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

Simple solution for the LEFT OUTER JOIN:

var setA = context.SetA;
var setB = context.SetB.Select(st=>st.Id).Distinct().ToList();
var leftOuter  = setA.Where(stA=> !setB.Contains(stA.Id)); 

notes:

• To improve performance SetB could be converted to a Dictionary (if that is done then you have to change this: !setB.Contains(stA.Id)) or a HashSet
• When there is more than one field involved this could be achieve using Set operations and a class that implement: IEqualityComparer

Answer 2

Extension method that works like left join with Join syntax

public static class LinQExtensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<TResult> LeftJoin<TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult>(
        this IEnumerable<TOuter> outer, IEnumerable<TInner> inner, 
        Func<TOuter, TKey> outerKeySelector, 
        Func<TInner, TKey> innerKeySelector, 
        Func<TOuter, TInner, TResult> resultSelector)
    {
        return outer.GroupJoin(
            inner, 
            outerKeySelector, 
            innerKeySelector,
            (outerElement, innerElements) => resultSelector(outerElement, innerElements.FirstOrDefault()));
    }
}

just wrote it in .NET core and it seems to be working as expected.

Small test:

        var Ids = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3, 4};
        var items = new List<Tuple<int, string>>
        {
            new Tuple<int, string>(1,"a"),
            new Tuple<int, string>(2,"b"),
            new Tuple<int, string>(4,"d"),
            new Tuple<int, string>(5,"e"),
        };

        var result = Ids.LeftJoin(
            items,
            id => id,
            item => item.Item1,
            (id, item) => item ?? new Tuple<int, string>(id, "not found"));

        result.ToList()
        Count = 4
        [0]: {(1, a)}
        [1]: {(2, b)}
        [2]: {(3, not found)}
        [3]: {(4, d)}

Answer 3

An implementation of left outer join by extension methods could look like

public static IEnumerable<Result> LeftJoin<TOuter, TInner, TKey, Result>(
  this IEnumerable<TOuter> outer, IEnumerable<TInner> inner
  , Func<TOuter, TKey> outerKeySelector, Func<TInner, TKey> innerKeySelector
  , Func<TOuter, TInner, Result> resultSelector, IEqualityComparer<TKey> comparer)
  {
    if (outer == null)
      throw new ArgumentException("outer");

    if (inner == null)
      throw new ArgumentException("inner");

    if (outerKeySelector == null)
      throw new ArgumentException("outerKeySelector");

    if (innerKeySelector == null)
      throw new ArgumentException("innerKeySelector");

    if (resultSelector == null)
      throw new ArgumentException("resultSelector");

    return LeftJoinImpl(outer, inner, outerKeySelector, innerKeySelector, resultSelector, comparer ?? EqualityComparer<TKey>.Default);
  }

  static IEnumerable<Result> LeftJoinImpl<TOuter, TInner, TKey, Result>(
      IEnumerable<TOuter> outer, IEnumerable<TInner> inner
      , Func<TOuter, TKey> outerKeySelector, Func<TInner, TKey> innerKeySelector
      , Func<TOuter, TInner, Result> resultSelector, IEqualityComparer<TKey> comparer)
  {
    var innerLookup = inner.ToLookup(innerKeySelector, comparer);

    foreach (var outerElment in outer)
    {
      var outerKey = outerKeySelector(outerElment);
      var innerElements = innerLookup[outerKey];

      if (innerElements.Any())
        foreach (var innerElement in innerElements)
          yield return resultSelector(outerElment, innerElement);
      else
        yield return resultSelector(outerElment, default(TInner));
     }
   }

The resultselector then has to take care of the null elements. Fx.

   static void Main(string[] args)
   {
     var inner = new[] { Tuple.Create(1, "1"), Tuple.Create(2, "2"), Tuple.Create(3, "3") };
     var outer = new[] { Tuple.Create(1, "11"), Tuple.Create(2, "22") };

     var res = outer.LeftJoin(inner, item => item.Item1, item => item.Item1, (it1, it2) =>
     new { Key = it1.Item1, V1 = it1.Item2, V2 = it2 != null ? it2.Item2 : default(string) });

     foreach (var item in res)
       Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0}, {1}, {2}", item.Key, item.V1, item.V2));
   }

Answer 4

(from a in db.Assignments
     join b in db.Deliveryboys on a.AssignTo equals b.EmployeeId  

     //from d in eGroup.DefaultIfEmpty()
     join  c in  db.Deliveryboys on a.DeliverTo equals c.EmployeeId into eGroup2
     from e in eGroup2.DefaultIfEmpty()
     where (a.Collected == false)
     select new
     {
         OrderId = a.OrderId,
         DeliveryBoyID = a.AssignTo,
         AssignedBoyName = b.Name,
         Assigndate = a.Assigndate,
         Collected = a.Collected,
         CollectedDate = a.CollectedDate,
         CollectionBagNo = a.CollectionBagNo,
         DeliverTo = e == null ? "Null" : e.Name,
         DeliverDate = a.DeliverDate,
         DeliverBagNo = a.DeliverBagNo,
         Delivered = a.Delivered

     });