An extension method for Telerik MVC grid filtering

FilterExtension.cs

///<remarks>
/// Turns out this wasn't needed - and far less elegant than the existing extension method.
/// However, it is still an example of a generic way to match a given property with a value
/// and how to select that property by name (string) and compare its value to the value
/// that is passed in. It works...
///</remarks>
public static IList<T> ApplyFilter<T>(this IList<T> list, FilterDescriptor filter) {
 
    // We wont allow filtering on anything but string type properties
    if (filter.MemberType != typeof(string)) throw new ArgumentException("Filtering is only allowed for properties with a type of 'string'.");
 
    var value = filter.Value.ToString();
    switch (filter.Operator) {
        case FilterOperator.IsEqualTo:
            list = list.Where(x => {
                var propertyValue = x.GetType().GetProperty(filter.Member).GetValue(x, null);
                return String.Equals((string)propertyValue, value, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
            }).ToList();
            break;
 
        case FilterOperator.IsNotEqualTo:
            list = list.Where(x => {
                var propertyValue = x.GetType().GetProperty(filter.Member).GetValue(x, null);
                return String.Equals((string)propertyValue, value, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase) == false;
            }).ToList();
            break;
 
        case FilterOperator.StartsWith:
            list = list.Where(x => {
                var propertyValue = x.GetType().GetProperty(filter.Member).GetValue(x, null);
                return ((string)propertyValue).StartsWith(value, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
            }).ToList();
            break;
 
        case FilterOperator.Contains:
            list = list.Where(x => {
                var propertyValue = x.GetType().GetProperty(filter.Member).GetValue(x, null);
                return ((string)propertyValue).IndexOf(value, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase) > -1;
            }).ToList();
            break;
 
        case FilterOperator.EndsWith:
            list = list.Where(x => {
                var propertyValue = x.GetType().GetProperty(filter.Member).GetValue(x, null);
                return ((string)propertyValue).EndsWith(value, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
            }).ToList();
            break;
    }
 
    return list;
}