How to convert a String to its equivalent LINQ Expression Tree?

Question

This is a simplified version of the original problem.

I have a class called Person:

public class Person {
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public int Age { get; set; }
  public int Weight { get; set; }
  public DateTime FavouriteDay { get; set; }
}

...and lets say an instance:

var bob = new Person {
  Name = "Bob",
  Age = 30,
  Weight = 213,
  FavouriteDay = '1/1/2000'
}

I would like to write the following as a string in my favourite text editor....

(Person.Age > 3 AND Person.Weight > 50) OR Person.Age < 3

I would like to take this string and my object instance and evaluate a TRUE or FALSE - i.e. evaluating a Func<Person, bool> on the object instance.

Here are my current thoughts:

1. Implement a basic grammar in ANTLR to support basic Comparison and Logical Operators. I am thinking of copying the Visual Basic precedence and some of the featureset here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fw84t893(VS.80).aspx
2. Have ANTLR create a suitable AST from a provided string.
3. Walk the AST and use the Predicate Builder framework to dynamically create the Func<Person, bool>
4. Evaluate the predicate against an instance of Person as required

My question is have I totally overbaked this? any alternatives?

---

EDIT: Chosen Solution

I decided to use the Dynamic Linq Library, specifically the Dynamic Query class provided in the LINQSamples.

Code below:

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Linq.Dynamic;

namespace ExpressionParser
{
  class Program
  {
    public class Person
    {
      public string Name { get; set; }
      public int Age { get; set; }
      public int Weight { get; set; }
      public DateTime FavouriteDay { get; set; }
    }

    static void Main()
    {
      const string exp = @"(Person.Age > 3 AND Person.Weight > 50) OR Person.Age < 3";
      var p = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Person), "Person");
      var e = System.Linq.Dynamic.DynamicExpression.ParseLambda(new[] { p }, null, exp);
      var bob = new Person
      {
        Name = "Bob",
        Age = 30,
        Weight = 213,
        FavouriteDay = new DateTime(2000,1,1)
      };

      var result = e.Compile().DynamicInvoke(bob);
      Console.WriteLine(result);
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

Result is of type System.Boolean, and in this instance is TRUE.

Many thanks to Marc Gravell.

Include System.Linq.Dynamic nuget package, documentation here

Yemane

Thanks for posting the full solution code along with your question. Much appreciated. – Dix

what if you have a collection or people and would like to filter some elements? Person.Age > 3 AND Person.Weight > 50 ? – Provost

Thanks. I can't find DynamicExpression.ParseLambda(). Which namespace and assembly is it in? – Hizar

All good.. There was an ambiguity between the namespaces. Needed - using E = System.Linq.Expressions; using System.Linq.Dynamic; – Hizar

Why does it use 'AND' instead of '&&'. Isn't it supposed to be C# code? – Meiosis

It might be more performant to cast the delegate to the Func<Person,bool> and use Invoke instead of DynamicInvoke. See here: #12858840 – Rosefish

In order to get this to work, you have download C# Dynamic Query Library (included in the \LinqSamples\DynamicQuery directory), navigate to CSharpSamples\LinqSamples\DynamicQuery\DynamicQuery and then either 1) copy the dynamic.cs class from the sample project into your project or 2) put dynamic.cs into it's own project as a seperate dll with filename and default namespace of System.Linq.Dynamic (which is what I did because it's more DRY. – Aldis

Dynamic Query Library is available as a NuGet package called "System.Linq.Dynamic" – Niemi

UPDATES for .NET Core would be highly appreciated :-) :-) :-) – Touchandgo

Is there a way to handle %like% in the above query using Dynamic Linq? – Horrendous

Answer 1

Would the dynamic linq library help here? In particular, I'm thinking as a Where clause. If necessary, put it inside a list/array just to call .Where(string) on it! i.e.

var people = new List<Person> { person };
int match = people.Where(filter).Any();

If not, writing a parser (using Expression under the hood) isn't hugely taxing - I wrote one similar (although I don't think I have the source) in my train commute just before xmas...

