Convert Expression trees

Question

let there be :

Expression> exp1 = x => x.mesID == 1;
Expression> exp2 = x => x.mesID         


        

Answer 1

No, basically. Expression trees are immutable, and contain full member meta-data (i.e. that mesID is messageDTO.mesID). To do this, you would have to rebuild the expression tree from scratch (via a visitor), handling every node type you need to support.

If the expression tree is basic this should be OK, but if you need to support the entire gamut? a huge PITA (especially in .NET 4, which adds a lot more node-types).

---

A basic example that does just what is required for the example; you would need to add more node-types for more complex expressions:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Expression<Func<Message, bool>> exp1 = x => x.mesID == 1;
        var exp2 = Convert<Message, MessageDTO>(exp1);
    }
    static Expression<Func<TTo, bool>> Convert<TFrom, TTo>(Expression<Func<TFrom, bool>> expr)
    {
        Dictionary<Expression,Expression> substitutues = new Dictionary<Expression,Expression>();
        var oldParam = expr.Parameters[0];
        var newParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TTo), oldParam.Name);
        substitutues.Add(oldParam, newParam);
        Expression body = ConvertNode(expr.Body, substitutues);
        return Expression.Lambda<Func<TTo,bool>>(body, newParam);
    }
    static Expression ConvertNode(Expression node, IDictionary<Expression, Expression> subst)
    {
        if (node == null) return null;
        if (subst.ContainsKey(node)) return subst[node];

        switch (node.NodeType)
        {
            case ExpressionType.Constant:
                return node;
            case ExpressionType.MemberAccess:
                {
                    var me = (MemberExpression)node;
                    var newNode = ConvertNode(me.Expression, subst);
                    return Expression.MakeMemberAccess(newNode, newNode.Type.GetMember(me.Member.Name).Single());
                }
            case ExpressionType.Equal: /* will probably work for a range of common binary-expressions */
                {
                    var be = (BinaryExpression)node;
                    return Expression.MakeBinary(be.NodeType, ConvertNode(be.Left, subst), ConvertNode(be.Right, subst), be.IsLiftedToNull, be.Method);
                }
            default:
                throw new NotSupportedException(node.NodeType.ToString());
        }
    }
}
class Message { public int mesID { get; set; } }
class MessageDTO { public int mesID { get; set; } }