Building Filter Expressions Manually

The RadFilter control allows you to process its expression tree manually. This can be done by translating all filter expressions to a suitable query with the help of the RadFilter query providers. Then, you can modify them or apply them directly to the filtered control.

RadFilter query providers

The following table describes all RadFilter query providers:

Query provider	Description
RadFilterDynamicLinqQueryProvider	Provides the built expression for all dynamic LINQ data sources
RadFilterEntitySqlQueryProvider	Provides the built expression for entity SQL data source
RadFilterGridQueryProvider	Provides the built filter expression of the RadGrid
RadFilterOqlQueryProvider	Provides the built expression for OQL data source
RadFilterExpressionPreviewProvider	Provides the HTML of the built expression preview
RadFilterListViewQueryProvider	Provides the built filter expression of the RadListView
RadFilterSqlQueryProvider	Provides the built expression for SQL data source

Processing the expression tree

In order to get the expression tree built by the RadFilter control, you can use the ApplyFilterExpressions event. The following example demonstrates how to get the built expression for a RadListBox bound to LinqDataSource and display it in a label:

<telerik:RadFilter RenderMode="Lightweight" runat="server" ID="RadFilter1" DataSourceControlID="LinqDataSourceCategories"
    OnApplyExpressions="RadFilter1_ApplyExpressions">
</telerik:RadFilter>
<br />
<asp:LinqDataSource ID="LinqDataSourceCategories" runat="server" ContextTypeName="LinqToSql.NorthwindDataContext"
    TableName="Categories">
</asp:LinqDataSource>
<telerik:RadListBox RenderMode="Lightweight" runat="server" ID="RadListBox1" DataSourceID="LinqDataSourceCategories"
    Height="200px" Width="250px">
    <EmptyMessageTemplate>
        No records to display.
    </EmptyMessageTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <em>Category name </em><span><%# Eval("CategoryName") %></span><br/>
        <em>Description </em><span><%# Eval("Description")%></span><br />
        <telerik:RadBinaryImage ID="RadBinaryImage2" runat="server" AlternateText="Category Photo"
            Style="margin-left: 10px" ToolTip="Category Photo" Width="90px" Height="62px"
            BorderColor="White" BorderWidth="2px" ResizeMode="Fit" ImageUrl='<%# string.Format("IMG/{0}.jpg", Eval("CategoryID")) %>' />
    </ItemTemplate>
</telerik:RadListBox>
<asp:Label runat="server" ID="Log" Text=""></asp:Label>

protected void RadFilter1_ApplyExpressions(object sender, RadFilterApplyExpressionsEventArgs e)
{
    RadFilterDynamicLinqQueryProvider provider = new RadFilterDynamicLinqQueryProvider();
    provider.ProcessGroup(e.ExpressionRoot);
    Log.Text = provider.Result;
}

Protected Sub RadFilter1_ApplyExpressions(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RadFilterApplyExpressionsEventArgs)
    Dim provider As New RadFilterDynamicLinqQueryProvider()
    provider.ProcessGroup(e.ExpressionRoot)
    Log.Text = provider.Result
End Sub

Manipulating expressions

RadFilterQueryProvider exposes delegate which is fired every time an expressionhave been evaluated. The delegate could be used for scenarios like custom data formating.

Below is demonstrated how you could replace any EqualTo and NotEqualTo respectevely with Between and NotBetween functions when filtering by date. The approach allows you to include all hours for the selected date as by default if you filter by a date only dates which time is set to 12:00 PM will be included in the result.

