I'm trying to project parts of a Display and its list of locations from a WCF Data service into a custom type. Is this doable in WCF Data Services in a Silverlight client? There is some help here, but it doesn't show getting a list back as well as simple strings.
Currently I'm getting "NotSupportedException: Constructing or initializing instances of the type UserQuery+Info with the expression d.Base.Title is not supported.".
It would be a bonus if you could tell me how to do Expand on Locations in this syntax (I know about Displays.Expand("Locations")) or if I need it.
LINQPad snippet
var displays = from d in Displays.Where(d => d.Id == 3136)
select new Info
{
Name = d.Base.Title,
};
displays.Dump();
}
public class Info
{
private string name;
public string Name
{
get
{
return this.name;
}
set
{
this.name = value;
}
}
public IEnumerable<Location> locations;
public IEnumerable<Location> Locations
{
get{ return this.locations;}
set{ this.locations = value;}
}
The problem is that you are effectively asking your WCF server to construct some type it has no knowledge about. Since it is unable to do so, you have to it yourself on your computer:
Displays
.Where(d => d.Id == 3136)
.AsEnumerable()
.Select(d => new Info { Name = d.Base.Title })
This will run the Where() on the server, but the Select() on your computer.
As already noted by svick you can't ask the server for types it doesn't understand (at least not using OData that is). But you can still only ask for properties you want and nothing more.
Since I don't have your service available the below sample uses the demo service on odata.org:
DemoService ctx = new DemoService(new Uri("http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/"));
var q =
ctx.Products
.Where(p => p.ID == 1)
.Select(p =>
new Product
{
Category = new Category
{
Name = p.Category.Name
}
});
var r =
q.AsEnumerable()
.Select(p =>
new
{
CategoryName = p.Category.Name
});
The first query "q" will run compoletely on server (except for creation of the client side objects) and it will only get the Name of the category (and metadata about all the entities in question). It will translate to URL like /Products(1)?$expand=Category&$select=Category/Name.
The second query starts with the AsEnumerable, which effectively executes the first query and then it just performs a simple transform into an anonymous type. This is done completely on the client (no server interaction).
Related
I need to get the following code to work
public IQueryable<BankingDTO> Get(ODataQueryOptions<TillSummaryDTO> options)
{
return((IQueryable<BankingDTO>)options.ApplyTo(this._bankingService.GetBanking()));
}
I would like to query on TillSummaryDTO because it has the field "TillOpID" on it. However I would like to return BankingDTO as this is the end result which contains the group by and sum. When I run the query I receive the error "Cannot apply ODataQueryOptions of 'Bepoz.Presentation.ViewModels.TillSummaryDTO' to IQueryable of 'Bepoz.Presentation.ViewModels.BankingDTO" what is the best practice for this?
The bankingservice.GetBanking method looks like this
var query = from t in _tillSummaryRepository.Table
join w in _workStationRepository.Table on t.TillOpID equals w.WorkstationID
join s in _storeRepository.Table on w.StoreID equals s.StoreID
join v in _venueRepository.Table on s.VenueID equals v.VenueID
select new TillSummaryDTO
{
TillOpID = t.TillOpID,
Cash = t.Cash,
Workstation = new WorkstationDTO()
{
WorkstationID = w.WorkstationID,
Name = w.Name,
Store = new StoreDTO()
{
StoreID = s.StoreID,
StoreGroup = s.StoreGroup,
Name = s.Name,
Venue = new VenueDTO()
{
VenueID = v.VenueID,
VenueGroup = v.VenueGroup,
Name = v.Name,
}
}
}
};
return query.GroupBy(x => x.Workstation.Name)
.Select(x => new BankingDTO()
{
TotalCash = x.Sum(y => y.Cash),
WorkstationName = x.Key
});
The scenario you want to achieve is that you have an entity set of TillSummaryDTO that you want to query, and you would like the return type to be a collection of BankingDTO. The query for the BankingDTO is carried out by applying the query options in the URL onto TillSummaryDTO . But the fact that the BankingDTO and TillSummaryDTO are different kind of types makes it impossible achieve that in a simple Get action method, right?
