Question

I have a Linq Expression, which may be altered depending on certain conditions. An example of what I would like to do (left blank the bit I am not sure about):

Expression<Func<Project, bool>> filter = (Project p) => p.UserName == "Bob";
if(showArchived)
{
    // update filter to add && p.Archived
}
// query the database when the filter is built
IEnumerable<Project> projects = unitOfWork.ProjectRepository.Get(filter);

How do I update the filter to add any extra parameters?

At the moment all the records are retrieved, then I use a Where to further filter the results. However that results in more queries to the database than are strictly necessary.

IEnumerable<Project> projects = unitOfWork.ProjectRepository.Get(filter);
if(showArchived)
{
    projects = projects.Where(p => p.Archived);
}

Get method is using the GenericRepository pattern:

public class GenericRepository<TEntity> where TEntity : class
{
    internal ProgrammeDBContext context;
    internal DbSet<TEntity> dbSet;

    public GenericRepository(ProgrammeDBContext context)
    {
        this.context = context;
        this.dbSet = context.Set<TEntity>();
    }

    public virtual IEnumerable<TEntity> Get(
        Expression<Func<TEntity, bool>> filter = null,
        Func<IQueryable<TEntity>, IOrderedQueryable<TEntity>> orderBy = null,
        string includeProperties = "")
    {
        IQueryable<TEntity> query = dbSet;

        if (filter != null)
        {
            query = query.Where(filter);
        }

        foreach (var includeProperty in includeProperties.Split
            (new char[] { ',' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries))
        {
            query = query.Include(includeProperty);
        }

        if (orderBy != null)
        {
            return orderBy(query).ToList();
        }
        else
        {
            return query.ToList();
        }
    }

    public virtual TEntity GetByID(object id)
    {
        return dbSet.Find(id);
    }

    public virtual void Insert(TEntity entity)
    {
        dbSet.Add(entity);
    }

    public virtual void Delete(object id)
    {
        TEntity entityToDelete = dbSet.Find(id);
        Delete(entityToDelete);
    }

    public virtual void Delete(TEntity entityToDelete)
    {
        if (context.Entry(entityToDelete).State == EntityState.Detached)
        {
            dbSet.Attach(entityToDelete);
        }
        dbSet.Remove(entityToDelete);
    }

    public virtual void Update(TEntity entityToUpdate)
    {
        dbSet.Attach(entityToUpdate);
        context.Entry(entityToUpdate).State = EntityState.Modified;
    }

    public virtual IEnumerable<TEntity> GetWithRawSql(string query, params object[] parameters)
    {
        return dbSet.SqlQuery(query, parameters).ToList();
    }
}

Update
Created some extension methods based on the code below by Marc Gravell and David B, solves the problem for me

public static class LinqExtensionMethods
{
    public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> CombineOr<T>(params Expression<Func<T, bool>>[] filters)
    {
        return filters.CombineOr();
    }

    public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> CombineOr<T>(this IEnumerable<Expression<Func<T, bool>>> filters)
    {
        if (!filters.Any())
        {
            Expression<Func<T, bool>> alwaysTrue = x => true;
            return alwaysTrue;
        }
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> firstFilter = filters.First();

        var lastFilter = firstFilter;
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> result = null;
        foreach (var nextFilter in filters.Skip(1))
        {
            var nextExpression = new ReplaceVisitor(lastFilter.Parameters[0], nextFilter.Parameters[0]).Visit(lastFilter.Body);
            result = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(Expression.OrElse(nextExpression, nextFilter.Body), nextFilter.Parameters);
            lastFilter = nextFilter;
        }
        return result;
    }

    public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> CombineAnd<T>(params Expression<Func<T, bool>>[] filters)
    {
        return filters.CombineAnd();
    }

    public static Expression<Func<T, bool>> CombineAnd<T>(this IEnumerable<Expression<Func<T, bool>>> filters)
    {
        if (!filters.Any())
        {
            Expression<Func<T, bool>> alwaysTrue = x => true;
            return alwaysTrue;
        }
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> firstFilter = filters.First();

        var lastFilter = firstFilter;
        Expression<Func<T, bool>> result = null;
        foreach (var nextFilter in filters.Skip(1))
        {
            var nextExpression = new ReplaceVisitor(lastFilter.Parameters[0], nextFilter.Parameters[0]).Visit(lastFilter.Body);
            result = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(Expression.AndAlso(nextExpression, nextFilter.Body), nextFilter.Parameters);
            lastFilter = nextFilter;
        }
        return result;
    }

    class ReplaceVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
    {
        private readonly Expression from, to;
        public ReplaceVisitor(Expression from, Expression to)
        {
            this.from = from;
            this.to = to;
        }
        public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
        {
            return node == from ? to : base.Visit(node);
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

If I understand the question, then most likely here’s the problem:

IEnumerable<Project> projects = unitOfWork.ProjectRepository.Get(filter);

Any work on projects is going to be using Enumerable, not Queryable; it should probably be:

IQueryable<Project> projects = unitOfWork.ProjectRepository.Get(filter);
if(showArchived)
{
    projects = projects.Where(p => p.Archived);
}

The latter is composable, and .Where should work as you expect, building up a more restrictive query before sending it to the server.

Your other option is to rewrite the filter to combine before sending:

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> filter1 = x => x.A > 1;
        Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> filter2 = x => x.B > 2.5;

        // combine two predicates:
        // need to rewrite one of the lambdas, swapping in the parameter from the other
        var rewrittenBody1 = new ReplaceVisitor(
            filter1.Parameters[0], filter2.Parameters[0]).Visit(filter1.Body);
        var newFilter = Expression.Lambda<Func<Foo, bool>>(
            Expression.AndAlso(rewrittenBody1, filter2.Body), filter2.Parameters);
        // newFilter is equivalent to: x => x.A > 1 && x.B > 2.5
    }
}
class Foo
{
    public int A { get; set; }
    public float B { get; set; }
}
class ReplaceVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
    private readonly Expression from, to;
    public ReplaceVisitor(Expression from, Expression to)
    {
        this.from = from;
        this.to = to;
    }
    public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
    {
        return node == from ? to : base.Visit(node);
    }
}

Or re-written in a way to allow convenient usage:

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Expression<Func<Foo, bool>> filter = x => x.A > 1;

        bool applySecondFilter = true;
        if(applySecondFilter)
        {
            filter = Combine(filter, x => x.B > 2.5);
        }
        var data = repo.Get(filter);
    }
    static Expression<Func<T,bool>> Combine<T>(Expression<Func<T,bool>> filter1, Expression<Func<T,bool>> filter2)
    {
        // combine two predicates:
        // need to rewrite one of the lambdas, swapping in the parameter from the other
        var rewrittenBody1 = new ReplaceVisitor(
            filter1.Parameters[0], filter2.Parameters[0]).Visit(filter1.Body);
        var newFilter = Expression.Lambda<Func<T, bool>>(
            Expression.AndAlso(rewrittenBody1, filter2.Body), filter2.Parameters);
        return newFilter;
    }
}
class Foo
{
    public int A { get; set; }
    public float B { get; set; }
}
class ReplaceVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
    private readonly Expression from, to;
    public ReplaceVisitor(Expression from, Expression to)
    {
        this.from = from;
        this.to = to;
    }
    public override Expression Visit(Expression node)
    {
        return node == from ? to : base.Visit(node);
    }
}