Question

I have a method where by I’m able to search in a database for a specific customer(s). At the moment it only takes 1 term, but i’d like to be able to search with multiple terms (for example the customer’s account number and their name). Below is my method:

public List<AXCustomer> allCustomers(string id)
{
    string[] searchstring = id.Split(' ');
    List<AXCustomer> customer = new List<AXCustomer>();

    // if 3 terms are entered
    if (searchstring.Length > 2)
    {

    }
    // if 2 terms are entered
    else if (searchstring.Length > 1)
    {

    }
    // revert back to default search
    else
    {
        customer = context.AXCustomers.Where(x => x.ACCOUNTNUM.Contains(id) ||
                   x.NAME.Contains(id) || x.ZIPCODE.Contains(id)).ToList();
    }

    return customer;
}

As you can see, i’ve decided to split each term entered (I assume each term will be seperated by a space) but I’m not sure how my LINQ query should be for terms longer than one. Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

Since you don’t know what will be entered or how long it will be, I would suggest doing the following:

public List<AXCustomer> allCustomers(string id)
{
    string[] searchstring = id.Split(' ');
    List<List<AXCustomer>> customerlists = new List<List<AXCustomer>>();


    foreach (string word in searchstring)
    {
        customerlists.Add(context.AXCustomers.Where(x => x.ACCOUNTNUM.Contains(word) || x.NAME.Contains(word) || x.ZIPCODE.Contains(word)).ToList());
    }

    //Then you just need to see if you want ANY matches or COMPLETE matches.
    //Throw your results together in a List<AXCustomer> and return it.


    return mycombinedlist;
}

• Any matches = throw all lists together, then take the distinct ones.
• Complete matches = you’ll have to check for items which occur in all customerlists.