Webmatrix - including int's in my search page - list

Question

i have built a fully working search page for my WebMatrix property site. To summarize, it checks the query string, and if any of the defined values are present, it adds it to a list so it can iterate through them.
The problem, as you will see, if that it currently adds everything to the list as a string. This causes problems when i need to use the value as an INT (PropertyType and NumBedrooms should be int's). is there a way i can use both strings and int's in this scenario? can i add ints AND strings to the same list?
here's the code:
var db = Database.Open("StayInFlorida");
var proptype = db.Query("SELECT * FROM Property_Type");
IEnumerable<dynamic> queryResults;
//Search Variables
string searchTerm = "";
string resortID = "";
string propertyType = "";
string numBedrooms = "";
List<string> argList = new List<string>();
//Paging Variables
var pageSize = 6;
var totalPages = 0;
var count = 0;
var page = UrlData[0].IsInt() ? UrlData[0].AsInt() : 1;
var offset = (page -1) * pageSize;
//Request querystrings from URL
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Request.QueryString["searchTerm"]))
{
searchTerm = Request.QueryString["searchTerm"];
}
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Request.QueryString["resortID"]))
{
resortID = Request.QueryString["resortID"];
}
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Request.QueryString["propertyType"]))
{
propertyType = Request.QueryString["propertyType"];
}
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Request.QueryString["numBedrooms"]))
{
numBedrooms = Request.QueryString["numBedrooms"];
}
int numOfArguments = 0;
string selectQueryString = "SELECT * FROM Property_Info ";
if (searchTerm != "")
{
argList.Add(searchTerm);
selectQueryString += "WHERE FullDescription LIKE '%' + #0 + '%' OR BriefDescription LIKE '%' + #0 + '%' ";
numOfArguments++; //increment numOfArguments by 1
}
if (resortID != "")
{
argList.Add(resortID);
if (numOfArguments == 0)
{
selectQueryString += "WHERE ResortID = #0 ";
}
else
{
selectQueryString += "AND ResortID = #" + numOfArguments + " ";
}
numOfArguments++;
}
if (propertyType != "")
{
argList.Add(propertyType);
if (numOfArguments == 0)
{
selectQueryString += "WHERE PropertyTypeID = #0 ";
}
else
{
selectQueryString += "AND PropertyTypeID = #" + numOfArguments + " ";
}
numOfArguments++;
}
if (numBedrooms != "")
{
argList.Add(numBedrooms);
if (numOfArguments == 0)
{
selectQueryString += "WHERE NumBedrooms = #0 ";
}
else
{
selectQueryString += "AND NumBedrooms = #" + numOfArguments + " ";
}
numOfArguments++;
}
selectQueryString += "ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC";
string[] argArray = argList.ToArray();
queryResults = db.Query(selectQueryString, argArray);
count = queryResults.Count();
totalPages = count/pageSize;
if(count % pageSize > 0){
totalPages += 1;
}
Edited code after Polynomial's suggestion:
#{
Layout = "~/_SiteLayout.cshtml";
Page.Title = "Search Page";
var db = Database.Open("StayInFlorida");
var proptype = db.Query("SELECT * FROM Property_Type");
//Paging Variables
var pageSize = 6;
var totalPages = 0;
var count = 0;
var page = UrlData[0].IsInt() ? UrlData[0].AsInt() : 1;
var offset = (page -1) * pageSize;
IEnumerable<dynamic> queryResults;
//Request querystrings from URL
string selectQueryString = "SELECT * FROM Property_Info WHERE 0 = 0 AND NumBedrooms = #0 AND NumBathrooms = #1 ";
selectQueryString += "ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC";
queryResults = db.Query(selectQueryString, Request.QueryString["NumBedrooms"], Request.QueryString["NumBathrooms"]);
count = queryResults.Count();
totalPages = count/pageSize;
if(count % pageSize > 0){
totalPages += 1;
}
}

Answer 1

Well, there are lots of ways around the problem, I'm thinking the easiest one that doesn't involve not using named ordinal parameterization would be to use fixed ordinals for each search criteria and just not use the ones you don't need in the SQL statement. Your code is very long so I don't really want to try and rewrite the whole thing here, but basically if your db.Query() call has all of the potential arguments passed as parameters like this:
queryResults = db.Query(selectQueryString, Request.QueryString["searchTerm"], Request.QueryString["resortId"]).AsInt(), Request.QueryString["propertyType"].AsInt() /* etc etc */);
Then your ordinals are always the same number. searchTerm is always #0, resortId is always #1 etc, etc. You then don't need the array at all and just need to build up an appropriate SQL statement for what the user specified, for example some WHERE clauses that would all fit with the code above could be:
"WHERE ResortID = #1"
"WHERE PropertyType = #2"
"WHERE ResortID = #1 AND PropertyType = #2"
"WHERE Name = #0"
"WHERE Name = #0 AND ResortID = #1 AND PropertyType = #2"
In the case of the clauses that only use one or two of the parameters, the others are just ignored and hopefully everything will work as you intend.
Edit to show code:
// Basic beginning of the select statement
string selectQueryString = "SELECT * FROM Property_Info WHERE 0 = 0 ";
// Check to see if the user specified bedrooms, if they did add to the select statement
if (Request.QueryString["NumBedrooms"].AsInt() > 0)
{
selectQueryString += "AND NumBedrooms = #0 ";
}
// Same for the number of bathrooms
if (Request.QueryString["NumBathrooms"].AsInt() > 0)
{
selectQueryString += "AND NumBathrooms = #1 ";
}
// ** Add more criteria to your select list here by checking for valid values and concatenating your string **
// Finally add the order by on the end
selectQueryString += "ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC";
// Execute the statement
queryResults = db.Query(selectQueryString, Request.QueryString["NumBedrooms"].AsInt(), Request.QueryString["NumBathrooms"].AsInt());
This should give you a very flexible and expandable search criteria system that is happy with zero, one or many criteria.