LINQ-to-SQL oddity with multiple where clause arguments on the same field - linq-to-sql

Question

My problem requires me to dynamically add where clauses to a IQueryable based on user input. The problem i'm having is that Linq-to-SQL doesn't seem to like having multiple where clauses on the same field, it actually duplicates the search arg value for the last item on all parameters. I verified this behavior through a SQL trace. Here is what I'm seeing.
WHERE ([t22].[OpenText] LIKE #p11) AND ([t22].[OpenText] LIKE #p12)
-- #p11: Input NVarChar (Size = 10; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [%classify%] // Should be 2da57652-dcdf-4cc8-99db-436c15e5ef50
-- #p12: Input NVarChar (Size = 10; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [%classify%]
My code uses a loop to dynamically add the where clauses as you can see below. My question is how do I work around this? This pretty much seems like a bug with the tool, no?
// add dyanmic where clauses based on user input.
MatchCollection searchTokens = Helper.ExtractTokensWithinBracePairs(filterText);
if (searchTokens.Count > 0)
{
foreach(Match searchToken in searchTokens)
query = query.Where((material => material.OpenText.Contains(searchToken.Value)));
}
else
{
query = query.Where((material => material.OpenText.Contains(filterText)));
}

Answer 1

Closing over the loop variable considered harmful! Change
foreach(Match searchToken in searchTokens) {
query = query.Where(
material => material.OpenText.Contains(searchToken.Value)
);
}
to
foreach(Match searchToken in searchTokens) {
Match token = searchToken;
query = query.Where(
material => material.OpenText.Contains(token.Value)
);
}

Answer 2

You are closing over the loop variable, which is considered harmful. To fix do this:
foreach(Match searchToken in searchTokens)
{
Match searchToken2 = searchToken;
// ^^^^^^^^^^^^ copy the value of the reference to a local variable.
query = query.Where(material => material.OpenText.Contains(searchToken2.Value));
// use the copy here ^^^^^^^^^^^^
}
The reason why your version doesn't work is that the query refers to the variable searchToken, not the value it had when the query was created. When the variable's value changes, all your queries see the new value.

Answer 3

I don't have enough rep to leave comments yet (or this would be a comment and not an answer) but the answers listed here worked for me.
However, I had to turn off compiler optimizations in order for it to work. If you do not turn off compiler optimizations (at least at the method level) then the compiler sees you setting a loop variable to a local variable and throws the local variable away.