Question

I have this fragment of code:

SmsDataClassesDataContext dc = new SmsDataClassesDataContext();          // Get the customer         Customer currentCustomer = dc.Customers.Single( c => c.Hash1 == forThisHash );           // Get from Name (LINQ to XML)          var q = from c in thisSmsPack.Descendants('from')                 select c;          string from = q.First().Value;          foreach ( XElement element in thisSmsPack.Descendants('to') )         {             // Create the queue             SmsQueue sq = new SmsQueue();             sq.CustomerId = currentCustomer.CustomerId;             sq.MsgFrom = from;              sq.MsgTo = element.Attribute('name').Value;             sq.MsgPhone = element.Attribute('phone').Value;             sq.MsgBody = element.Attribute('msg').Value;             sq.Priority = currentCustomer.SendsSmsAtPriority;             sq.DontSendUntil = GetNextSendDate();               // sq.TimeCreated = System.DateTime.Now;              currentCustomer.SmsQueues.Add(sq);         }         dc.SubmitChanges(); 

I am creating new instances of ‘SmsQueues’, populating the values and when the foreach loop is finished I submit the changes. Given the new lambda/linq/anonymous types that .NET 3.5 has, is there a more ‘modern’ way to accomplish the above?

As a side question, maybe related, can I return an existing type composed of different columns in the select part of the linq expression?

Suppose you have three tables:

T1 == T1.Id, T1.Name

T2 == T2.Id, T2.Phone

T3 == T3.Name, T3.Phone, T3.SomethingElse

Can I perform a LINQ query that returns:

T1.Name, T2.Phone, SomethingElseNew

And let .NET know that that is of Type T3 (and it’s a new instance of it)? That way when I SubmitChanges, new T3 instances are inserted in the DB?

I don’t know if I make myself clear :S

Answer 1

I don’t have a system available to test this, but I think this (or something very close) should work.

CustomerId = currentCustomer.CustomerId; var sqrange = from element in thisSmsPack.Descendants('to') )               select new SmsQueue               {              // Create the queue                 MsgFrom = from,                 MsgTo = element.Attribute('name').Value,                 MsgPhone = element.Attribute('phone').Value,                 MsgBody = element.Attribute('msg').Value,                 Priority = currentCustomer.SendsSmsAtPriority,                 DontSendUntil = GetNextSendDate()              // TimeCreated = System.DateTime.Now             };     currentCustomer.SmsQueues.AddRange(sqrange); 

EDIT: Fixed the numerous syntax errors (as delineated in the comments)