Question

OK OK, I know this is a hack, but this was for a tiny data-manipulation project and I wanted to play around. 😉

I was always under the impression that the compiler would examine all anonymous types used in a C# program and if the properties were the same, it would only create one class behind the scenes.

So let’s say I want to create an anonymous type out of some typed datasets that I have:

var smallData1 = new smallData1().GetData().Select(
    x => new { Name = x.NAME, x.ADDRESS, City = x.CITY, State = x.STATE,
    Zip = x.ZIP, Country = x.COUNTRY, ManagerName = x.MANAGER_NAME,
    ManagerID = x.MANAGER_ID });

var smallData2 = new smallData2().GetData().Select(
    x => new { x.Name, x.ADDRESS, x.City, x.State, x.Zip, x.Country,
    x.ManagerName,x.ManagerID });

I can now do fun things like smallData2.Except(smallData1); etc., and it all works.

Now, what if I have a bigger pair of anonymous types:

var bigData1 = new BigAdapter1().GetData().Select(
    x => new { x.FirstName, x.LastName, x.Address, x.City, x.State,
    x.Zip, x.Country, x.Phone, x.Email, x.Website, x.Custom1, x.Custom2,
    x.Custom3, x.Custom4, x.Custom5, x.Custom6, x.Custom7, x.Custom8, x.Custom9,
    x.Custom10, x.Custom11, x.Custom12, x.Custom13, x.Custom14, x.Custom15,
    x.Custom16, x.Custom17, x.Custom18, x.Custom19, x.Custom20, x.Custom21,
    x.Custom22, x.Custom23, x.Custom24, x.Custom25, x.Custom26, x.Custom27,
    x.Custom28, x.Custom29});

var bigData2 = new BigAdapter2().GetData().Select(
    x => new { x.FirstName, x.LastName, x.Address, x.City, x.State, x.Zip,
    x.Country, x.Phone, x.Email, x.Website, x.Custom1, x.Custom2, x.Custom3,
    x.Custom4, x.Custom5, x.Custom6, x.Custom7, x.Custom8, x.Custom9, x.Custom10,
    x.Custom11, x.Custom12, x.Custom13, x.Custom14, x.Custom15, x.Custom16,
    x.Custom17, x.Custom18, x.Custom19, x.Custom20, x.Custom21, x.Custom22,
    x.Custom23, x.Custom24, x.Custom25, x.Custom26, x.Custom27,
    x.Custom28, x.Custom29});

Now when I do bigData2.Except(bigData1); the compiler complains:

Instance argument: cannot convert from
'System.Data.EnumerableRowCollection<AnonymousType#1>' to
'System.Linq.IQueryable<AnonymousType#2>'

Why? Too many properties, so the compiler decides it’s not worth it to optimize?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Yep. Its not the number of properties. How sure are you that your adapters are returning exactly the same data types?