LEFT OUTER JOIN in LINQ

Question

How to perform left outer join in C# LINQ to objects without using join-on-equals-into clauses? Is there any way to do that with where clause? Corr

Answer 1

Overview: In this code snippet, I demonstrate how to group by ID where Table1 and Table2 have a one to many relationship. I group on Id, Field1, and Field2. The subquery is helpful, if a third Table lookup is required and it would have required a left join relationship. I show a left join grouping and a subquery linq. The results are equivalent.

class MyView
{
public integer Id {get,set};
    public String Field1  {get;set;}
public String Field2 {get;set;}
    public String SubQueryName {get;set;}                           
}

IList list = await (from ci in _dbContext.Table1
                                               join cii in _dbContext.Table2
                                                   on ci.Id equals cii.Id

                                               where ci.Field1 == criterion
                                               group new
                                               {
                                                   ci.Id
                                               } by new { ci.Id, cii.Field1, ci.Field2}

                                           into pg
                                               select new MyView
                                               {
                                                   Id = pg.Key.Id,
                                                   Field1 = pg.Key.Field1,
                                                   Field2 = pg.Key.Field2,
                                                   SubQueryName=
                                                   (from chv in _dbContext.Table3 where chv.Id==pg.Key.Id select chv.Field1).FirstOrDefault()
                                               }).ToListAsync();


 Compared to using a Left Join and Group new

IList list = await (from ci in _dbContext.Table1
                                               join cii in _dbContext.Table2
                                                   on ci.Id equals cii.Id

                       join chv in _dbContext.Table3
                                                  on cii.Id equals chv.Id into lf_chv
                                                from chv in lf_chv.DefaultIfEmpty()

                                               where ci.Field1 == criterion
                                               group new
                                               {
                                                   ci.Id
                                               } by new { ci.Id, cii.Field1, ci.Field2, chv.FieldValue}

                                           into pg
                                               select new MyView
                                               {
                                                   Id = pg.Key.Id,
                                                   Field1 = pg.Key.Field1,
                                                   Field2 = pg.Key.Field2,
                                                   SubQueryName=pg.Key.FieldValue
                                               }).ToListAsync();