Introducing LINQ

Introducing LINQ
Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Copyright by Application Developers Training Company
Objectives
Motivate the need for LINQ Learn about the various LINQ providers Investigate simple LINQ to Objects, LINQ to SQL, and LINQ to XML samples

Agenda
Language Integrated Query Structure of a LINQ Query Some LINQ Examples

Language Integrated Query

Querying and manipulating data has always been a fundamental part of our jobs as developers Data formats change, but core needs are the same
Must create, retrieve, update, and delete data

Data Access
USE empl
(DBASE, 1985 or so)
REPLACE ALL salary WITH (salary * 1.1) FOR supervises > 0 LIST ALL fname, lname, salary FOR Supervises > 0

Data Access APIs (C#)

(late 1990s/early 2000s)
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand( @"SELECT fname, lname, salary FROM Empl WHERE supervises > @p0" ); cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@po", 0); SqlConnection c = new SqlConnection(); c.Open(); DataReader people = c.Execute(cmd); while (people.Read()) { string fname = (string) people["fname"]; string lname = (string) people["lname"]; double salary = (double) people["salary"]; } people.Close();
Object/Relational Mapping (C#)

(last few years)
public class Employee { public string FirstName; public string LastName; public double Salary; } IList employees = session.CreateCriteria(typeof(Employee)) .Add(Expression.Gt("supervises", 0) .List(); foreach(Employee employee in employees) { string fname = employee.FirstName; string lname = employee.LastName; double salary = employee.Salary; }
Data Access APIs (VB)

(late 1990s/early 2000s)
Dim cmd As New SqlCommand( _ "SELECT fname, lname, salary" & _ " FROM Empl" & _ " WHERE supervises > @p0") cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@p0", 0) Dim cnn as New SqlConnection() cnn.Open()
Dim people As DataReader = cnn.Execute(cmd) While people.Read() Dim fname As String = people("fname").ToString() Dim lname As String = people("lname").ToString() Dim salary As Double = CDbl(people("salary")) End While people.Close();
Object/Relational Mapping (VB)

(last few years)
Public Class Employee Public FirstName As String Public LastName As String Public Salary As Double End Class Dim employees As IList = _ session.CreateCriteria(GetType(Employee). _ Add(Expression.Gt("supervises", 0).List() For Each employee As Employee In Employees Dim fname As String = people("fname").ToString() Dim lname As String = people("lname").ToString() Dim salary As Double = CDbl(people("salary")) Next employee
Object/Relational Mapping
Provides:
Mapping between relational data to/from objects Cleaner integration of business rules and validation

LINQ to the Rescue

How do you retrieve non-relational data?
XML, RSS, Web Services, REST, AD, Files, and so on
How do you interact with plain old objects?

How do you interact and query custom domain models?
How do you enable clean code in both a strongly typed and dynamic language world?

LINQ
Query, Set, and Transform Operations for .NET Makes querying data a core programming concept Works with all types and shapes of data
Relational databases XML Plain old objects

LINQ
Works with all .NET languages
VB and C# have integrated language support
Works in any kind of project including Windows and Web projects Also can find third party LINQ providers
Amazon.com for example

LINQ Providers
C# uses LINQ providers to map your LINQ queries to the data source that youre querying The LINQ provider takes the query that you create in code, and converts it into commands that the data source will be able to execute On return from executing the commands, the provider also converts the data into objects that create your query results

LINQ Overview
VB C# .NET Language-Integrated Query LINQ enabled data sources Others
LINQ enabled ADO.NET

LINQ To Objects
LINQ To Datasets LINQ To SQL LINQ To Entities LINQ To XML
<book> <title/> <author/> <price/> </book>
Objects

Relational
XML
LINQ Providers
LINQ to Objects
Allows you to query in-memory of sets of objects
o o
Collections, arrays, and lists If a class implements IEnumerable (or generic version), you can use LINQ to query

LINQ Providers
LINQ to SQL
Allows you to query and modify data in SQL Server You provide mapping between a modeling class and schema in data source Use System.Data.Linq.DataContext class to provide the plumbing Can use Visual Studios O/R designer to make it easy
o
For now, will mark up entity class manually Stores state for optimistic concurrency checks
DataContext manages communication

o

LINQ Providers
LINQ to XML
Easy to query, modify, and generate XML content Can work with XML from file, or from stream System.Linq.Xml.XObject, Xnode, XElement, XAttribute
o
Make it easy to work with XML programmatically
LINQ to XML provider works with these classes to create queryable collections of XML data Visual Basic adds language-specific rich support for LINQ to XML

