How do I use a concatenation of 2 columns in a SQL DB in ASP.NET properly?

Question

I'm using LinqToSql like this with a CheckBoxList in ASP.NET:

var teachers = from x in dc.teachers select x;  
cbl.DataSource = teachers;  
cbl.DataTextField = "name";  
cbl.DataValueField = "teacherID";  
cbl.DataBind();  

I want to display both "firstname" and "name" in the DataTextField however. I found this solution but I'm using LINQ: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/839223/concatenate-two-fields-in-a-dropdown

How do I do this?

Answer 1

var teachers = from x in dc.teachers 
    select new {
        name = x.firstname + " " + x.name, 
        x.teacherID};

cbl.DataSource = teachers;
cbl.DataTextField = "name";
cbl.DataValueField = "teacherID";
cbl.DataBind();

Answer 2

I would extend your teacher's LINQ class, add a custom readonly property called fullName and set it equal to firstName + ' ' + name. Then, set your cbl.DataTextField = fullName

Example in VB.NET

Partial Public Class Teacher

    Public ReadOnly Property FullName() As String
        Get
            Return Me.FirstName & " " & Me.Name
        End Get
    End Property

End Class

This is reusable anywhere else that you may need to use a full name attribute.

Answer 3

Create an anonymous projection that contains the data you need:

var teachers = 
    from x in dc.teachers 
        select new{Teacher=x, FullName=x.FirstName+" "+x.LastName}