Session: Querying: How to Project Query Results

Instead of pulling full documents in query results you can just grab some pieces of data from documents. You can also transform the projected results. The projections are defined in LINQ with the usage of:

• Select
• SelectFields
• ProjectInto
• OfType (As)

Select

The most common way to perform a query with projection is to use the Select method. You can specify what fields from a document you want to retrieve and even provide complex expression.

Example I - Projecting Individual Fields of the Document

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

// request Name, City and Country for all entities from 'Companies' collection
var results = session
  .Query<Company>()
  .Select(x => new
  {
      Name = x.Name,
      City = x.Address.City,
      Country = x.Address.Country
  })
  .ToList();

// request Name, City and Country for all entities from 'Companies' collection
var results = await asyncSession
  .Query<Company>()
  .Select(x => new
  {
      Name = x.Name,
      City = x.Address.City,
      Country = x.Address.Country
  })
  .ToListAsync();

from Companies
select Name, Address.City as City, Address.Country as Country

Example II - Projecting Arrays and Objects

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = session
  .Query<Order>()
  .Select(x => new
  {
      ShipTo = x.ShipTo,
      Products = x.Lines.Select(y => y.ProductName),
  })
  .ToList();

var results = await asyncSession
  .Query<Order>()
  .Select(x => new
  {
      ShipTo = x.ShipTo,
      Products = x.Lines.Select(y => y.ProductName),
  })
  .ToListAsync();

from Orders
select ShipTo, Lines[].ProductName as Products

Example III - Projection with Expression

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = (from e in session.Query<Employee>()
             select new
             {
                 FullName = e.FirstName + " " + e.LastName,
             }).ToList();

var results = await (from e in asyncSession.Query<Employee>()
                   select new
                   {
                       FullName = e.FirstName + " " + e.LastName,
                   }).ToListAsync();

from Employees as e
select {
  FullName : e.FirstName + " " + e.LastName
}

Example IV - Projection with let

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = (from e in session.Query<Employee>()
             let format = (Func<Employee, string>)(p => p.FirstName + " " + p.LastName)
             select new
             {
                 FullName = format(e)
             }).ToList();

var results = await (from e in asyncSession.Query<Employee>()
                   let format = (Func<Employee, string>)(p => p.FirstName + " " + p.LastName)
                   select new
                   {
                       FullName = format(e)
                   }).ToListAsync();

declare function output(e) {
var format = function(p){ return p.FirstName + " " + p.LastName; };
return { FullName : format(e) };
}
from Employees as e select output(e)

Example V - Projection with Calculation

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = session
  .Query<Order>()
  .Select(x => new
  {
      Total = x.Lines.Sum(l => l.PricePerUnit * l.Quantity),
  })
  .ToList();

var results = await asyncSession
  .Query<Order>()
  .Select(x => new
  {
      Total = x.Lines.Sum(l => l.PricePerUnit * l.Quantity),
  })
  .ToListAsync();

from Orders as o
select {
  Total : o.Lines.reduce(
      (acc , l) => acc += l.PricePerUnit * l.Quantity, 0)
}

Example VI - Projection Using a Loaded Document

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = (from o in session.Query<Order>()
             let c = RavenQuery.Load<Company>(o.Company)
             select new
             {
                 CompanyName = c.Name,
                 ShippedAt = o.ShippedAt
             }).ToList();

var results = (from o in asyncSession.Query<Order>()
             let c = RavenQuery.Load<Company>(o.Company)
             select new
             {
                 CompanyName = c.Name,
                 ShippedAt = o.ShippedAt
             }).ToListAsync();

from Orders as o
load o.Company as c
select {
CompanyName: c.Name,
ShippedAt: o.ShippedAt
}

Example VII - Projection with Dates

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = session
  .Query<Employee>()
  .Select(e => new
  {
      DayOfBirth = e.Birthday.Day,
      MonthOfBirth = e.Birthday.Month,
      Age = DateTime.Today.Year - e.Birthday.Year
  })
  .ToList();

var results = await asyncSession
  .Query<Employee>()
  .Select(e => new
  {
      DayOfBirth = e.Birthday.Day,
      MonthOfBirth = e.Birthday.Month,
      Age = DateTime.Today.Year - e.Birthday.Year
  })
  .ToListAsync();

from Employees as e 
select { 
  DayOfBirth : new Date(Date.parse(e.Birthday)).getDate(), 
  MonthOfBirth : new Date(Date.parse(e.Birthday)).getMonth() + 1,
  Age : new Date().getFullYear() - new Date(Date.parse(e.Birthday)).getFullYear() 
}

Example VIII - Projection with Raw JavaScript Code

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = from e in session.Query<Employee>()
            select new
            {
                Date = RavenQuery.Raw<DateTime>("new Date(Date.parse(e.Birthday))"),
                Name = RavenQuery.Raw(e.FirstName, "substr(0,3)"),
            };

var results = await (from e in asyncSession.Query<Employee>()
                   select new
                   {
                       Date = RavenQuery.Raw<DateTime>("new Date(Date.parse(e.Birthday))"),
                       Name = RavenQuery.Raw(e.FirstName, "substr(0,3)"),
                   }).ToListAsync();

from Employees as e 
select {
  Date : new Date(Date.parse(e.Birthday)), 
  Name : e.FirstName.substr(0,3)
}

