Let's start with the QueryOver
syntax:
// external filter data
instanceIDs = new int[] { 1, 2, 3 };
// aliasing
EntityTypeDTO entityDTO = null;
CustomFieldDTO fieldDTO = null;
Field field = null;
IQueryOver<EntityType, Field> query = Session.QueryOver<EntityType>()
// filter Entity by ID's list
.Where(Restrictions.On<EntityType>(c => c.ID).IsIn(instanceIDs))
// Join Fields
.JoinQueryOver<Field>(c => c.Fields, () => field)
.SelectList(list => list
// entity
.Select(c => c.ID)
.Select(c => c.Title)
// ... more Entity properties
// field collection
.Select(() => field.ID)
.Select(() => field.Name)
// ... more Field properties
)
.TransformUsing(new MyTransformer()); // see below
var dtos = query.List<EntityTypeDTO>();
This QueryOver will generate the SQL statement which will contain all EntityTypes with their Fields. Now we have to extract the unique EntityType instances and fill their Fields lists
There is an overview of DTO classes (as well as QueryOver above, these contain only ver few properties as an example):
public class EntityTypeDTO
{
public virtual int ID { get; set; }
public virtual string Title { get; set; }
public virtual IList<CustomFieldDTO> Fields { get; set; }
...
}
public class CustomFieldDTO
{
public virtual int ID { get; set; }
public virtual string Name { get; set; }
...
}
And finally the trick MyTransformer():
public class MyTransformer : IResultTransformer
{
// rows iterator
public object TransformTuple(object[] tuple, string[] aliases)
{
var entity = new EntityTypeDTO
{
ID = (int)tuple[0], // aliases should be used
Title = tuple[1] as string // first two are belong to Entity
};
var field = new CustomFieldDTO
{
ID = (int)tuple[2], // last 2 columns are for a Field
Name = tuple[3] as string // see SelectList in QueryOver
};
entity.Fields = new List<CustomFieldDTO> { field };
return entity;
}
// convert to DISTINCT list with populated Fields
public System.Collections.IList TransformList(System.Collections.IList collection)
{
var results = new List<EntityTypeDTO>();
foreach(var item in collection)
{
var entity = item as EntityTypeDTO;
// was already the same ID appended
var existing = results.SingleOrDefault(c => c.ID.Equals(entity.ID));
if(existing != null)
{
// extend fields
existing.Fields.Add(entity.Fields.First());
continue;
}
// new ID found
results.Add(entity);
}
// DISTINCT list of Entities, with populated FIELDS
return results;
}
...
MyTransformer is ad hoc one, only for this purpose... but this approach could be extended