The following are the different types of joins in LINQ
Group Join - We will discuss in this video
Inner Join - Discussed in next article
Left Outer Join
Cross Join
In this article, we will discuss Group Join. Group Join produces hierarchical data structures. Each element from the first collection is paired with a set of correlated elements from the second collection.
Let us understand Group Join with an example. Consider the following Department and Employee classes. A Department may have ZERO or MORE employees.
Example 1: Group employees by Department.
Output:
Example 2: Rewrite Example 1 using SQL like syntax.
Please note: Group Join uses the join operator and the into keyword to group the results of the join.
Group Join - We will discuss in this video
Inner Join - Discussed in next article
Left Outer Join
Cross Join
In this article, we will discuss Group Join. Group Join produces hierarchical data structures. Each element from the first collection is paired with a set of correlated elements from the second collection.
Let us understand Group Join with an example. Consider the following Department and Employee classes. A Department may have ZERO or MORE employees.
public class Department
{
public int ID
{ get; set;
}
public string Name
{ get; set;
}
public static List<Department> GetAllDepartments()
{
return new List<Department>()
{
new Department { ID = 1, Name = "IT"},
new Department { ID = 2, Name = "HR"},
new Department { ID = 3, Name = "Payroll"},
};
}
}
public class Employee
{
public int ID
{ get; set;
}
public string Name
{ get; set;
}
public int DepartmentID
{ get; set;
}
public static List<Employee> GetAllEmployees()
{
return new List<Employee>()
{
new Employee { ID = 1, Name = "Mark", DepartmentID = 1
},
new Employee { ID = 2, Name = "Steve", DepartmentID =
2 },
new Employee { ID = 3, Name = "Ben", DepartmentID = 1
},
new Employee { ID = 4, Name = "Philip", DepartmentID =
1 },
new Employee { ID = 5, Name = "Mary", DepartmentID = 2
},
new Employee { ID = 6, Name = "Valarie", DepartmentID =
2 },
new Employee { ID = 7, Name = "John", DepartmentID = 1
},
new Employee { ID = 8, Name = "Pam", DepartmentID = 1
},
new Employee { ID = 9, Name = "Stacey", DepartmentID =
2 },
new Employee { ID = 10, Name = "Andy", DepartmentID = 1}
};
}
}
Example 1: Group employees by Department.
var employeesByDepartment = Department.GetAllDepartments()
.GroupJoin(Employee.GetAllEmployees(),
d => d.ID,
e => e.DepartmentID,
(department, employees) =>
new
{
Department = department,
Employees = employees
});
foreach (var department in employeesByDepartment)
{
Console.WriteLine(department.Department.Name);
foreach (var employee
in department.Employees)
{
Console.WriteLine("
" + employee.Name);
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
Output:
Example 2: Rewrite Example 1 using SQL like syntax.
var employeesByDepartment = from d in
Department.GetAllDepartments()
join e in
Employee.GetAllEmployees()
on d.ID equals e.DepartmentID into eGroup
select new
{
Department = d,
Employees = eGroup
};
Please note: Group Join uses the join operator and the into keyword to group the results of the join.
