Problem Statement
I am using Entity Framework (EF) Core and PostgreSQL. In my target table, there is a JSONB column that might contain a version number. My goal is to sort the query by this version number, but the version needs to be sorted as integers.
Target PostgreSQL query:
ORDER BY
string_to_array("Metadata"->>'version', '.')::int[]
Current EF Core query:
query.OrderBy(_ => EF.Functions.StringToArray(_.UserMetadata!.RootElement.GetProperty("version").GetString()!, "."))
This EF Core query generates the following PostgreSQL query:
ORDER BY
string_to_array("Metadata"->>'version', '.')
However, the conversion to ::int[]
is missing, which is crucial for sorting by integer values.
Question
How can I modify my EF Core query to include the ::int[]
conversion so that the generated PostgreSQL query includes the important part for integer sorting?
2
Answers
I think you need a property that marked [NotMapped]
You can just use a normal C# cast. Because of C# typing rules, you need to cast to
object
first.Ideally you would store your version number as an
int[]
array in the database in the first place.Eg, instead of
{"Version":"1.2.3"}
you would have{"Version":[1,2,3]}
. Then you can just do something like