Fasciation

Mark what do you mean by "writing a parser (using Expression under the hood)" Parsing and then generating an expression tree, or does System.Linq.Expressions have some parsing mechanism? – Hockey

I am pretty sure that he is wanting to read in a file with the expression formed as such and then have it be translated as a predicate and compiled. Question appears to be,, getting your grammar to be converted from 'string' to 'predicate'. // Lambda expression as data in the form of an expression tree. System.Linq.Expressions.Expression<Func<int, bool>> expr = i => i < 5; // Compile the expression tree into executable code. Func<int, bool> deleg = expr.Compile(); // Invoke the method and print the output. Console.WriteLine("deleg(4) = {0}", deleg(4)); ParseLambda good! – Legacy

this one a crown jewel. I googled and googled and tried 6 different opensource solutions wasted few hours - none was working without buts and ifs and each dll size was few times larger than LINQ dynamic.. and LINQ I made work for me in abt 20 min. – Myrmecophagous

Answer 2

Another such library is Flee

I did a quick comparison of Dynamic Linq Library and Flee and Flee was 10 times faster for the expression "(Name == \"Johan\" AND Salary > 500) OR (Name != \"Johan\" AND Salary > 300)"

This how you can write your code using Flee.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
  var context = new ExpressionContext();
  const string exp = @"(Person.Age > 3 AND Person.Weight > 50) OR Person.Age < 3";
  context.Variables.DefineVariable("Person", typeof(Person));
  var e = context.CompileDynamic(exp);

  var bob = new Person
  {
    Name = "Bob",
    Age = 30,
    Weight = 213,
    FavouriteDay = new DateTime(2000, 1, 1)
  };

  context.Variables["Person"] = bob;
  var result = e.Evaluate();
  Console.WriteLine(result);
  Console.ReadKey();
}

Duro

Maybe I'm missing something, but how does 'flee' help in building a linq expression tree? – Sanjiv

Answer 3

void Main()
{
    var testdata = new List<Ownr> {
        //new Ownr{Name = "abc", Qty = 20}, // uncomment this to see it getting filtered out
        new Ownr{Name = "abc", Qty = 2},
        new Ownr{Name = "abcd", Qty = 11},
        new Ownr{Name = "xyz", Qty = 40},
        new Ownr{Name = "ok", Qty = 5},
    };

    Expression<Func<Ownr, bool>> func = Extentions.strToFunc<Ownr>("Qty", "<=", "10");
    func = Extentions.strToFunc<Ownr>("Name", "==", "abc", func);

    var result = testdata.Where(func.ExpressionToFunc()).ToList();

    result.Dump();
}

public class Ownr
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Qty { get; set; }
}

public static class Extentions
{
    public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> strToFunc<T>(string propName, string opr, string value, Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr = null)
    {
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> func = null;
        try
        {
            var type = typeof(T);
            var prop = type.GetProperty(propName);
            ParameterExpression tpe = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T));
            Expression left = Expression.Property(tpe, prop);
            Expression right = Expression.Convert(ToExprConstant(prop, value), prop.PropertyType);
            Expression<Func<T, bool>> innerExpr = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(ApplyFilter(opr, left, right), tpe);
            if (expr != null)
                innerExpr = innerExpr.And(expr);
            func = innerExpr;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            ex.Dump();
        }

        return func;
    }
    private static Expression ToExprConstant(PropertyInfo prop, string value)
    {
        object val = null;

        try
        {
            switch (prop.Name)
            {
                case "System.Guid":
                    val = Guid.NewGuid();
                    break;
                default:
                    {
                        val = Convert.ChangeType(value, prop.PropertyType);
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            ex.Dump();
        }

