Can you use an array inside of .Contains() via LINQ?

Question

Please see the very bottom in the Answers section from me, I updated question down there rather than removing this here.

---

A co-worker and myself wrote a very small app to store logs in a SQL database for 6 months. I'd like to add filtering parameters to it. Example, any keyword or multiple keywords in the description property and have it return any event containing those keywords.

I have the below "events" LINQ query. I would like to know if it's possible to use an array inside of .Contains() in the LINQ query? Or is there a much better suggestion?

Class:

public class LogStore
{    
	public int Id { get; set; }
	public int? EventId { get; set; }
	public DateTime? TimeStamp { get; set; }
	public string? TaskCategory { get; set; }
	public string? Description { get; set; }
}

Service:

private readonly ApplicationDbContext _applicationDbContext;

public EventsManagementService(ApplicationDbContext applicationDbContext)
{
    _applicationDbContext = applicationDbContext;    
}

public async Task<List<LogStore>> GetEvents(CancellationToken token)
{

	try
	{
		var events = await _applicationDbContext.LogStore
			.AsNoTracking()
			.OrderByDescending(x => x.TimeStamp)
			.ToListAsync(cancellationToken: token);
		
		return events;
	}
	catch (OperationCanceledException)
	{
		return new List<LogStore>();
	}
	      
}

Controller:

[HttpGet("GetEvents")]
public async Task<ActionResult<List<LogStore>>> GetEvents(CancellationToken token)
{
    
    return Ok(new { data = await _eventsManagementService.GetEvents(token) });

}

Thank you kindly.

Answer 1

Yes, you can easily search for events based on specific keywords within their descriptions. To do this, you'll use a LINQ queries that combines Any and Contains methods. This dynamic duo will help you pinpoint the events that match your keywords.

Service:

public async Task<List<LogStore>> GetEvents(string[] keywords, CancellationToken token)
{
    try
    {
        var events = await _applicationDbContext.LogStore
            .AsNoTracking()
            .Where(x => keywords.Any(keyword => x.Description.Contains(keyword)))
            .OrderByDescending(x => x.TimeStamp)
            .ToListAsync(cancellationToken: token);

        return events;
    }
    catch (OperationCanceledException)
    {
        return new List<LogStore>();
    }
}

Controller:

[HttpGet("GetEvents")]
public async Task<ActionResult<List<LogStore>>> GetEvents([FromQuery] string[] keywords, CancellationToken token)
{
	var events = await _eventsManagementService.GetEvents(keywords, token);
	return Ok(new { data = events });
}

Answer 2

Maybe I was wrong on my initial question in regards to using an array. I want to do something once, instead of with multiple "&&" for the .Where clause, but not hardcoding them as I want them to be parameters. Basically searching the description for anything containing the text keywords for parameters.

Instead of something such as this...

.Where(x => x.description.Contains("text") && x.description.Contains("text")
	&& x.description.Contains("text")" && x.description.Contains("text"));

I tried Tahir's solution and using it with parameter:

http://localhost/api/v2/Events/GetEvents?keywords=testdemo,administrator,test.local,domain

But it didn't work for me. I would like it to work exactly as the URL with ?keywords=blah,blah1,blah2,blah3

I also need to do the same for INTs for the EventId's.

Thanks