Pass the table and column dynamically in dynamic LINQ

Question

I searched a lot, but couldn't find what I was looking exactly. This may be very simple. Normally in LINQ we write the select query like this:

var entityModel = new StudentEntities();
var dept = (from a in entityModel.STUDENT where a.NAME != null select a.DEPARTMENT).Distinct().OrderBy(w => w); 
//STUDENT- table, NAME-column name, DEPARTMENT-column name

How to write the same query using dynamic LINQ? Here the table name and column name names will be selected from either some winForm controls (textbox/combobox) or string. Tried this:

var dept = "(from a in entityModel." + tableName + "where a." + cbo1.Text.ToString + "!= null select a."+cbo2.Text.ToString +").Distinct().OrderBy(w => w)";

This is not working. Can anyone point me to the right direction, please?

Selecting from different tables will yield different result types. However it's possible using dynamic variables and chaining query using ifs - whose cases are selected by your comboboxes. — Aurimas Neverauskas

İsmet Alkan İsmet Alkan · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-28T10:53:16

You can't do that. You need to generate your dynamic SQL and run it over your database.

There's this library: Dynamic LINQ, but it isn't as dynamic as you want.

Pass the table and column dynamically in dynamic LINQ

1 Answers