LINQ Providers
LINQ to DataSet
Allows you to query and update data in ADO.NET dataset Can use querying engine against data already cached in client application Strongly typed datasets easier to work with than standard datasets
o
You already know the schemait's just LINQ to Objects
Language features make it possible to query standard datasets

LINQ Providers
LINQ to Entities
Allows developers to query data exposed using Entity Data Model (EDM)
o
EDM: conceptual model, allows applications to interact with data as if it was a collection of objects, or entities
Using EDM, ADO.NET exposes entities as objects in .NET Framework, allows LINQ queries to operate Conceptually, same as LINQ to SQL, but works with any data source
o
Doesn't assume one-to-one mapping between classes and schema

Agenda

Structure of a LINQ Query

LINQ query contains clauses that specify data sources and iteration variables Query expressions can also include:
Filtering Sorting Grouping Joining Calculating
From requiredindicates source of data

The Three Stages of a LINQ Query

Each LINQ query requires three stages:
Obtain the data source(s) Create the query Execute the query

The Data Source

In the sample, data source is an array of integers Because array implements IEnumerable, can query against it
Treated as a "queryable" type

XML as Data Source (VB)

Could use LINQ to XML to load contents of an XML file into a queryable collection of XElement instances:
' VB Dim items As XElement = XElement.Load("C:\Grocery.xml")

XML as Data Source (C#)

Could use LINQ to XML to load contents of an XML file into a queryable collection of XElement instances:
// C#: XElement items = XElement.Load(@"C:\Grocery.xml");

SQL as Data Source (VB)

Can use LINQ to SQL once you have a class that provides object-relational mapping:
' VB Dim dc As New DataContext( _ My.Settings.NorthwindConnectionString) Dim customers As Table(Of Customer) = _ dc.GetTable(Of Customer)

SQL as Data Source (C#)

Can use LINQ to SQL once you have a class that provides object-relational mapping:
// C# DataContext dc = new DataContext( Properties.Settings.Default.NorthwindConnectionString); Table<Customer> customers = dc.GetTable<Customer>();

The Query
Given the data source, can specify the query
Defines the information you want to retrieve Optionally, can specify how to sort, filter, and group
LINQ queries are generally the same, no matter the data source

The Query Execution

Query definition doesn't execute the query Instead, defines the query that will run when it's time to retrieve the data To execute, need to run code that forces query reference to require the values
In this course, For Each loop generally forces

Returning Multiple Values

Want to return multiple values? In general, two options:
Create class that exposes properties
o
Specify new instance of class in Select Compiler creates a new anonymous type containing just the properties you specify
Specify values in Select clause

o

Creating a Class for Return Values

See MyFileInfo class and MultipleReturnValues1

Using an Anonymous Type

In previous example, code created a simple type (MyFileInfo)
Type contained properties returned by query Why create a class simply to return values?
Anonymous types generally simpler Compiler creates the type, based on values specified in query Select clause
You don't know the type's name Implicit type definition makes it possible to work with the anonymous type
Deferred Execution
Defining query doesn't cause query to execute Must actually force execution by requesting data In other words:
Creating query doesn't return data Provides potential for returning data
Can take advantage of deferred execution

Break query into small steps without fear of multiple trips to the server for data Makes debugging simpler, as well
Converting Results to Force Execution

Sometimes, might want to immediately execute query and cache its results Can use method like ToList or ToArray Each executes query, and returns results

Agenda

Some LINQ Examples

Get a taste of the kinds of things you can do with LINQ Introduce some of the new language features for LINQ Examples of:
LINQ to Objects LINQ to SQL LINQ to XML

LINQ to Objects
Can use any collection that implements IEnumerable (or generic version) as data source Note example uses multiple overloaded versions of DisplayResults procedure

Query Syntax/Extension Methods (C#)

How does language compiler turn keywords like select, where, and orderby into executable code?
Keywords need to be converted into methods
Each LINQ keyword corresponds to a single method of the System.Linq.Enumerable

Query Syntax/Extension Methods (VB)

How does language compiler turn keywords like Select, Where, and Order By into executable code?
Keywords need to be converted into methods
Each LINQ keyword corresponds to a single method of the System.Linq.Enumerable

Continuing the Investigation

So compiler converts keywords into methods But IEnumerable is an old interface
It doesn't support Where, Select, and so on Where do those methods come from?
LINQ requires ability to extend existing interfaces/classes without changing their definitions
Available because of new extension methods
Extension method exists in one class