        return Expression.Constant(val);
    }
    private static BinaryExpression ApplyFilter(string opr, Expression left, Expression right)
    {
        BinaryExpression InnerLambda = null;
        switch (opr)
        {
            case "==":
            case "=":
                InnerLambda = Expression.Equal(left, right);
                break;
            case "<":
                InnerLambda = Expression.LessThan(left, right);
                break;
            case ">":
                InnerLambda = Expression.GreaterThan(left, right);
                break;
            case ">=":
                InnerLambda = Expression.GreaterThanOrEqual(left, right);
                break;
            case "<=":
                InnerLambda = Expression.LessThanOrEqual(left, right);
                break;
            case "!=":
                InnerLambda = Expression.NotEqual(left, right);
                break;
            case "&&":
                InnerLambda = Expression.And(left, right);
                break;
            case "||":
                InnerLambda = Expression.Or(left, right);
                break;
        }
        return InnerLambda;
    }

    public static Expression<Func<T, TResult>> And<T, TResult>(this Expression<Func<T, TResult>> expr1, Expression<Func<T, TResult>> expr2)
    {
        var invokedExpr = Expression.Invoke(expr2, expr1.Parameters.Cast<Expression>());
        return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, TResult>>(Expression.AndAlso(expr1.Body, invokedExpr), expr1.Parameters);
    }

    public static Func<T, TResult> ExpressionToFunc<T, TResult>(this Expression<Func<T, TResult>> expr)
    {
        var res = expr.Compile();
        return res;
    }
}

LinqPad has the Dump() method

Swallow

where is GetProperty method ? – Raphael

@Raphael I had to change the code to var type = typeof(T); var prop = type.GetProperty(propName); to get it to compile. – Guardant

Made it compile and dump out an output – Ceratoid

Answer 4

You might take a look at the DLR. It allows you to evaluate and execute scripts inside .NET 2.0 application. Here's a sample with IronRuby:

using System;
using IronRuby;
using IronRuby.Runtime;
using Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting;

class App
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var setup = new ScriptRuntimeSetup();
        setup.LanguageSetups.Add(
            new LanguageSetup(
                typeof(RubyContext).AssemblyQualifiedName,
                "IronRuby",
                new[] { "IronRuby" },
                new[] { ".rb" }
            )
        );
        var runtime = new ScriptRuntime(setup);
        var engine = runtime.GetEngine("IronRuby");
        var ec = Ruby.GetExecutionContext(runtime);
        ec.DefineGlobalVariable("bob", new Person
        {
            Name = "Bob",
            Age = 30,
            Weight = 213,
            FavouriteDay = "1/1/2000"
        });
        var eval = engine.Execute<bool>(
            "return ($bob.Age > 3 && $bob.Weight > 50) || $bob.Age < 3"
        );
        Console.WriteLine(eval);

    }
}

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public int Weight { get; set; }
    public string FavouriteDay { get; set; }
}

Of course this technique is based on runtime evaluation and code cannot be verified at compile time.

Monotype

I want to be able to protect against execution of 'bad code'... would this be a good fit? – Yemane

What do you mean by 'bad code'? Someone typing an expression that is not valid? In this case you will get a runtime exception when trying to evaluate the script. – Monotype

@darin, things like starting processes, changing data, etc. – Keishakeisling

'bad code' = something that isn't an expression of type Func<Person, bool> (e.g. deleting files from a disk, spinning up a process etc...) – Yemane

Answer 5

Here is an example of a Scala DSL based parser combinator for parsing and evaluating of arithmetic expressions.

import scala.util.parsing.combinator._
/** 
* @author Nicolae Caralicea
* @version 1.0, 04/01/2013
*/
class Arithm extends JavaTokenParsers {
  def expr: Parser[List[String]] = term ~ rep(addTerm | minusTerm) ^^
    { case termValue ~ repValue => termValue ::: repValue.flatten }

  def addTerm: Parser[List[String]] = "+" ~ term ^^
    { case "+" ~ termValue => termValue ::: List("+") }

  def minusTerm: Parser[List[String]] = "-" ~ term ^^
    { case "-" ~ termValue => termValue ::: List("-") }

  def term: Parser[List[String]] = factor ~ rep(multiplyFactor | divideFactor) ^^
    {
      case factorValue1 ~ repfactor => factorValue1 ::: repfactor.flatten
    }

