How to log a predicate Expression?

Question

Typically my repositories have logging statements for debugging purposes, allowing me to see values of parameters. Recently I went down the path of creating a generic repository that take predicate Expression as argument for great flexibility, however I cannot figure out a decent way of logging the condition to where it would be remotely useful.

Example Method:

public int GetCount<K>(Expression<Func<K, bool>> predicate) where K : class
{
    Logger.LogDebugMessage(String.Format("Parameters [predicate: {0}]", predicate == null ? string.Empty : predicate.Body.ToString()));

    ...
}

You can see I am using the Body.ToString() at this point, but the results are not-so-readble:

Parameters [predicate: (fa.SomeId == value(NameSpace.SomeClass+<>c__DisplayClass2).SomeId)]

Ultimately what I would love to see is something similar to the below:

Parameters [predicate: (fa.SomeId == 1 && fa.Account.Name == "MyName").SomeId)]

In essence the value of this log is being able to know the input values when something blows up. Is there any way around this short of forcing the user of the API to supply the predicate as a string?

Answer 1

This blog post by Matt Warren contains code that replaces a local variable reference with the variable name. So, instead of predicate: (fa.SomeId == value(NameSpace.SomeClass+<>c__DisplayClass2).SomeId), you will get predicate: (fa.SomeId == someValue).

The blog post:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mattwar/archive/2007/08/01/linq-building-an-iqueryable-provider-part-iii.aspx

The source:

public static class Evaluator
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Performs evaluation & replacement of independent sub-trees
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="expression">The root of the expression tree.</param>
    /// <param name="fnCanBeEvaluated">A function that decides whether a given expression node can be part of the local function.</param>
    /// <returns>A new tree with sub-trees evaluated and replaced.</returns>
    public static Expression PartialEval(Expression expression, Func<Expression, bool> fnCanBeEvaluated)
    {
        return new SubtreeEvaluator(new Nominator(fnCanBeEvaluated).Nominate(expression)).Eval(expression);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Performs evaluation & replacement of independent sub-trees
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="expression">The root of the expression tree.</param>
    /// <returns>A new tree with sub-trees evaluated and replaced.</returns>
    public static Expression PartialEval(Expression expression)
    {
        return PartialEval(expression, Evaluator.CanBeEvaluatedLocally);
    }

    private static bool CanBeEvaluatedLocally(Expression expression)
    {
        return expression.NodeType != ExpressionType.Parameter;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Evaluates & replaces sub-trees when first candidate is reached (top-down)
    /// </summary>
    class SubtreeEvaluator : ExpressionVisitor
    {
        HashSet<Expression> candidates;

        internal SubtreeEvaluator(HashSet<Expression> candidates)
        {
            this.candidates = candidates;
        }

        internal Expression Eval(Expression exp)
        {
            return this.Visit(exp);
        }

        protected override Expression Visit(Expression exp)
        {
            if (exp == null)
            {
                return null;
            }
            if (this.candidates.Contains(exp))
            {
                return this.Evaluate(exp);
            }
            return base.Visit(exp);
        }

        private Expression Evaluate(Expression e)
        {
            if (e.NodeType == ExpressionType.Constant)
            {
                return e;
            }
            LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(e);
            Delegate fn = lambda.Compile();
            return Expression.Constant(fn.DynamicInvoke(null), e.Type);
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Performs bottom-up analysis to determine which nodes can possibly
    /// be part of an evaluated sub-tree.
    /// </summary>
    class Nominator : ExpressionVisitor
    {
        Func<Expression, bool> fnCanBeEvaluated;
        HashSet<Expression> candidates;
        bool cannotBeEvaluated;

        internal Nominator(Func<Expression, bool> fnCanBeEvaluated)
        {
            this.fnCanBeEvaluated = fnCanBeEvaluated;
        }

        internal HashSet<Expression> Nominate(Expression expression)
        {
            this.candidates = new HashSet<Expression>();
            this.Visit(expression);
            return this.candidates;
        }

        protected override Expression Visit(Expression expression)
        {
            if (expression != null)
            {
                bool saveCannotBeEvaluated = this.cannotBeEvaluated;
                this.cannotBeEvaluated = false;
                base.Visit(expression);
                if (!this.cannotBeEvaluated)
                {
                    if (this.fnCanBeEvaluated(expression))
                    {
                        this.candidates.Add(expression);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        this.cannotBeEvaluated = true;
                    }
                }
                this.cannotBeEvaluated |= saveCannotBeEvaluated;
            }
            return expression;
        }
    }
}