This scenario can be better resolved by the function feature of the OData protocol that the function takes the TillSummaryDTO collection as input parameter, has some internal complicated logic to query for the right BankingDTO, and returns the BankingDTO instead of TillSummaryDTO.
For the concept of function in OData protocol, you can refer to this link for V4 and section "10.4.2. Functions" of this page for V3.
For implementation, this sample can be referred to for Web API OData V4 and this tutorial can be referred to for Web API OData V3.
I'm looking for an elegant way to execute a Contains() statement in a scalable way. Please allow me to give some background before I come to the actual question.
The IN statement
In Entity Framework and LINQ to SQL the Contains statement is translated as a SQL IN statement. For instance, from this statement:
var ids = Enumerable.Range(1,10);
var courses = Courses.Where(c => ids.Contains(c.CourseID)).ToList();
Entity Framework will generate
SELECT
[Extent1].[CourseID] AS [CourseID],
[Extent1].[Title] AS [Title],
[Extent1].[Credits] AS [Credits],
[Extent1].[DepartmentID] AS [DepartmentID]
FROM [dbo].[Course] AS [Extent1]
WHERE [Extent1].[CourseID] IN (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Unfortunately, the In statement is not scalable. As per MSDN:
Including an extremely large number of values (many thousands) in an IN clause can consume resources and return errors 8623 or 8632
which has to do with running out of resources or exceeding expression limits.
But before these errors occur, the IN statement becomes increasingly slow with growing numbers of items. I can't find documentation about its growth rate, but it performs well up to a few thousands of items, but beyond that it gets dramatically slow. (Based on SQL Server experiences).
Scalable
We can't always avoid this statement. A JOIN with the source data in stead would generally perform much better, but that's only possible when the source data is in the same context. Here I'm dealing with data coming from a client in a disconnected scenario. So I have been looking for a scalable solution. A satisfactory approach turned out to be cutting the operation into chunks:
var courses = ids.ToChunks(1000)
.Select(chunk => Courses.Where(c => chunk.Contains(c.CourseID)))
.SelectMany(x => x).ToList();
(where ToChunks is this little extension method).
This executes the query in chunks of 1000 that all perform well enough. With e.g. 5000 items, 5 queries will run that together are likely to be faster than one query with 5000 items.
But not DRY
But of course I don't want to scatter this construct all over my code. I am looking for an extension method by which any IQueryable<T> can be transformed into a chunky executing statement. Ideally something like this:
var courses = Courses.Where(c => ids.Contains(c.CourseID))
.AsChunky(1000)
.ToList();
But maybe this
var courses = Courses.ChunkyContains(c => c.CourseID, ids, 1000)
.ToList();
I've given the latter solution a first shot:
public static IEnumerable<TEntity> ChunkyContains<TEntity, TContains>(
this IQueryable<TEntity> query,
Expression<Func<TEntity,TContains>> match,
IEnumerable<TContains> containList,
int chunkSize = 500)
{
return containList.ToChunks(chunkSize)
.Select (chunk => query.Where(x => chunk.Contains(match)))
.SelectMany(x => x);
}
Obviously, the part x => chunk.Contains(match) doesn't compile. But I don't know how to manipulate the match expression into a Contains expression.
Maybe someone can help me make this solution work. And of course I'm open to other approaches to make this statement scalable.
I’ve solved this problem with a little different approach a view month ago. Maybe it’s a good solution for you too.
