Question

In LINQ, I’d like to project different names than those from the database tables. ‘Friendly names’ that I can use for column headers. Names that have ‘%’ or possibly a ‘ ‘ (space). The query below won’t compile.

Is something like that possible or am I stuck using the dreaded _ underscore for everything?

dim query = from p in ctx.SomeTable() _     select ProductName = p.product_name, _            [Expiration Date] = p.expiration_date,            [% of sales] = p.pct_sales 

Answer 1

It’s certainly possible to project different names for the fields of the database by using the select clause.

Dim query = From p in ctx.SomeTable() _   Select ProductName = p.product_name, ExpirationData = p.expiration_date 

However the names that are chosen still must be valid VB identifiers. So that will preclude you from using a space or %