Pagination¶

FluentRestBuilder provides operators to implement pagination (filtering, sorting, offset and limit) for IQueryable<TSource>.

There are four pagination operators for different purposes.

Operator	Effect
ApplyFilterByClientRequest	Applies Where clauses to the `IQueryable<TSource>`
ApplyOrderByClientRequest	Applies OrderBy clauses to the `IQueryable<TSource>`
ApplyPaginationByClientRequest	Applies Skip and Take to the `IQueryable<TSource>`
ApplySearchByClientRequest	Applies a single Where clause to the `IQueryable<TSource>`

Naming Convention¶

FluentRestBuilder tries to figure out the naming convention from the MVC JSON configuration. By default (of MVC) this follows camelCasing.

Implement FluentRestBuilder.Json.IJsonPropertyNameResolver and register it as a singleton in order to provide your own name convention logic.

Interpreters¶

Each operator has its own interpreter for interpreting a client request.

Filter Interpreter¶

The default filter interpreter parses the query paramters of a request. The interpreter (not the operator) supports the following filter types:

Prefix (The filter value must start with this)	Type	Example
No prefix	Default (Depends on configuration)	field=search
~	Contains	field=~search
<=	LessThanOrEqual	field=<=5
>=	GreaterThanOrEqual	field=>=5
<	LessThan	field=<5
>	GreaterThan	field=>5
=	Equals	field==search
^=	StartsWith	field=^=search
$=	EndsWith	field=$=search
!=	NotEqual	field=!=search

This means in order to search for a field value equal to =, the query parameter value must contain =%3D (…&field==%3D&…), as the actual search value (=) must be encoded. The reason for this is that MVC Core cannot interpret ...&field===&..., but it can interpret ...&field==%3D or ...&field===a&....

In order to implement your own filter interpreter implement FluentRestBuilder.Operators.ClientRequest.Interpreters.IFilterByClientRequestInterpreter.

Example:

…&fieldA=a&fieldC=~jo&fieldE=<5&fieldG=>=3&…

Order By Interpreter¶

The default order by interpreter parses the query paramter “sort” (or “Sort” depending on the naming convention). The value is split by comma. To order by descending prepend the field with “-“.

In order to implement your own order by interpreter implement FluentRestBuilder.Operators.ClientRequest.Interpreters.IOrderByClientRequestInterpreter.

Example:

…&sort=fieldA,-fieldC,fieldF&…

Pagination Interpreter¶

The default pagination interpreter parses the query parameters “limit” and “offset” (or “Limit” and “Offset” depending on the naming convention) or the Range header.

Range Header: Range: items=10-29 is the same as …&offset=10&limit=20&…

In order to implement your own pagination interpreter implement FluentRestBuilder.Operators.ClientRequest.Interpreters.IPaginationByClientRequestInterpreter.

Search Interpreter¶

The default search interpreter uses the query parameter “q” (or “Q” depending on the naming convention).

In order to implement your own search interpreter implement FluentRestBuilder.Operators.ClientRequest.Interpreters.ISearchByClientRequestInterpreter.

Filter Providers¶

The ApplyFilterByClientRequest operator requires an instance of IDictionary<string, IFilterExpressionProvider<TSource>> or IFilterExpressionProviderDictionary<TSource> (which is a wrapper for the first).

This can be achieved by either providing it to the operator directly as a parameter or by adding a service as IFilterExpressionProviderDictionary<TSource> to the dependency injection container.

There are two extension methods on the IFluentRestBuilderConfiguration to configure filter providers (and order by expressions) via reflection.

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    ...

    services.AddFluentRestBuilder()
        // Configures filter provider (and order by expressions) for an entity
        .ConfigureFiltersAndOrderByExpressionsForEntity<ExampleEntity>()
        // Configures filter providers (and order by expressions) for all
        // entities in the specified DbContext
        // Requires the FluentRestBuilder.EntityFrameworkCore package
        .AddEntityFrameworkCoreIntegration<ApplicationDbContext>() // Required for EF Core operators to work
        .ConfigureFiltersAndOrderByExpressionsForDbContextEntities<ApplicationDbContext>();
}

Alternatively the FilterExpressionProviderDictionary<TSource> class can be used, either in the ApplyFilterByClientRequest overload or when registering it as a service in the dependency injection container.

Order By Expressions¶

The ApplyOrderByClientRequest operator requires an instance of IDictionary<string, IOrderByExpressionFactory<TSource>> or IOrderByExpressionDictionary<TSource> (which is a wrapper for the first).

This can be achieved by either providing it to the operator directly as a parameter or by adding a service as IOrderByExpressionDictionary<TSource> to the dependency injection container.

There are two extension methods on the IFluentRestBuilderConfiguration to configure order by expressions (and filter providers) via reflection.

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    ...

    services.AddFluentRestBuilder()
        // Configures order by expressions (and filter providers) for an entity
        .ConfigureFiltersAndOrderByExpressionsForEntity<ExampleEntity>()
        // Configures order by expressions (and filter providers) for all
        // entities in the specified DbContext
        // Requires the FluentRestBuilder.EntityFrameworkCore package
        .AddEntityFrameworkCoreIntegration<ApplicationDbContext>() // Required for EF Core operators to work
        .ConfigureFiltersAndOrderByExpressionsForDbContextEntities<ApplicationDbContext>();
}

Alternatively the OrderByExpressionDictionary<TSource> class can be used, either in the ApplyOrderByClientRequest overload or when registering it as a service in the dependency injection container.