c# - Combining two expressions (Expression<Func<T, bool>>)

Question

I have two expressions of type Expression<Func<T, bool>> and I want to take to OR, AND or NOT of these and get a new expression of the same type

Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr1;
Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr2;

...

//how to do this (the code below will obviously not work)
Expression<Func<T, bool>> andExpression = expr AND expr2

Answer 1

Well, you can use Expression.AndAlso / OrElse etc to combine logical expressions, but the problem is the parameters; are you working with the same ParameterExpression in expr1 and expr2? If so, it is easier:

var body = Expression.AndAlso(expr1.Body, expr2.Body);
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<T,bool>>(body, expr1.Parameters[0]);

This also works well to negate a single operation:

static Expression<Func<T, bool>> Not<T>(
    this Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr)
{
    return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(
        Expression.Not(expr.Body), expr.Parameters[0]);
}

Otherwise, depending on the LINQ provider, you might be able to combine them with Invoke:

// OrElse is very similar...
static Expression<Func<T, bool>> AndAlso<T>(
    this Expression<Func<T, bool>> left,
    Expression<Func<T, bool>> right)
{
    var param = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T), "x");
    var body = Expression.AndAlso(
            Expression.Invoke(left, param),
            Expression.Invoke(right, param)
        );
    var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(body, param);
    return lambda;
}

Somewhere, I have got some code that re-writes an expression-tree replacing nodes to remove the need for Invoke, but it is quite lengthy (and I can't remember where I left it...)

---

Generalized version that picks the simplest route:

static Expression<Func<T, bool>> AndAlso<T>(
    this Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr1,
    Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr2)
{
    // need to detect whether they use the same
    // parameter instance; if not, they need fixing
    ParameterExpression param = expr1.Parameters[0];
    if (ReferenceEquals(param, expr2.Parameters[0]))
    {
        // simple version
        return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(
            Expression.AndAlso(expr1.Body, expr2.Body), param);
    }
    // otherwise, keep expr1 "as is" and invoke expr2
    return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(
        Expression.AndAlso(
            expr1.Body,
            Expression.Invoke(expr2, param)), param);
}

Starting from .NET 4.0, there is the ExpressionVisitor class which allows you to build expressions that are EF safe.

    public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> AndAlso<T>(
        this Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr1,
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> expr2)
    {
        var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof (T));

        var leftVisitor = new ReplaceExpressionVisitor(expr1.Parameters[0], parameter);
        var left = leftVisitor.Visit(expr1.Body);

        var rightVisitor = new ReplaceExpressionVisitor(expr2.Parameters[0], parameter);
        var right = rightVisitor.Visit(expr2.Body);

        return Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(
            Expression.AndAlso(left, right), parameter);
    }



    private class ReplaceExpressionVisitor
        : ExpressionVisitor
    {
        private readonly Expression _oldValue;
        private readonly Expression _newValue;

        public ReplaceExpressionVisitor(Expression oldValue, Expression newValue)
        {
            _oldValue = oldValue;
            _newValue = newValue;
        }

        public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
        {
            if (node == _oldValue)
                return _newValue;
            return base.Visit(node);
        }
    }