How do I use 'Where In' in Dapper

Question

I've been trying unsuccessfully now for a while to use an IEnumerable<string> with a WHERE IN clause in Dapper.

In the documentation, it does say that IEnumerable<int> is supported for use in a WHERE IN but I can't even get that to work.

Dapper allow you to pass in IEnumerable<int> and will automatically parameterize your query.

The error message I keep receiving is an Sql syntax error. Incorrect syntax near ','.

I've put together some test code that I hope will demonstrate what I am trying to achieve.

---

string connString = "Server=*.*.*.*;Database=*;User Id=*;Password=*;";

string sqlStringIn = @"SELECT StringText FROM 
                (SELECT 1 ID, 'A' StringID, 'This is a test' StringText
                UNION SELECT 2 ID, 'B' StringID, 'Another test' StringText
                UNION SELECT 3 ID, 'C' StringID, 'And another' StringText
                UNION SELECT 4 ID, 'D' StringID, 'and again' StringText
                UNION SELECT 5 ID, 'E' StringID, 'yet again' StringText) data
                WHERE StringId IN (@str)";

string sqlIntegerIn = @"SELECT StringText FROM 
                (SELECT 1 ID, 'A' StringID, 'This is a test' StringText
                UNION SELECT 2 ID, 'B' StringID, 'Another test' StringText
                UNION SELECT 3 ID, 'C' StringID, 'And another' StringText
                UNION SELECT 4 ID, 'D' StringID, 'and again' StringText
                UNION SELECT 5 ID, 'E' StringID, 'yet again' StringText) data
                WHERE ID IN (@integer)";


using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString))
{
    conn.Open();

    List<int> integers = new List<int>{ 1, 2, 3 };
    List<string> strings = new List<string> { "A", "B", "C" };

    var parameters = new {str = strings, integer = integers };

    //fails here
    IEnumerable<string> intTest = conn.Query<string>(sqlIntegerIn, parameters, commandType: System.Data.CommandType.Text);

    //and here
    IEnumerable<string> stringTest = conn.Query<string>(sqlStringIn, parameters, commandType: System.Data.CommandType.Text);

}

Answer 1

To do what is needed here, dapper needs to alter the SQL on the fly - so it needs to be really sure that it is doing the right thing. The regular valid SQL syntax includes parenthesis:

WHERE StringId IN (@str)

To disambiguate from this, the voodoo dapper syntax omits the parenthesis:

WHERE StringId IN @str

If it detects this, it looks for a parameter called str, and expands it, to one of:

WHERE 1=0 -- if no values
WHERE StringId = @str -- if exactly one value
WHERE StringId IN (@str0, @str1, ...) -- if more than one value

But short version: remove the parenthesis.