I didn’t want my solution to change the query itself. So a ids.ChunkContains(p.Id) or a special WhereContains method was unfeasible. Also should the solution be able to combine a Contains with another filter as well as using the same collection multiple times.
db.TestEntities.Where(p => (ids.Contains(p.Id) || ids.Contains(p.ParentId)) && p.Name.StartsWith("Test"))
So I tried to encapsulate the logic in a special ToList method that could rewrite the Expression for a specified collection to be queried in chunks.
var ids = Enumerable.Range(1, 11);
var result = db.TestEntities.Where(p => Ids.Contains(p.Id) && p.Name.StartsWith ("Test"))
.ToChunkedList(ids,4);
To rewrite the expression tree I discovered all Contains Method calls from local collections in the query with a view helping classes.
private class ContainsExpression
{
public ContainsExpression(MethodCallExpression methodCall)
{
this.MethodCall = methodCall;
}
public MethodCallExpression MethodCall { get; private set; }
public object GetValue()
{
var parent = MethodCall.Object ?? MethodCall.Arguments.FirstOrDefault();
return Expression.Lambda<Func<object>>(parent).Compile()();
}
public bool IsLocalList()
{
Expression parent = MethodCall.Object ?? MethodCall.Arguments.FirstOrDefault();
while (parent != null) {
if (parent is ConstantExpression)
return true;
var member = parent as MemberExpression;
if (member != null) {
parent = member.Expression;
} else {
parent = null;
}
}
return false;
}
}
private class FindExpressionVisitor<T> : ExpressionVisitor where T : Expression
{
public List<T> FoundItems { get; private set; }
public FindExpressionVisitor()
{
this.FoundItems = new List<T>();
}
public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
{
var found = node as T;
if (found != null) {
this.FoundItems.Add(found);
}
return base.Visit(node);
}
}
public static List<T> ToChunkedList<T, TValue>(this IQueryable<T> query, IEnumerable<TValue> list, int chunkSize)
{
var finder = new FindExpressionVisitor<MethodCallExpression>();
finder.Visit(query.Expression);
var methodCalls = finder.FoundItems.Where(p => p.Method.Name == "Contains").Select(p => new ContainsExpression(p)).Where(p => p.IsLocalList()).ToList();
var localLists = methodCalls.Where(p => p.GetValue() == list).ToList();
If the local collection passed in the ToChunkedList method was found in the query expression, I replace the Contains call to the original list with a new call to a temporary list containing the ids for one batch.
if (localLists.Any()) {
var result = new List<T>();
var valueList = new List<TValue>();
var containsMethod = typeof(Enumerable).GetMethods(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public)
.Single(p => p.Name == "Contains" && p.GetParameters().Count() == 2)
.MakeGenericMethod(typeof(TValue));
var queryExpression = query.Expression;
foreach (var item in localLists) {
var parameter = new List<Expression>();
parameter.Add(Expression.Constant(valueList));
if (item.MethodCall.Object == null) {
parameter.AddRange(item.MethodCall.Arguments.Skip(1));
} else {
parameter.AddRange(item.MethodCall.Arguments);
}
var call = Expression.Call(containsMethod, parameter.ToArray());
var replacer = new ExpressionReplacer(item.MethodCall,call);
queryExpression = replacer.Visit(queryExpression);
}
var chunkQuery = query.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(queryExpression);
for (int i = 0; i < Math.Ceiling((decimal)list.Count() / chunkSize); i++) {
valueList.Clear();
valueList.AddRange(list.Skip(i * chunkSize).Take(chunkSize));
result.AddRange(chunkQuery.ToList());
}
return result;
}
// if the collection was not found return query.ToList()
return query.ToList();
Expression Replacer:
private class ExpressionReplacer : ExpressionVisitor {
private Expression find, replace;
public ExpressionReplacer(Expression find, Expression replace)
{
this.find = find;
this.replace = replace;
}
public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
{
if (node == this.find)
return this.replace;
return base.Visit(node);
}
}
Please allow me to provide an alternative to the Chunky approach.
The technique involving Contains in your predicate works well for:
A constant list of values (no volatile).
A small list of values.
Contains will do great if your local data has those two characteristics because these small set of values will be hardcoded in the final SQL query.
