What is Foundatio.Parsers?

Foundatio.Parsers is a production-grade query parsing library for .NET that provides extensible Lucene-style query syntax parsing with specialized support for Elasticsearch and SQL/Entity Framework Core.

Key Features

• Lucene Query Syntax - Parse standardized query syntax compatible with Lucene and Elasticsearch
• Elasticsearch Integration - Enhanced query_string replacement with dynamic queries, aggregations, and sorting
• SQL/EF Core Integration - Generate Dynamic LINQ expressions for Entity Framework Core
• Visitor Pattern - Extensible AST traversal for custom query transformations
• Field Aliases - Static and dynamic field name mapping
• Query Includes - Macro expansion for reusable query fragments
• Validation - Syntax validation, field restrictions, and operation limits

Architecture

Foundatio.Parsers uses a layered architecture built on the visitor pattern:

Parsing Layer

The core LuceneQueryParser parses query strings into an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST). The ElasticQueryParser and SqlQueryParser extend this base parser with specialized visitor chains for their respective outputs.

AST Nodes

Queries are represented as a tree of typed nodes:

Node Type	Description	Example
GroupNode	Groups child nodes with boolean operators	(a OR b) AND c
TermNode	Single term or phrase query	field:value, field:"quoted"
TermRangeNode	Range query	field:[1 TO 10], field:>5
ExistsNode	Field existence check	_exists_:field
MissingNode	Field absence check	_missing_:field

Visitor Pipeline

Visitors traverse the AST to transform, validate, or extract information. Multiple visitors can be chained together with priority ordering.

Use Cases

Dynamic Search APIs

Expose powerful search capabilities to end users:

// User-provided query
string userQuery = "status:active AND created:>2024-01-01";

var parser = new ElasticQueryParser(c => c
    .UseMappings(client, index)
    .SetValidationOptions(new QueryValidationOptions {
        AllowedFields = { "status", "created", "name" }
    }));

var query = await parser.BuildQueryAsync(userQuery);

Custom Dashboards and Views

Let users build custom aggregations:

// User-defined aggregation
string userAgg = "terms:(status date:created~month min:amount max:amount)";

var aggs = await parser.BuildAggregationsAsync(userAgg);

Query Translation

Translate queries between different backends:

// Parse once, output to multiple formats
var luceneParser = new LuceneQueryParser();
var ast = await luceneParser.ParseAsync("field:value AND other:[1 TO 10]");

// Generate Elasticsearch query
var elasticParser = new ElasticQueryParser();
var esQuery = await elasticParser.BuildQueryAsync(ast);

// Generate SQL
var sqlParser = new SqlQueryParser();
var sqlQuery = await sqlParser.ToDynamicLinqAsync(ast, context);

Packages

Package	Description
Foundatio.Parsers.LuceneQueries	Core Lucene query parser and visitors
Foundatio.Parsers.ElasticQueries	Elasticsearch/NEST integration
Foundatio.Parsers.SqlQueries	SQL/Entity Framework Core integration

Next Steps

• Getting Started - Installation and basic usage
• Query Syntax - Complete query syntax reference
• Elasticsearch Integration - Building Elasticsearch queries
• SQL Integration - Entity Framework Core integration