Allows code to extend a different class
Extension Methods (VB)

Add new methods to existing classes Not just for LINQ, but crucial for LINQ Extension methods must:
Accept a parameter, the type of which defines the class that youre extending Exist within a module Include the <Extension()> attribute

Extension Methods (C#)

Add new methods to existing classes Not just for LINQ, but crucial for LINQ Extension methods must:
Accept a parameter, the type of which defines the class that youre extending Exist within a static class Be a static method Include the this keyword in the parameter

Using LINQ to Group Output

System.Linq.Enumerable class provides large number of methods Look for grouping methods

LINQ to SQL
Allows standard LINQ queries to work with data stored in relational databases
Extends ADO.NET Adds support for mapping tables and rows to classes and properties
To support LINQ to SQL, must add custom .NET attributes to class that represents the schema Map a class to a table
Map properties within the class to columns All by adding attributes
Can represent relationships as well

Linking a Class to SQL Server

Retrieve data from Northwind Customers table Retrieve CustomerID, CompanyName, ContactName, Country, Region Indicate primary key, columns, and rename column

Creating the Class

Start by creating a class with properties that correspond to columns in the database See Customer1 class

Marking Up the Class

Use attributes from the System.Data.Linq.Mapping namespace
Table Column Many others
See Customer class

Retrieving a Collection of Customers

Need some mechanism to manage connection between class and data
Can't simply fill some huge data structure with all the data Need some class that converts requests for data into SQL strings, and executes/virtualizes
System.Data.Linq.DataContext class
Includes members that provide access to data Tracks changes to data for updates O/R designer creates classes, and new class that inherits from DataContext
Determining the Actual SQL String

Set Log property of DataContext to stream
Sends all information to the output stream
To simply see the SQL string

Call ToString method of query variable

Working with Anonymous Types

Anonymous types work well with LINQ to SQL Often need to retrieve just a subset of columns
Or perform a calculation
See DemoLinqToSqlWithAnonymousTypes

LINQ to XML
Need to retrieve, create, query XML? .NET Framework provides rich support
Steps can be complex Can require XSLT and XPath
What if you could accomplish these using a standard syntax? That is, what about LINQ? LINQ to XML makes it possible Examples create XML content
Examine Course class, and CreateCourseList
Life without LINQ to XML

Without LINQ to XML, creating XML content required multiple steps
XmlDocument creates new elements Set properties Append as child of new parent
See DemoNoLinqToXml

Using System.Xml.Linq Classes

System.Xml.Linq namespace adds classes
XElement, XAttribute, XComment All inherit from XObject
Each provides overloaded constructors

You pass as much information as necessary to generate the XML More readable than XmlDocument code
Examine CreateXmlContent

Creating Data: From and Select

From clause sets up range variable iterating over data source Select clause specifies "shape" of resulting data Take advantage of these facts to use LINQ to generate XML content Examine DemoLinqToXml

Visual Basic Only (VB)

Only Visual Basic adds new features that make it far easier to work with LINQ to XML
XML literals XML replacement tokens
See CreateXmlContentVBOnly

Learn More!
This is an excerpt from a larger course. Visit www.learnnowonline.com for the full details!


Introducing LINQ

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Introducing LINQ

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Introducing LINQ

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Language Integrated Query

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

(DBASE, 1985 or so)

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Data Access APIs (C#)

Object/Relational Mapping (C#)

Data Access APIs (VB)

Object/Relational Mapping (VB)

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

LINQ to the Rescue

How do you interact with plain old objects?

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

LINQ enabled ADO.NET

<book> <title/> <author/> <price/> </book>

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

DataContext manages communication

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Make it easy to work with XML programmatically

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

You already know the schemait's just LINQ to Objects

Language features make it possible to query standard datasets

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Doesn't assume one-to-one mapping between classes and schema

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Structure of a LINQ Query

From requiredindicates source of data

The Three Stages of a LINQ Query

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

The Data Source

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

XML as Data Source (VB)

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

XML as Data Source (C#)

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

SQL as Data Source (VB)

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

SQL as Data Source (C#)

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

The Query Execution

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Returning Multiple Values

Specify values in Select clause

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Creating a Class for Return Values

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Using an Anonymous Type

Can take advantage of deferred execution

Converting Results to Force Execution

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Some LINQ Examples

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Query Syntax/Extension Methods (C#)