Question

I’m having some trouble figuring out how to use more than one left outer join using LINQ to SQL. I understand how to use one left outer join. I’m using VB.NET. Below is my SQL syntax.

T-SQL

SELECT
    o.OrderNumber,
    v.VendorName,
    s.StatusName
FROM
    Orders o
LEFT OUTER JOIN Vendors v ON
    v.Id = o.VendorId
LEFT OUTER JOIN Status s ON
    s.Id = o.StatusId
WHERE
    o.OrderNumber >= 100000 AND
    o.OrderNumber <= 200000

Answer 1

This may be cleaner (you dont need all the into statements):

var query = 
    from order in dc.Orders
    from vendor 
    in dc.Vendors
        .Where(v => v.Id == order.VendorId)
        .DefaultIfEmpty()
    from status 
    in dc.Status
        .Where(s => s.Id == order.StatusId)
        .DefaultIfEmpty()
    select new { Order = order, Vendor = vendor, Status = status } 
    //Vendor and Status properties will be null if the left join is null

Here is another left join example

var results = 
    from expense in expenseDataContext.ExpenseDtos
    where expense.Id == expenseId //some expense id that was passed in
    from category 
    // left join on categories table if exists
    in expenseDataContext.CategoryDtos
                         .Where(c => c.Id == expense.CategoryId)
                         .DefaultIfEmpty() 
    // left join on expense type table if exists
    from expenseType 
    in expenseDataContext.ExpenseTypeDtos
                         .Where(e => e.Id == expense.ExpenseTypeId)
                         .DefaultIfEmpty()
    // left join on currency table if exists
    from currency 
    in expenseDataContext.CurrencyDtos
                         .Where(c => c.CurrencyID == expense.FKCurrencyID)
                         .DefaultIfEmpty() 
    select new 
    { 
        Expense = expense,
        // category will be null if join doesn't exist
        Category = category,
        // expensetype will be null if join doesn't exist
        ExpenseType = expenseType,
        // currency will be null if join doesn't exist
        Currency = currency  
    }