Hello,

We want to set up a directory of all the organizations working with us. They are incredibly diverse (government, embassy, private companies, and organizations depending on them ). So, I've resolved to create 2 tables. Table 1 will treat all the organizations equally, i.e. it'll collect all the basic information (name, address, phone number, etc.). Table 2 will establish the hierarchy among all the organizations. For instance, Program for illiterate adults depends on the National Institute for Social Security which depends on the Labor Ministry.

In the Hierarchy table, each column represents a level. So, for the example above, (i)Labor Ministry - Level1(column1), (ii)National Institute for Social Security - Level2(column2), (iii)Program for illiterate adults - Level3(column3).

To attach an organization to an hierarchy, the user needs to go level by level(i.e. column by column). So, there will be at least 3 situations:

• If an adequate hierarchy exists for an organization(for instance, level1: US Embassy), that organization can be added (For instance, level2: USAID).--> US Embassy/USAID, and so on.
• How about if one or more levels are missing? - then they need to be added
• How about if the hierarchy need to be modified? -- not every thing need to be modified.

I do not have any choice but working by level (i.e. column by column). I does not make sense to have all the levels in one form as the user need to navigate hierarchies to find the right one to attach an organization.

Let's say, I have those queries in my repository (just that you get the idea).

Query1

var orgHierarchy = (from orgH in db.Hierarchy
                   select orgH.Level1).FirstOrDefault;

Query2

var orgHierarchy = (from orgH in db.Hierarchy
                   select orgH.Level2).FirstOrDefault;

Query3, Query4, etc.

The above queries are the same except for the property queried (level1, level2, level3, etc.)

Question: Is there a general way of writing the above queries in one? So that the user can track an hierarchy level by level to attach an organization.

In other words, not knowing in advance which column to query, I still need to be able to do so depending on some conditions. For instance, an organization X depends on Y. Knowing that Y is somewhere on the 3rd level, I'll go to the 4th level, linking X to Y.

I need to select (not manually) a column with only one query that takes parameters.

Thanks for helping