<telerik:RadFilter RenderMode="Lightweight" runat="server" ID="RadFilter1"
    ExpressionPreviewPosition="Bottom"
    OnExpressionItemCreated="RadFilter1_ExpressionItemCreated"
    OnApplyExpressions="RadFilter1_ApplyExpressions">
    <FieldEditors>
        <telerik:RadFilterDropDownEditor FieldName="ShipCountry" DataTextField="ShipCountry"
            DataValueField="ShipCountry" />
        <telerik:RadFilterDateFieldEditor FieldName="OrderDate" PickerType="DatePicker" />
    </FieldEditors>
</telerik:RadFilter>

<telerik:RadGrid RenderMode="Lightweight" ID="RadGrid1" AllowPaging="true" AllowSorting="true" PageSize="5"
    runat="server" EnableLinqExpressions="false" OnNeedDataSource="RadGrid1_NeedDataSource">
</telerik:RadGrid>

protected void RadFilter1_ApplyExpressions(object sender, RadFilterApplyExpressionsEventArgs e)
{
    RadFilterSqlQueryProvider queryProvider = new RadFilterSqlQueryProvider();
    queryProvider.OnExpressionEvaluated = this.ExpressionEvaluated;
    queryProvider.ProcessGroup(e.ExpressionRoot);
    this.RadGrid1.MasterTableView.FilterExpression = queryProvider.Result;
    this.RadGrid1.MasterTableView.Rebind();
}

private void ExpressionEvaluated(RadFilterEvaluationData evaluationData)
{
    RadFilterFunction filterFunction = evaluationData.Expression.FilterFunction;
    if (evaluationData.Expression.FieldName == "OrderDate" &&
        filterFunction == RadFilterFunction.EqualTo ||
        filterFunction == RadFilterFunction.NotEqualTo)
    {
        DateTime value = (DateTime)((IRadFilterValueExpression)evaluationData.Expression).Values[0];
        RadFilterSqlExpressionEvaluator evaluator = RadFilterSqlExpressionEvaluator.GetEvaluator(RadFilterFunction.Between);
        RadFilterNonGroupExpression betweenExpression = null;

        if (filterFunction == RadFilterFunction.EqualTo)
        {
            betweenExpression = new RadFilterBetweenFilterExpression<DateTime>("OrderDate")
            {
                LeftValue = value.Date,
                RightValue = value.Date.AddDays(1).AddTicks(-1)
            };
        }
        else
        {
            betweenExpression = new RadFilterNotBetweenFilterExpression<DateTime>("OrderDate")
            {
                LeftValue = value.Date,
                RightValue = value.Date.AddDays(1).AddTicks(-1)
            };
        }
        evaluator.GetEvaluationData(betweenExpression).CopyTo(evaluationData);
    }
}

Protected Sub RadFilter1_ApplyExpressions(sender As Object, e As RadFilterApplyExpressionsEventArgs)
    Dim queryProvider As New RadFilterSqlQueryProvider()
    queryProvider.OnExpressionEvaluated = AddressOf Me.ExpressionEvaluated
    queryProvider.ProcessGroup(e.ExpressionRoot)
    Me.RadGrid1.MasterTableView.FilterExpression = queryProvider.Result
    Me.RadGrid1.MasterTableView.Rebind()
End Sub

Private Sub ExpressionEvaluated(evaluationData As RadFilterEvaluationData)
    Dim filterFunction As RadFilterFunction = evaluationData.Expression.FilterFunction
    If evaluationData.Expression.FieldName = "OrderDate" AndAlso filterFunction = RadFilterFunction.EqualTo OrElse filterFunction = RadFilterFunction.NotEqualTo Then
        Dim value As DateTime = DirectCast(DirectCast(evaluationData.Expression, IRadFilterValueExpression).Values(0), DateTime)
        Dim evaluator As RadFilterSqlExpressionEvaluator = RadFilterSqlExpressionEvaluator.GetEvaluator(RadFilterFunction.Between)
        Dim betweenExpression As RadFilterNonGroupExpression = Nothing

        If filterFunction = RadFilterFunction.EqualTo Then
            betweenExpression = New RadFilterBetweenFilterExpression(Of DateTime)("OrderDate") With {
             .LeftValue = value.[Date],
             .RightValue = value.[Date].AddDays(1).AddTicks(-1)
            }
        Else
            betweenExpression = New RadFilterNotBetweenFilterExpression(Of DateTime)("OrderDate") With {
             .LeftValue = value.[Date],
             .RightValue = value.[Date].AddDays(1).AddTicks(-1)
            }
        End If
        evaluator.GetEvaluationData(betweenExpression).CopyTo(evaluationData)
    End If
End Sub