The problem begins when your list of values has entropy (non-constant). As of this writing, Entity Framework (Classic and Core) do not try to parameterize these values in any way, this forces SQL Server to generate a query plan every time it sees a new combination of values in your query. This operation is expensive and gets aggravated by the overall complexity of your query (e.g. many tables, a lot of values in the list, etc.).
The Chunky approach still suffers from this SQL Server query plan cache pollution problem, because it does not parametrizes the query, it just moves the cost of creating a big execution plan into smaller ones that are more easy to compute (and discard) by SQL Server, furthermore, every chunk adds an additional round-trip to the database, which increases the time needed to resolve the query.
An Efficient Solution for EF Core
🎉 NEW! QueryableValues EF6 Edition has arrived!
For EF Core keep reading below.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a way of composing local data in your query in a way that's SQL Server friendly? Enter QueryableValues.
I designed this library with these two main goals:
It MUST solve the SQL Server's query plan cache pollution problem ✅
It MUST be fast! ⚡
It has a flexible API that allows you to compose local data provided by an IEnumerable<T> and you get back an IQueryable<T>; just use it as if it were another entity of your DbContext (really), e.g.:
// Sample values.
IEnumerable<int> values = Enumerable.Range(1, 1000);
// Using a Join (query syntax).
var query1 =
from e in dbContext.MyEntities
join v in dbContext.AsQueryableValues(values) on e.Id equals v
select new
{
e.Id,
e.Name
};
// Using Contains (method syntax)
var query2 = dbContext.MyEntities
.Where(e => dbContext.AsQueryableValues(values).Contains(e.Id))
.Select(e => new
{
e.Id,
e.Name
});
You can also compose complex types!
It goes without saying that the provided IEnumerable<T> is only enumerated at the time that your query is materialized (not before), preserving the same behavior of EF Core in this regard.
How Does It Works?
Internally QueryableValues creates a parameterized query and provides your values in a serialized format that is natively understood by SQL Server. This allows your query to be resolved with a single round-trip to the database and avoids creating a new query plan on subsequent executions due to the parameterized nature of it.
Useful Links
Nuget Package
GitHub Repository
Benchmarks
SQL Server Cache Pollution Problem
QueryableValues is distributed under the MIT license
Linqkit to the rescue! Might be a better way that does it directly, but this seems to work fine and makes it pretty clear what's being done. The addition being AsExpandable(), which lets you use the Invoke extension.
using LinqKit;
public static IEnumerable<TEntity> ChunkyContains<TEntity, TContains>(
this IQueryable<TEntity> query,
Expression<Func<TEntity,TContains>> match,
IEnumerable<TContains> containList,
int chunkSize = 500)
{
return containList
.ToChunks(chunkSize)
.Select (chunk => query.AsExpandable()
.Where(x => chunk.Contains(match.Invoke(x))))
.SelectMany(x => x);
}
You might also want to do this:
containsList.Distinct()
.ToChunks(chunkSize)
...or something similar so you don't get duplicate results if something this occurs:
query.ChunkyContains(x => x.Id, new List<int> { 1, 1 }, 1);
Another way would be to build the predicate this way (of course, some parts should be improved, just giving the idea).
public static Expression<Func<TEntity, bool>> ContainsPredicate<TEntity, TContains>(this IEnumerable<TContains> chunk, Expression<Func<TEntity, TContains>> match)
{
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TEntity, bool>>(Expression.Call(
typeof (Enumerable),
"Contains",
new[]
{
typeof (TContains)
},
Expression.Constant(chunk, typeof(IEnumerable<TContains>)), match.Body),
match.Parameters);
}
which you could call in your ChunkContains method
return containList.ToChunks(chunkSize)
.Select(chunk => query.Where(ContainsPredicate(chunk, match)))
.SelectMany(x => x);
Using a stored procedure with a table valued parameter could also work well. You in effect write a joint In the stored procedure between your table / view and the table valued parameter.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/data/adonet/sql/table-valued-parameters
I have this bit of code that does not work because Entity Framework doesn't recognize the CreateItemDC method. CreateItemDC is a modular private method that creates a data contract for the given Item entity. I use CreateItemDC all throughout my service whenever I need to return an Item data contract, but I can't use it here. I can realize the sequence of ProjectItems into an array or enumerable because I would have to do this to all ProjectItem entities in my database as the query criteria is specified on the client and I don't have access to it here. Do I have any better options here? It seems that RIA Services is not worth the trouble. I'm really wishing I had used plain WCF with this project.
