How Can I Dynamically Evaluate String Expressions Against Objects in C#?

Converting String to LINQ Expression Tree for Dynamic Evaluation

Background

In certain scenarios, it becomes necessary to evaluate a logical expression defined as a string against an object instance. For instance, we may have a class representing a person with properties like name, age, and weight, and we want to evaluate a string expression like "Age > 3 AND Weight > 50".

Overengineered Solution Proposal

The initial idea was to employ ANTLR to create an AST from the string expression. The AST would subsequently be traversed to dynamically construct a Func predicate using the Predicate Builder framework. While this approach provides flexibility, it seems overly complex.

Alternative Solution: Dynamic LINQ Library

Instead of developing a custom parser, we can leverage the Dynamic LINQ library, specifically its Dynamic Query class. This class offers a convenient way to parse a string expression and generate a corresponding lambda expression.

Implementation

Here's a code example demonstrating the use of Dynamic LINQ:

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Linq.Dynamic;

namespace ExpressionParser
{
  class Program
  {
    public class Person
    {
      public string Name { get; set; }
      public int Age { get; set; }
      public int Weight { get; set; }
      public DateTime FavoriteDay { get; set; }
    }

    static void Main()
    {
      const string filter = "(Person.Age > 3 AND Person.Weight > 50) OR Person.Age <p>In this example, we parse the expression string into a lambda expression using Dynamic LINQ. We then compile the lambda expression and invoke it on a Person instance to evaluate the expression and obtain a boolean result.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p>The Dynamic LINQ library provides a more straightforward solution to dynamically evaluating string expressions against objects. It eliminates the need for developing a custom parser and provides a convenient mechanism for constructing lambda expressions from string expressions.</p>

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