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Replace parameter in lambda expression

Considering this code:

public class Foo
{
    public int a { get; set; }
    public int b { get; set; }
}

private void Test()
{
    List<Foo> foos = new List<Foo>();
    foos.Add(new Foo());
    foos.Add(new Foo());
    Expression<Func<Foo, int>> exp0 = f => f.a * f.b;
    Expression<Func<int>> exp1 = () => foos[0].a * foos[0].b;
    Expression<Func<int>> exp2 = () => foos[1].a * foos[1].b;
}

How can you take exp0 and turn it into two expressions identical to exp1 and exp2. Note that I don't want to just evaluate exp0 for each Foo in foos, but instead get two new expressions.

[Update]:

Basically, I want to be able to expand or "flatten" an expression passed to a Linq extension method such as Sum into one expression per item in the enumeration since these enumerations will be static, and because I already have code that reads expressions that don't take parameters (and then turns them into another language).

I'm using the MetadataToken as a references to properties that have a certain attribute (in this case a and b would have this attribute) and using it with a dictionary that correlates C# properties to another language's variables:

Foo foo = new Foo();
Expression<Func<int>> exp = () => foo.a * foo.a + foo.b;
string result1 = GetResult(exp); // gets "v_001 * v_001 + v_002"

List<Foo> foes = new List<Foo>();
foes.Add(new Foo());
foes.Add(new Foo());
Expression<Func<int>> exp2 = () => foes.Sum(f => f.a * f.a + f.b);
string result2 = GetResult(exp2); // should get "(v_001 * v_001 + v_002) + (v_003 * v_003 + v_004)"
like image 615
Juan Avatar asked Jun 22 '12 15:06

Juan


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How to replace lambda expression?

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If you are using a lambda expression as an anonymous function but not doing anything with the argument passed, you can replace lambda expression with method reference. In the first two cases, the method reference is equivalent to lambda expression that supplies the parameters of the method e.g. System.

Can we write parameter less lambda expression?

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1 Answers

I would do it this way:

Write a parameter-replacer expression-visitor that manipulates the original expression as follows:

  1. Gets rid of the parameter you don't want entirely from the lambda signature.
  2. Replaces all uses of the parameter with the desired indexer expression.

Here's a quick and dirty sample I whipped up based on my earlier answer on a different question:

public static class ParameterReplacer
{
    // Produces an expression identical to 'expression'
    // except with 'source' parameter replaced with 'target' expression.     
    public static Expression<TOutput> Replace<TInput, TOutput>
                    (Expression<TInput> expression,
                    ParameterExpression source,
                    Expression target)
    {
        return new ParameterReplacerVisitor<TOutput>(source, target)
                    .VisitAndConvert(expression);
    }

    private class ParameterReplacerVisitor<TOutput> : ExpressionVisitor
    {
        private ParameterExpression _source;
        private Expression _target;

        public ParameterReplacerVisitor
                (ParameterExpression source, Expression target)
        {
            _source = source;
            _target = target;
        }

        internal Expression<TOutput> VisitAndConvert<T>(Expression<T> root)
        {
            return (Expression<TOutput>)VisitLambda(root);
        }

        protected override Expression VisitLambda<T>(Expression<T> node)
        {
            // Leave all parameters alone except the one we want to replace.
            var parameters = node.Parameters
                                 .Where(p => p != _source);

            return Expression.Lambda<TOutput>(Visit(node.Body), parameters);
        }

        protected override Expression VisitParameter(ParameterExpression node)
        {
            // Replace the source with the target, visit other params as usual.
            return node == _source ? _target : base.VisitParameter(node);
        }
    }
}

Usage for your scenario (tested):

var zeroIndexIndexer = Expression.MakeIndex
        (Expression.Constant(foos),
         typeof(List<Foo>).GetProperty("Item"), 
         new[] { Expression.Constant(0) });


// .ToString() of the below looks like the following: 
//  () =>    (value(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[App.Foo]).Item[0].a
//         *  value(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[App.Foo]).Item[0].b)
var exp1Clone = ParameterReplacer.Replace<Func<Foo, int>, Func<int>>
                  (exp0, exp0.Parameters.Single(), zeroIndexIndexer);
like image 129
Ani Avatar answered Oct 11 '22 09:10

Ani