[Query]
public IQueryable<ProjectItemDC> GetProjectItems()
{
return from projectItem in ObjectContext.ProjectItems
select new ProjectItemDC
{
ID = projectItem.ID,
LibraryItem = CreateItemDC(projectItem.LibraryItem),
LibraryItemID = projectItem.LibraryItemID,
ProjectID = projectItem.ProjectID,
Quantity = projectItem.Quantity,
Width = projectItem.Width,
Height = projectItem.Height,
Depth = projectItem.Depth,
SheetMaterialID = projectItem.SheetMaterialID,
BandingMaterialID = projectItem.BandingMaterialID,
MaterialVolume = projectItem.MaterialVolume,
MaterialWeight = projectItem.MaterialWeight
};
}
P.S. I do love LINQ and E.F. though. :)
Well, if you want to go with plain WCF, you can, no problem, just change the code to
[Query(IsComposable=false)]
public IEnumerable<ProjectItemDC> GetProjectItems(string myParm1, string myParm2)
{
return from projectItem in ObjectContext.ProjectItems
select new ProjectItemDC
{
ID = projectItem.ID,
LibraryItem = CreateItemDC(projectItem.LibraryItem),
LibraryItemID = projectItem.LibraryItemID,
ProjectID = projectItem.ProjectID,
Quantity = projectItem.Quantity,
Width = projectItem.Width,
Height = projectItem.Height,
Depth = projectItem.Depth,
SheetMaterialID = projectItem.SheetMaterialID,
BandingMaterialID = projectItem.BandingMaterialID,
MaterialVolume = projectItem.MaterialVolume,
MaterialWeight = projectItem.MaterialWeight
}.ToArray();
}
write your own filtering/sorting logic and you're done.
Yes, you've lost WCF Ria Services dynamic query capabilities, but this is pretty much what you get with plain old WCF, isnt'it ?
If you instead need WCF Ria dynamic sorting/filtering/grouping you must take some additional steps, involving the visit of the Expression that WCF Ria Services create for you.
HTH
You can call ToArray() against ObjectContext.ProjectItems to force EF to load all the items, however, your query will no longer be composable on the client.
[Query]
public IQueryable<ProjectItemDC> GetProjectItems()
{
return from projectItem in ObjectContext.ProjectItems.ToArray()
select new ProjectItemDC
{
ID = projectItem.ID,
LibraryItem = CreateItemDC(projectItem.LibraryItem),
LibraryItemID = projectItem.LibraryItemID,
ProjectID = projectItem.ProjectID,
Quantity = projectItem.Quantity,
Width = projectItem.Width,
Height = projectItem.Height,
Depth = projectItem.Depth,
SheetMaterialID = projectItem.SheetMaterialID,
BandingMaterialID = projectItem.BandingMaterialID,
MaterialVolume = projectItem.MaterialVolume,
MaterialWeight = projectItem.MaterialWeight
};
}
Edit:
As mentioned in your comment, it gets all of the data out of the database at once which is not ideal. In order to create the LibraryItem with your private method, you cannot compose the query on the client. Instead, you should filter within the query method and then create the array.
[Query]
public IQueryable<ProjectItemDC> GetProjectItems(int id, string filter, object blah)
{
var projectItems = ObjectContext.ProjectItems.Where(...).ToArray();
return projectItems.Select(projectItem => new ProjectItemDC{...};
}
Hi I have a query like this:
var queryGridData = from question in questions
select new {
i = question.Id,
cell = new List<string>() { question.Id.ToString(), question.Note, question.Topic }
};
The ToString() part needed to convert the int is causing:
LINQ to Entities does not recognize the method 'System.String.ToString()' method, and this method cannot be translated into a store expression.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I need it as a string to go into the collection. Any ideas?
