EntitySearch

EntitySearch is an out-of-the-box solution for filtering, sorting, and paginating data. It works with Entity Framework but can be extended to support other ORMs.

Instalation

Download the nuget package:

dotnet add package khamzakhamzakhamza.EntitySearch.EfCore

Quickstart

To use EntitySearch in an ASP.NET Core application with Entity Framework, all you need to do is add EntitySearch services to the ASP.NET Core DI container:

using  EntitySearch.Core;
using  EntitySearch.EfCore;
using  EntitySearch.Example.Data;
using  Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
	
var  builder  =  WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.

builder.Services.AddDbContextFactory<ExampleDbContext>(
	options  =>  options.UseInMemoryDatabase("Example"));
	
+ builder.Services.AddEntitySearch().WithEfCore<ExampleDbContext>();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.

app.Run();

Pick an entity you want to search through (here's an example):

using EntitySearch.Example.Enums;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

namespace EntitySearch.Example.Entities;

[PrimaryKey("Id")]
public class Todo {
    public string Id {get;set;} = null!;
    public WeekDays WeekDay { get; set; }
    public string? Name {get;set;}
    public bool Done {get;set;}
    public int SomeValue {get;set;}
}

Create a filtering spec for that entity with the filter properties you want to use:

using EntitySearch.Core;
using EntitySearch.Core.Attributes;
using EntitySearch.Example.Enums;

namespace EntitySearch.Example.FilteringSpecs;

public class TodoFilteringSpec: IFilteringSpec 
{
    [ShouldEqual("WeekDay")]
    public WeekDays? WeekDayEqual { get; set; }

    [ShouldContainStr("Name")]
    public string? NameContains { get; set; }

    [ShouldEqual("Done")]
    public bool? DoneEqual { get; set; }

    [ShouldBeLess("SomeValue")]
    public int? LessThanSomeValue { get; set; }

    [ShouldBeGreater("SomeValue")]
    public int? GreaterThanSomeValue { get; set; }
}

Now, to perform the search, you need to use a service called Search, which will perform the search and return the results. Search requires filtering, sorting, and paginating specs:

using EntitySearch.Core;
using EntitySearch.Core.Specs;
using EntitySearch.Example.Data;
using EntitySearch.Example.Entities;
using EntitySearch.Example.Enums;
using EntitySearch.Example.FilteringSpecs;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.RazorPages;

namespace EntitySearch.Example.Pages;

public class IndexModel : PageModel
{
    public Todo[] Todos {get; set;} = {};

    private readonly ExampleDbContext _context;
+   private readonly Search _search;

    public IndexModel(ExampleDbContext context, Search search)
    {
        _context = context;
        _search = search;
        
        RefreshTodos();
    }

    public async Task OnPostFilterAsync()
    {
        // Collect data from the form 
        var weekDayEqualsOn = Request.Form["weekdayequalson"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";
        var weekDayEquals = (WeekDays)int.Parse(Request.Form["weekdayequals"].First() ?? "0");

        var nameContainsOn = Request.Form["namecontainson"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";
        var nameContains = Request.Form["namecontains"];

        var doneEqualOn = Request.Form["doneequalson"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";
        var doneEqual = Request.Form["doneequals"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";

        var someValueLessThanOn = Request.Form["somevaluelessthanon"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";
        int.TryParse(Request.Form["somevaluelessthan"].FirstOrDefault(), out var someValueLessThan);

        var someValueGreaterThanOn = Request.Form["somevaluegreaterthanon"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";
        int.TryParse(Request.Form["somevaluegreaterthan"].FirstOrDefault(), out var someValueGreaterThan);

        var sortDescending = Request.Form["sortdescending"].FirstOrDefault() == "on";
        var sortBy = Request.Form["sortby"].First();

        // Create specs
+       var filteringSpec = new TodoFilteringSpec {
+           WeekDayEqual = weekDayEqualsOn ? weekDayEquals : null,
+           DoneEqual = doneEqualOn ? doneEqual : null,
+           LessThanSomeValue = someValueLessThanOn ? someValueLessThan : null,
+           GreaterThanSomeValue = someValueGreaterThanOn ? someValueGreaterThan : null,
+       };
        if (nameContainsOn)
            filteringSpec.NameContains = nameContains;
        
+       var sortitngSpec = new SortingSpec(sortBy, sortDescending);

+       var paginatingSpec = new PaginatingSpec(0, 10);

        // Run search
+       var entities = await _search.SearchAsync<TodoFilteringSpec, Todo>(filteringSpec, sortitngSpec, paginatingSpec);

        // Display results
        Todos = entities.Data.ToArray();
    }
}

That's it! Enjoy standardized, hassle-free searching :)

Extensibility

By default, EntitySearch builds the simplest search query based on the requirements. To apply modifications to the query, you can create a custom Search service that inherits from the default Search service and overrides the CustomizeQuery method:

using EntitySearch.Core;
using EntitySearch.Core.Adapters;
using EntitySearch.Core.QueryBuilders;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

namespace EntitySearch.Example;

public class TodoSearch: Search
{
    public TodoSearch(IDataAdapter dataAdapter,
                      IFilteringQueryBuilder filteringQueryBuilder,
                      ISortingQueryBuilder sortingQueryBuilder)
        : base(dataAdapter, filteringQueryBuilder, sortingQueryBuilder) {}

    public override IQueryable<TEntity> CustomizeQuery<TEntity>(IQueryable<TEntity> query)
    {
        var todoQuery = query as IQueryable<Todo>;
        
        return CustomizeTodoQuery(todoQuery) as IQueryable<TEntity>;
    }

    // Perform any modification to the query here.
    private IQueryable<Todo> CustomizeTodoQuery(IQueryable<Todo> query) => query.AsNoTracking();
}

How it works

EntitySearch dynamically builds expressions and executes them with a data adapter.

If needed, new implementations of IDataAdapter can be created to make the library work with different ORMs.

License

MIT