Question

I need help with using a normal SQL LIKE %% operator within a LINQ query.

This is the data for row called Type (thats returned from the normal query without the like operator):

Independent Contractor
Lease Program 
Teams
Teams interested

And this is my (attempted) LINQ query:

Public Shared Function SelectActiveByState(
    ByVal state_abbr As String, 
    ByVal catagory As String) As List(Of theLocations)

    Dim db As New MasterData
    db.CommandTimeout = 240

    Try            
        Return ( _
            From hl In db.Locations _
            Where hl.Active = True _
            And ( _
                hl.State = state_abbr Or _
                hl.AlternateLocation.Contains(state_abbr) And _
                hl.Type.Contains("/" & catagory & "/") _
            ) _
            Order By hl.Type Select hl).ToList()

    Catch ex As Exception
        Return Nothing
    End Try
End Function

If i leave out the And hl.Type.Contains(“/” & catagory & “/”) the query works just fine (returns 4 records). But when i add that part it returns the same records regardless of my like operator.

Answer 1

I figured it out using some of @Yaqub Ahmad code:

Public Shared Function SelectActiveByState(
    ByVal state_abbr As String, 
    ByVal catagory As String) As List(Of theLocations)

    Dim db As New MasterData
    db.CommandTimeout = 240

    Try            
        Return ( _
            From hl In db.Locations _
            Where hl.Active = True _
            And ( _
                (hl.State = state_abbr Or _
                hl.AlternateLocation.Contains(state_abbr)) And _
                System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlMethods.Like(hl.Type, "%" & category & "%") _
            ) _
            Order By hl.Type Select hl).ToList()

    Catch ex As Exception
        Return Nothing
    End Try
End Function