I would personally perform just enough of the query in the database to provide the values you want, and do the rest in .NET:
var queryGridData = questions.Select(q => new { q.Id, q.Note, q.Topic })
.AsEnumerable() // Do the rest locally
.Select(q => new { i = q.Id,
cell = new List<string> {
q.Id.ToString(),
q.Note,
q.Topic
} });
(This formatting is horrible, but hopefully it'll be easier to do nicely in an IDE where you've got more space :)
This has been ruining my life for a few days now, time to ask...
I am using Entity Framework 4.0 for my app.
A Location (such as a house or office) has one or more facilities (like a bathroom, bedroom, snooker table etc..)
I want to display a checkbox list on the location page, with a checkbox list of facilities, with the ones checked that the location currently has.
My View Model for the facilities goes like this...
public class FacilityViewItem
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public bool Checked { get; set; }
}
So when im passing the Location View Model to the UI, i want to pass a List<T> of facilities where T is of type FacilityViewItem.
To get the facilities that the location already has is simple - i make a query using Location.Facilities which returns an EntityCollection where T is of type Facility. This is because Facilities is a navigation property....
var facs = from f in location.Facilities
select new FacilityViewItem()
{
Id = f.FacilityId,
Name = f.Name,
Checked = true
};
So here is where my problem lies - i want the rest of the facilities, the ones that the Location does not have.
I have tried using Except() and Any() and Contains() but i get the same error.
Examples of queries that do not work...
var restOfFacilities = from f in ctx.Facilities
where !hasFacilities.Contains(f)
select new FacilityViewItem()
{
Id = f.FacilityId,
Name = f.Name
};
var restOfFacilities = ctx.Facilities.Except(facilitiesThatLocationHas);
var notFacs = from e in ctx.Facilities
where !hasFacilities.Any(m => m.FacilityId == e.FacilityId)
select new FacilityViewItem()
{
Id = e.FacilityId,
Name = e.Name
};
And the error i get with every implementation...
System.NotSupportedException was unhandled
Message=Unable to create a constant value of type 'Chapter2ConsoleApp.Facility'. Only primitive types ('such as Int32, String, and Guid') are supported in this context.
What am i overlooking here?
ironically enough i solved it in a matter of hours after i posted the question on here, after days of suffering.
The error is basically saying 'i dont know how to calculate what items are not included by comparing strongly typed objects. Give me a list of Ints or some simple types, and i can take care of it'.
So, first you need to get a list of the primary keys, then use that in the contains clause...
//get the primary key ids...
var hasFacilityIds = from f in hasFacilities
select f.FacilityId;
//now use them in the contains clause...
var restOfFacilities = from f in ctx.Facilities
where !hasFacilityIds.Contains(f.FacilityId)
select new FacilityViewItem()
{
Id = f.FacilityId,
Name = f.Name
};
The first query seems fine, but you need to compare the Ids:
var restOfFacilities = from f in ctx.Facilities
where !facs.Select(fac => fac.Id).Contains(f.Id)
select f;
I wanna see what's hasFacilities, anyway, as L2E shows, "Only primitive types ('such as Int32, String, and Guid') are supported in this context", so I suppose you must retrieve first the data and put into a collection of FacilityViewItem.
var restOfFacilities = ctx
.Facilities
.Where(f => !hasFacilities.Contains(f))
.Select(f => new { f.FacilityId, f.Name })
.ToList()
.Select(f => new FacilityViewItem {
Id = f.FacilityId,
Name = f.Name
});
var notFacs = ctx
.Facilities
.Where(e => !hasFacilities.Any(m => m.FacilityId == e.FacilityId))
.Select(e => new { e.FacilityId, e.Name })
.ToList()
.Select(e => new FacilityViewItem {
Id = e.FacilityId,
Name = e.Name
});
hope it helps