Question

This might be a really stupid and obvious question, but I’m very new to Linq. In my Data Access Layer class I have this method:

static public ? GetAllUrls()
        {



            using (MonitoredUrlsEntities mu = new MonitoredUrlsEntities())
            {


                var query = from urlTbl in mu.UrlLists
                            join histTbl in mu.Histories on
                            urlTbl.ID equals histTbl.UrlID
                            select new
                            {
                                urlTbl.Url,
                                urlTbl.UrlTitle,
                                urlTbl.UrlType,
                                urlTbl.Frequency,
                                urlTbl.Active,
                                urlTbl.LastChangeDate,
                                urlTbl.LastCheckDate,
                                histTbl.DateRun,
                                histTbl.HashValue
                            };

                  return query.ToList();


            }

The question mark is there because I have no idea what type of object a linq statement returns. I just a list that I can loop through.

Answer 1

Can’t return anonymous types from a method (like others have said). Create a concrete type and new one of those up. Your return type is IEnumerable<YourType> as below:

// NOTE: I do not know the actual types of these properties, YMMV
public sealed class UrlHistoryList
{
    public string Url { get; set; }
    public string UrlTitle { get; set; }
    public string UrlType { get; set; }
    public int Frequency { get; set; }
    public bool Active { get; set; }
    public DateTime LastChangeDate { get; set; }
    public DateTime LastCheckDate { get; set; }
    public DateTime DateRun { get; set; }
    public int HashValue { get; set; }
}

static public IEnumerable<UrlHistoryList> GetAllUrls()
        {



            using (MonitoredUrlsEntities mu = new MonitoredUrlsEntities())
            {


                var query = from urlTbl in mu.UrlLists
                            join histTbl in mu.Histories on
                            urlTbl.ID equals histTbl.UrlID
                            select new UrlHistoryList
                            {
                                Url = urlTbl.Url,
                                UrlTitle = urlTbl.UrlTitle,
                                UrlType = urlTbl.UrlType,
                                Frequency = urlTbl.Frequency,
                                Active = urlTbl.Active,
                                LastChangeDate = urlTbl.LastChangeDate,
                                LastCheckDate = urlTbl.LastCheckDate,
                                DateRun = histTbl.DateRun,
                                HashValue = histTbl.HashValue
                            };

                  return query.ToList();


            }