Example IX - Projection with Metadata

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1

var results = (from e in session.Query<Employee>()
             select new
             {
                 Name = e.FirstName,
                 Metadata = RavenQuery.Metadata(e),
             }).ToList();

var results = await (from e in asyncSession.Query<Employee>()
                   select new
                   {
                       Name = e.FirstName,
                       Metadata = RavenQuery.Metadata(e),
                   }).ToListAsync();

from Employees as e 
select {
   Name : e.FirstName, 
   Metadata : getMetadata(e)
}

SelectFields

The SelectFields method can only be used with the Document Query. It has two overloads:

// 1) By array of fields
IDocumentQuery<TProjection> SelectFields<TProjection>(params string[] fields);
// 2) By projection type
IDocumentQuery<TProjection> SelectFields<TProjection>();

1. The fields of the projection are specified as a string array of field names. It also takes the type of the projection as a generic parameter.

• Sync
• Async
• Index
• Class
• RQL_1

var fields = new string[]{
  "Name",
  "Phone"
};

var results = session
  .Advanced
  .DocumentQuery<Company, Companies_ByContact>()
  .SelectFields<ContactDetails>(fields)
  .ToList();

var fields = new string[]{
  "Name",
  "Phone"
};

var results = await asyncSession
  .Advanced
  .AsyncDocumentQuery<Company, Companies_ByContact>()
  .SelectFields<ContactDetails>(fields)
  .ToListAsync();

public class Companies_ByContact : AbstractIndexCreationTask<Company>
{
  public Companies_ByContact()
  {
      Map = companies => companies
          .Select(x => new
          {
              Name = x.Contact.Name,
              x.Phone
          });

      StoreAllFields(FieldStorage.Yes); // Name and Phone fields can be retrieved directly from index
  }
}

public class ContactDetails
{
  public string Name { get; set; }

  public string Phone { get; set; }
}

from index 'Companies/ByContact'
select Name, Phone

2. The projection is defined by simply passing the projection type as the generic parameter.

• Sync
• Async
• Index
• Class
• RQL_1

var results = session
  .Advanced
  .DocumentQuery<Company, Companies_ByContact>()
  .SelectFields<ContactDetails>()
  .ToList();

var results = await asyncSession
  .Advanced
  .AsyncDocumentQuery<Company, Companies_ByContact>()
  .SelectFields<ContactDetails>()
  .ToListAsync();

public class Companies_ByContact : AbstractIndexCreationTask<Company>
{
  public Companies_ByContact()
  {
      Map = companies => companies
          .Select(x => new
          {
              Name = x.Contact.Name,
              x.Phone
          });

      StoreAllFields(FieldStorage.Yes); // Name and Phone fields can be retrieved directly from index
  }
}

public class ContactDetails
{
  public string Name { get; set; }

  public string Phone { get; set; }
}

from index 'Companies/ByContact'
select Name, Phone

ProjectInto

This extension method retrieves all public fields and properties of the type given in generic and uses them to perform projection to the requested type. You can use this method instead of using Select together with all fields of the projection class.

Example

• Sync
• Async
• RQL_1
• RQL_2
• Index

var results = session.Query<Company, Companies_ByContact>()
  .ProjectInto<ContactDetails>()
  .ToList();

var results = await asyncSession.Query<Company, Companies_ByContact>()
  .ProjectInto<ContactDetails>()
  .ToListAsync();

from index 'Companies/ByContact' 
select Name, Phone

from index 'Companies/ByContact' 
select Name, Phone

public class Companies_ByContact : AbstractIndexCreationTask<Company>
{
  public Companies_ByContact()
  {
      Map = companies => companies
          .Select(x => new
          {
              Name = x.Contact.Name,
              x.Phone
          });

      StoreAllFields(FieldStorage.Yes); // Name and Phone fields can be retrieved directly from index
  }
}

OfType (As) - simple projection

OfType or As is a client-side projection. The easiest explanation of how it works is to take the results that the server returns and map them to given type. This may become useful when querying an index that contains fields that are not available in mapped type.

Example

• Sync
• Async
• Index

// query index 'Products_BySupplierName' 
// return documents from collection 'Products' that have a supplier 'Norske Meierier'
// project them to 'Products'
List<Product> results = session
  .Query<Products_BySupplierName.Result, Products_BySupplierName>()
  .Where(x => x.Name == "Norske Meierier")
  .OfType<Product>()
  .ToList();

// query index 'Products_BySupplierName' 
// return documents from collection 'Products' that have a supplier 'Norske Meierier'
// project them to 'Products'
List<Product> results = await asyncSession
  .Query<Products_BySupplierName.Result, Products_BySupplierName>()
  .Where(x => x.Name == "Norske Meierier")
  .OfType<Product>()
  .ToListAsync();

public class Products_BySupplierName : AbstractIndexCreationTask<Product>
{
  public class Result
  {
      public string Name { get; set; }
  }

  public Products_BySupplierName()
  {
      Map =
          products =>
              from product in products
              let supplier = LoadDocument<Supplier>(product.Supplier)
              select new
              {
                  Name = supplier.Name
              };
  }
}

Projected entities (even named types) are not tracked by the session.

If the projected fields are stored inside the index itself (FieldStorage.Yes in the index definition), then the query results will be created directly from there instead of retrieving documents in order to project.