField<T>(this IQueryable<T> queryable,
  string propertyOrFieldName, bool ascending = true)
{
    var elementType = typeof(T);
    var orderByMethodName = ascending ? "OrderBy" : "OrderByDescending";

    var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(elementType);
    var propertyOrFieldExpression = Expression.PropertyOrField(parameterExpression, propertyOrFieldName);
    var selector = Expression.Lambda(propertyOrFieldExpression, parameterExpression);

    var orderByExpression = Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable), orderByMethodName,
        new[] { elementType, propertyOrFieldExpression.Type }, queryable.Expression, selector);

    return queryable.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(orderByExpression);
}

Answer 1

If you need to order by string value after ordering by string length you need to invoke another method of queryable - ThenBy or ThenByDescending depending on ascending value. Next code will create that ordering:

public static class QueryableExtensions
{
    public static IQueryable<T> OrderByPropertyOrField<T>(this IQueryable<T> queryable,
      string propertyOrFieldName, bool ascending = true)
    {
        var parameter = Expression.Parameter(queryable.ElementType, "x");
        var selector = Expression.PropertyOrField(parameter, propertyOrFieldName);

        var getLength = Expression.PropertyOrField(selector, "Length");
        var orderByLength = CreateOrderExpression(parameter,
          typeof(int),
          queryable.Expression, // order source collection
          getLength,
          ascending ? "OrderBy" : "OrderByDescending");

        var orderByValue = CreateOrderExpression(parameter,
          typeof(string),
          orderByLength, // order previous collection
          selector,
          ascending ? "ThenBy" : "ThenByDescending");

        return queryable.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(orderByValue);
    }

    private static Expression CreateOrderExpression(ParameterExpression parameter, Type keyType, Expression collection, Expression selector, string methodName)
    {
        return Expression.Call(
            typeof(Queryable),
            methodName,
            new[] { parameter.Type, keyType },
            collection,
            Expression.Lambda(selector, parameter)
        );
    }
}