How to select specific fields from dynamic list using LINQ

Question

I am trying to get the some specific fields from dynamic object with is actually a list of any class, this class contains various fields out of those fields I want to select some specific fields using LINQ, The fields which I want to select is also passing by the user. Below is the code that I have tried using System.Linq.Dynamic.

using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Linq.Dynamic;
using System.Collections;

private void Test_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
            List<RateInfo> lst = new List<RateInfo>();
            lst.Add(new RateInfo() { id_country = "IND", id_state = 1, rate = 2.3f });
            lst.Add(new RateInfo() { id_country = "IND", id_state = 2, rate = 1.1f });
            lst.Add(new RateInfo() { id_country = "IND", id_state = 3, rate = 5.2f });
            lst.Add(new RateInfo() { id_country = "IND", id_state = 4, rate = 6.5f });

        GetDynamicData(lst, new List<string>() { "id_country", "id_state" });
}

    private void GetDynamicData(dynamic list, List<string> fetchFields)
    {

        var data = ((IEnumerable)list).Cast<dynamic>()
                        .Select(r => new { r }).AsQueryable();

        StringBuilder s = new StringBuilder();

        //This is for test only. 
        //It works, the value of "id_state" and "id_state" getting appended 
        foreach (var item in data)
        {
            s.Append(item.r.id_state);
            s.Append(",");
            s.Append(item.r.id_country);
        }
        //-----------------------------------------------------


        //Select the specific field data from dynamic list 
        StringBuilder fields = new StringBuilder();

        fields.Append("new (");

        foreach (var fld in fetchFields)
        {
            fields.Append("r." + fld);
            fields.Append(",");
        }
        fields.Remove(fields.Length - 1, 1);
        fields.Append(")");

        //This does not work throws error 
        //"No property or field 'id_country' exists in type 'Object'"
        IQueryable iq = data.Select(fields.ToString());

        //For test only to check the value of selected fields
        foreach (dynamic item in iq)
        {
            s.Append(item.id_state);
            s.Append(",");
            s.Append(item.id_country);
        }

    }

Answer 1

you can hughly simplify your GetDynamicData method both specifying explicit list type (GetDynamicData(IList<RateInfo> list, ...)) and leaving the list item type generic, in order to reuse the method; with this last approach in mind, you can rewrite the GetDynamicData as follows, obtaining the desired output:

    private void GetDynamicData<T>(IEnumerable<T> list, List<string> fetchFields)
        {
            var fields = $"new ({string.Join(",", fetchFields)})";
            var res = list.AsQueryable().Select(fields);

            //For test only to check the value of selected fields
            foreach (dynamic item in res) {
                Console.WriteLine(item.id_state);
                Console.WriteLine(item.id_country);
            }

        }

OUTPUT

1
IND
2
IND
3
IND
4
IND

EXPLANATION I think the difference is that specifying explicitly the type (through generic T or through RateInfo) you force LINQ to know list items'type; if you use dynamic the IQueryable.ElementType of the IQuqryable instance has value System.Object, so the query fails with the error you've experienced.

Answer 2

You should try using generics:

private void GetDynamicData<T>(IEnumerable<T> list, List<string> fetchFields)
{

    var data = list.AsQueryable();