Provided expression should have string type (Parameter 'stringExpression')

[RickC]

I'm using Kendo UI for aspnet core MVC. And whenever I use the search with a numeric value I get an exception:

Provided expression should have string type (Parameter 'stringExpression')

It works however great with strings. So for example: "test" works but 5 throws an exception.

My search in my grid is configured like this

.Search(s => { 
                    s.Field(c => c.IncidentEvent, "contains"); 
                    s.Field(c => c.CourseNumber, "contains"); 
                    s.Field(c => c.CourseCode, "contains");
                    s.Field(c => c.ActivityType, "contains");
                    s.Field(c => c.SeverityType, "contains");

All my fields are of string type. However I expect kendo grid to be able to parse integers as well when doing a search.

Is there a way around this? How can I get my search to work with numbers as well?

[RickC]

I tried something based on this answer:

https://www.telerik.com/forums/grid-filter-on-guid-provided-expression-should-have-string-type

When I use this function to set the membertype it works:

        private void ModifyFilters(IList<IFilterDescriptor> filters)
        {
            if (filters.Any())
            {
                foreach (var filter in filters)
                {
                    var descriptor = filter as Kendo.Mvc.FilterDescriptor;
                    if (descriptor != null)
                    {
                        descriptor.Value = descriptor.Value.ToString();
                        descriptor.MemberType = typeof(string);
                    }
                    else if (filter is CompositeFilterDescriptor)
                    {
                        ModifyFilters(((CompositeFilterDescriptor)filter).FilterDescriptors);
                    }
                }
            }
        }

But this is far from ideal. I don't want to use this workaround on every search in my application. There has to be another fix for this?

[Ivan Danchev]

Hello RickC,

If you want to use the Grid's search panel with a field of type int, you should set a supported filter operator for that field, e.g, "eq" (is equal to):

.Search(s =>
{
    s.Field(o => o.Freight, "eq");
    s.Field(o => o.ShipName, "contains");
    s.Field(o => o.ShipCity, "contains");
})

You can use "contains" for fields of type string. Using it on an int field will result in an exception.

We don't have any workaround to suggest, other than the one you posted, which modifies the filters on the server.

Regards,
Ivan Danchev
Progress Telerik