How to: Read a Subset of Columns

This article is relevant to entity models that utilize the deprecated Visual Studio integration of Telerik Data Access. The current documentation of the Data Access framework is available here.

The How to: Query Data topic demonstrates you some basic techniques for reading, filtering and ordering data. It shows you how to retrieve full entities (all properties/columns) from the database.

In this topic, you will learn how to retrieve only a subset of data (specific properties/columns) from a table:

How to: Retrieve Only Some of the Properties of a Domain Class

The following example demonstrates you how to retrieve only some of the properties of a domain class. The rest of the properties will remain null (not initialized).

Suppose, you have the following domain class:

To retrieve only specific properties:

using ( EntitiesModel dbContext = new EntitiesModel() )
{
   List<Category> categories = (from category in dbContext.Categories
                                select new Category
                                {
                                   CategoryID = category.CategoryID,
                                   ImageFileName = category.ImageFileName
                                }).ToList();
}

Using dbContext As New EntitiesModel()
 Dim categories As List(Of Category) = (
  From category In dbContext.Categories
  Select New Category With {
   .CategoryID = category.CategoryID,
   .ImageFileName = category.ImageFileName}).ToList()
End Using

Only the CategoryID and ImageFileName properties will be initialized. The CategoryName property will be null.

Another thing you should be aware of is that the initialized Category objects will not be managed by the context. It is true that the Category class is part of the domain model. However, with this query you will not retrieve full entities. Instead, you will get projections, which cannot be change-tracked, and therefore cannot be updated. In other words, if you try to modify a category and invoke the SaveChanges method, nothing will happen.

How to: Execute a Query that Returns an Anonymous Type

Alternatively, you could execute queries that return a collection of instances of an anonymous type. For example:

using ( EntitiesModel dbContext = new EntitiesModel() )
{
   var query = from category in dbContext.Categories
               select new
               {
                   Id = category.CategoryID,
                   Name = category.CategoryName
               };
}

Using dbContext As New EntitiesModel()
 Dim query = From category In dbContext.Categories
    Select New With {
     Key .Id = category.CategoryID,
     Key .Name = category.CategoryName}
End Using