Entityframework Join using join method and lambdas

Question

It seems there are different ways to do joins using linq. One is more straightforward and involves just joining tables like this:

var found = from c in s.cat         


        

Answer 1

You can find a few examples here:

// Fill the DataSet.
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.Locale = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
FillDataSet(ds);

DataTable contacts = ds.Tables["Contact"];
DataTable orders = ds.Tables["SalesOrderHeader"];

var query =
    contacts.AsEnumerable().Join(orders.AsEnumerable(),
    order => order.Field<Int32>("ContactID"),
    contact => contact.Field<Int32>("ContactID"),
    (contact, order) => new
    {
        ContactID = contact.Field<Int32>("ContactID"),
        SalesOrderID = order.Field<Int32>("SalesOrderID"),
        FirstName = contact.Field<string>("FirstName"),
        Lastname = contact.Field<string>("Lastname"),
        TotalDue = order.Field<decimal>("TotalDue")
    });


foreach (var contact_order in query)
{
    Console.WriteLine("ContactID: {0} "
                    + "SalesOrderID: {1} "
                    + "FirstName: {2} "
                    + "Lastname: {3} "
                    + "TotalDue: {4}",
        contact_order.ContactID,
        contact_order.SalesOrderID,
        contact_order.FirstName,
        contact_order.Lastname,
        contact_order.TotalDue);
}

Or just google for 'linq join method syntax'.

Answer 2

If you have configured navigation property 1-n I would recommend you to use:

var query = db.Categories                                  // source
   .SelectMany(c=>c.CategoryMaps,                          // join
      (c, cm) => new { Category = c, CategoryMaps = cm })  // project result
   .Select(x => x.Category);                               // select result

Much more clearer to me and looks better with multiple nested joins.

Answer 3

Generally i prefer the lambda syntax with LINQ, but Join is one example where i prefer the query syntax - purely for readability.

Nonetheless, here is the equivalent of your above query (i think, untested):

var query = db.Categories         // source
   .Join(db.CategoryMaps,         // target
      c => c.CategoryId,          // FK
      cm => cm.ChildCategoryId,   // PK
      (c, cm) => new { Category = c, CategoryMaps = cm }) // project result
   .Select(x => x.Category);  // select result

You might have to fiddle with the projection depending on what you want to return, but that's the jist of it.