Exclude items from autocomplete method

Question

Hello all.

I have the following code that pulls off a list of items used in an text box autocomplete extender:

    return autocomplete.tblAutoCompletes
            .Where(p => p.MemberId == memberid && p.LocationId == locationid && p.ACItem.Contains(prefixText))
            .OrderBy(p => p.ACItem)
            .Select(p => p.ACItem)
            .Take(count)
            .ToArray();

Where memberid and locationid are sessions.

Within this list of items, I have some that I may wish to exclude depending upon user preferences. This preference also being stored as a session.

So for example I have the following table:

ACItem ACColumn
aa  Product
ab  Product
ac  Product
ad  Status
ae  Status
af  Status
ag  Category
ai  Category
aj  Category

The if I typed in "a" into my text box, all products ACItems would be displayed.

However, there may be a scenario whereby I don't want a users autocomplete to display a certain status and or product. For example, I don't want the user to see the status "af" or category "ai".

I have these preferences stored as a session when the user logs in (i.e. "DoNotDisplayaf" or "DoNotDisplayai")

How do I amend my original method so that the autocomplete takes these exceptions into account?

Apologies for being thick and if my question/example is a little hazy.

Thank you for any help received.

Answer 1

Not quite sure I follow, but given you do not want all product categories to be shown, wouldn't you be able to filter these out in the Where clause of your linq query?

.Where(p => p.MemberId == memberid 
     && p.LocationId == locationid 
     && p.ACItem.Contains(prefixText) 
     && shouldBeDisplayed(p)) 

ShouldBeDisplayed is a function that checks the given item with the conditions in your session state to tell if they should be shown or not.