C# – Linq code to select one item

clinq

I find myself writing a lot of code like this to select one item that matches

var item = (from x in Items where x.Id == 123 select x).First();

Is there a cleaner way of doing it or is this as concise as I'm going to get?

EDIT: Should have said "Cleaner way using linq syntax". I was already aware of the lambda syntax and it's starting to look like this is actually the only way. I did get some useful info though, so thanks to everyone who replied.

Best Answer

Depends how much you like the linq query syntax, you can use the extension methods directly like:

var item = Items.First(i => i.Id == 123);

And if you don't want to throw an error if the list is empty, use FirstOrDefault which returns the default value for the element type (null for reference types):

var item = Items.FirstOrDefault(i => i.Id == 123);

if (item != null)
{
    // found it
}

Single() and SingleOrDefault() can also be used, but if you are reading from a database or something that already guarantees uniqueness I wouldn't bother as it has to scan the list to see if there's any duplicates and throws. First() and FirstOrDefault() stop on the first match, so they are more efficient.

Of the First() and Single() family, here's where they throw:

First() - throws if empty/not found, does not throw if duplicate
FirstOrDefault() - returns default if empty/not found, does not throw if duplicate
Single() - throws if empty/not found, throws if duplicate exists
SingleOrDefault() - returns default if empty/not found, throws if duplicate exists

Related Solutions

C# – LINQ query on a DataTable

You can't query against the DataTable's Rows collection, since DataRowCollection doesn't implement IEnumerable<T>. You need to use the AsEnumerable() extension for DataTable. Like so:

var results = from myRow in myDataTable.AsEnumerable()
where myRow.Field<int>("RowNo") == 1
select myRow;

And as @Keith says, you'll need to add a reference to System.Data.DataSetExtensions

AsEnumerable() returns IEnumerable<DataRow>. If you need to convert IEnumerable<DataRow> to a DataTable, use the CopyToDataTable() extension.

Below is query with Lambda Expression,

var result = myDataTable
    .AsEnumerable()
    .Where(myRow => myRow.Field<int>("RowNo") == 1);

C# – Dynamic LINQ OrderBy on IEnumerable / IQueryable

Just stumbled into this oldie...

To do this without the dynamic LINQ library, you just need the code as below. This covers most common scenarios including nested properties.

To get it working with IEnumerable<T> you could add some wrapper methods that go via AsQueryable - but the code below is the core Expression logic needed.

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> OrderBy<T>(
    this IQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "OrderBy");
}

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> OrderByDescending<T>(
    this IQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "OrderByDescending");
}

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> ThenBy<T>(
    this IOrderedQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "ThenBy");
}

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> ThenByDescending<T>(
    this IOrderedQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "ThenByDescending");
}

static IOrderedQueryable<T> ApplyOrder<T>(
    IQueryable<T> source, 
    string property, 
    string methodName) 
{
    string[] props = property.Split('.');
    Type type = typeof(T);
    ParameterExpression arg = Expression.Parameter(type, "x");
    Expression expr = arg;
    foreach(string prop in props) {
        // use reflection (not ComponentModel) to mirror LINQ
        PropertyInfo pi = type.GetProperty(prop);
        expr = Expression.Property(expr, pi);
        type = pi.PropertyType;
    }
    Type delegateType = typeof(Func<,>).MakeGenericType(typeof(T), type);
    LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(delegateType, expr, arg);

    object result = typeof(Queryable).GetMethods().Single(
            method => method.Name == methodName
                    && method.IsGenericMethodDefinition
                    && method.GetGenericArguments().Length == 2
                    && method.GetParameters().Length == 2)
            .MakeGenericMethod(typeof(T), type)
            .Invoke(null, new object[] {source, lambda});
    return (IOrderedQueryable<T>)result;
}

Edit: it gets more fun if you want to mix that with dynamic - although note that dynamic only applies to LINQ-to-Objects (expression-trees for ORMs etc can't really represent dynamic queries - MemberExpression doesn't support it). But here's a way to do it with LINQ-to-Objects. Note that the choice of Hashtable is due to favorable locking semantics:

using Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder;
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
static class Program
{
    private static class AccessorCache
    {
        private static readonly Hashtable accessors = new Hashtable();

        private static readonly Hashtable callSites = new Hashtable();

        private static CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>> GetCallSiteLocked(
            string name) 
        {
            var callSite = (CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>)callSites[name];
            if(callSite == null)
            {
                callSites[name] = callSite = CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>
                    .Create(Binder.GetMember(
                                CSharpBinderFlags.None, 
                                name, 
                                typeof(AccessorCache),
                                new CSharpArgumentInfo[] { 
                                    CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(
                                        CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, 
                                        null) 
                                }));
            }
            return callSite;
        }

        internal static Func<dynamic,object> GetAccessor(string name)
        {
            Func<dynamic, object> accessor = (Func<dynamic, object>)accessors[name];
            if (accessor == null)
            {
                lock (accessors )
                {
                    accessor = (Func<dynamic, object>)accessors[name];
                    if (accessor == null)
                    {
                        if(name.IndexOf('.') >= 0) {
                            string[] props = name.Split('.');
                            CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>[] arr 
                                = Array.ConvertAll(props, GetCallSiteLocked);
                            accessor = target =>
                            {
                                object val = (object)target;
                                for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++)
                                {
                                    var cs = arr[i];
                                    val = cs.Target(cs, val);
                                }
                                return val;
                            };
                        } else {
                            var callSite = GetCallSiteLocked(name);
                            accessor = target =>
                            {
                                return callSite.Target(callSite, (object)target);
                            };
                        }
                        accessors[name] = accessor;
                    }
                }
            }
            return accessor;
        }
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> OrderBy(
        this IEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.OrderBy<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> OrderByDescending(
        this IEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.OrderByDescending<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> ThenBy(
        this IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.ThenBy<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> ThenByDescending(
        this IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.ThenByDescending<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        dynamic a = new ExpandoObject(), 
                b = new ExpandoObject(), 
                c = new ExpandoObject();
        a.X = "abc";
        b.X = "ghi";
        c.X = "def";
        dynamic[] data = new[] { 
            new { Y = a },
            new { Y = b }, 
            new { Y = c } 
        };

        var ordered = data.OrderByDescending("Y.X").ToArray();
        foreach (var obj in ordered)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(obj.Y.X);
        }
    }
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – LINQ query on a DataTable

C# – Dynamic LINQ OrderBy on IEnumerable / IQueryable

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