Question

I would like to create a LINQ join statement equivalent of a Left Join

My tables are set up like so:

Recipe
    RecipeID
    ...

Instruction
    RecipeID
    StepID
    SomeFlag
    ...

Equivalent SQL:

SELECT *
FROM Recipe r
LEFT JOIN Instruction i
    ON r.RecipeID = i.RecipeID
    AND SomeFlag > 0

This is what I have so far:

var tmp = db.Recipe
    .GroupJoin(
        db.Instruction,
        r => r.RecipeID,
        i => i.RecipeID,
        (r, i) => new {r, i},
        ???);

Firstly, is GroupJoin the correct choice for this type of operation? From what I understand, Join is equivalent to the SQL ‘Inner Join’ and GroupJoin is equivalent to ‘Left Join’. Second, what is the correct syntax to obtain my desired result? I have been searching for a while and I can’t seem to find a suitable answer using extension methods.

Answer 1

Don’t forget to read the help from (GroupJoin: MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb535047.aspx and Join MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/bb534675.aspx)

The last argument of the GroupJoin and Join is optional (by overload) and is not usually used.
It is a function that allow you to specify how to compare r.RecipeID with i.RecipeID. As RecipeID must be an integer, using the default comparer is a good choice. So let it with:

var tmp = db.Recipe
    .Join(db.Instruction,
          r => r.RecipeID,
          i => i.RecipeID,
          (r, i) => new {r, i});

Now what you want to have is to remove all the instructions that have SomeFlag > 0. Why not do this before joining?
Like this:

var tmp = db.Recipe
    .Join(db.Instruction.Where(instruction => instruction.SomeFlag > 0),
          r => r.RecipeID,
          i => i.RecipeID,
          (r, i) => new {r, i});

Update

@usr has perfectly commented saying Join performs an INNER JOIN.

As you may have remarked, LINQ does not have different methods for INNER, OUTER, LEFT, RIGHT joins. To know the equivalent LINQ of a particular SQL join you may find help on MSDN ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/bb397676.aspx ).

var tmp = from recipe in Recipes
          join instruction in
              from instruction in Instructions
              where instruction.SomeFlag > 0
              select instruction
          on recipe.RecipeID equals instruction.RecipeID into gj
          from instruction in gj.DefaultIfEmpty()
          select new
          {
              recipe,
              instruction
          };

using extension methods it is a bit of an ugly solution:

var tmp = Recipes.GroupJoin(Instructions.Where(instruction => instruction.SomeFlag > 0),
                            recipe => recipe.RecipeID,
                            instruction => instruction.RecipeID,
                            (recipe, gj) => new { recipe, gj })
                 .SelectMany(@t => @t.gj.DefaultIfEmpty(), 
                             (@t, instruction) => new
                             {
                                 @t.recipe,
                                 instruction
                             });