  def multiplyFactor: Parser[List[String]] = "*" ~ factor ^^
    { case "*" ~ factorValue => factorValue ::: List("*") }

  def divideFactor: Parser[List[String]] = "/" ~ factor ^^
    { case "/" ~ factorValue => factorValue ::: List("/") }

  def factor: Parser[List[String]] = floatingPointConstant | parantExpr

  def floatingPointConstant: Parser[List[String]] = floatingPointNumber ^^
    {
      case value => List[String](value)
    }

  def parantExpr: Parser[List[String]] = "(" ~ expr ~ ")" ^^
    {
      case "(" ~ exprValue ~ ")" => exprValue
    }

  def evaluateExpr(expression: String): Double = {
    val parseRes = parseAll(expr, expression)
    if (parseRes.successful) evaluatePostfix(parseRes.get)
    else throw new RuntimeException(parseRes.toString())
  }
  private def evaluatePostfix(postfixExpressionList: List[String]): Double = {
    import scala.collection.immutable.Stack

    def multiply(a: Double, b: Double) = a * b
    def divide(a: Double, b: Double) = a / b
    def add(a: Double, b: Double) = a + b
    def subtract(a: Double, b: Double) = a - b

    def executeOpOnStack(stack: Stack[Any], operation: (Double, Double) => Double): (Stack[Any], Double) = {
      val el1 = stack.top
      val updatedStack1 = stack.pop
      val el2 = updatedStack1.top
      val updatedStack2 = updatedStack1.pop
      val value = operation(el2.toString.toDouble, el1.toString.toDouble)
      (updatedStack2.push(operation(el2.toString.toDouble, el1.toString.toDouble)), value)
    }
    val initial: (Stack[Any], Double) = (Stack(), null.asInstanceOf[Double])
    val res = postfixExpressionList.foldLeft(initial)((computed, item) =>
      item match {
        case "*" => executeOpOnStack(computed._1, multiply)
        case "/" => executeOpOnStack(computed._1, divide)
        case "+" => executeOpOnStack(computed._1, add)
        case "-" => executeOpOnStack(computed._1, subtract)
        case other => (computed._1.push(other), computed._2)
      })
    res._2
  }
}

object TestArithmDSL {
  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
    val arithm = new Arithm
    val actual = arithm.evaluateExpr("(12 + 4 * 6) * ((2 + 3 * ( 4 + 2 ) ) * ( 5 + 12 ))")
    val expected: Double = (12 + 4 * 6) * ((2 + 3 * ( 4 + 2 ) ) * ( 5 + 12 ))
    assert(actual == expected)
  }
}

The equivalent expression tree or parse tree of the provided arithmetic expression would be of the Parser[List[String]] type.

More details are at the following link:

http://nicolaecaralicea.blogspot.ca/2013/04/scala-dsl-for-parsing-and-evaluating-of.html

Oenomel

Answer 6

In addition to Dynamic Linq Library (which builds strongly typed expression and requires strongly typed variables) I may recommend a better alternative: NReco.LambdaParser (open source). It aligns all types and performs all invocations at runtime and behaves like dynamic language:

var lambdaParser = new NReco.LambdaParser();
var varContext = new Dictionary<string,object>();
varContext["one"] = 1M;
varContext["two"] = "2";
 
Console.WriteLine( lambdaParser.Eval("two>one && 0<one ? (1+8)/3+1*two : 0", varContext) ); // --> 5

Plantation

I just tested NReco.LambdaParser package on Blazor WebAssembly, and it works well :D ... thank you. I just published the app. And I used this solution over Dynamic Linq Library because of this issue they mentioned in the docs dynamic-linq.net/advanced-blazor-webassembly – Mariellemariellen

Answer 7

Although this is relatively old post - this is the code for expression builder:AnyService - ExpressionTreeBuilder These are the unit tests:AnyService - ExpressionTreeBuilder Unit Tests

Searcy