Question

I am using ASP.NET with C# and I need to make the condition of the query dynamic,
Example:
Database:

 Name       Sex
 --------------
 John Doe    M
 Jane Doe    F

Now I want to allow a search on the data set but if the user selects to search by name OR sex only the query will allow a search on the name or sex columns. However if the user selects to search by both name and sex them the query will allow a search by name AND sex column. My question is can I separate the query using if statements to account for the dynamic nature of the search? Thank you.

Answer 1

You can do:

var q = ...;

if(sex != null) {
    q = q.Where(r => r.Sex == sex);
}
if(name != null) {
    q = q.Where(r => r.Name == name);
}

This will filter by sex and/or name depending on what is passed in.

q = q.Where(r => r.Sex == sex).Where(r => r.Name == name);

is the same as

q = q.Where(r => r.Sex == sex && r.Name == name);