Question

In mixing Linq-to-SQL and Linq-to-XML, I used to be able to do something like this:

XElement xml = new XElement("People");

xml.Add(from p in Context.People
        select new XElement("Person",
            new XElement("Id", p.Id),
            new XElement("Name", p.Name)));

In converting some stuff to EF, I now get this exception: “Only parameterless constructors and initializers are supported in LINQ to Entities.”

This leads me to believe I now need to do something like this:

XElement xml = new XElement("People");

var peopleResults = Context.People.Select(p => { p.Id, p.Name }).ToList();

xml.Add(from p in peopleResults
        select new XElement("Person",
            new XElement("Id", p.Id),
            new XElement("Name", p.Name)));

Is this my only alternative now, or is there another cleaner way to express this in code?

Answer 1

The approach is correct. To shorten it slightly you can use the ToList method on the object directly.

XElement xml = new XElement("People");

xml.Add(from p in Context.People.ToList()
        select new XElement("Person",
            new XElement("Id", p.Id),
            new XElement("Name", p.Name)));