Is there a better way to code this LINQ fragment?

Question

Hi,

I have this fragment of code:

SmsDataClassesDataContext dc = new SmsDataClassesDataContext();

        // Get the customer
        Customer currentCustomer = dc.Customers.Single( c => c.Hash1 == forThisHash );


        // Get from Name (LINQ to XML) 
        var q = from c in thisSmsPack.Descendants("from")
                select c;

        string from = q.First().Value;

        foreach ( XElement element in thisSmsPack.Descendants("to") )
        {
            // Create the queue
            SmsQueue sq = new SmsQueue();
            sq.CustomerId = currentCustomer.CustomerId;
            sq.MsgFrom = from;

            sq.MsgTo = element.Attribute("name").Value;
            sq.MsgPhone = element.Attribute("phone").Value;
            sq.MsgBody = element.Attribute("msg").Value;
            sq.Priority = currentCustomer.SendsSmsAtPriority;
            sq.DontSendUntil = GetNextSendDate();

             // sq.TimeCreated = System.DateTime.Now;

            currentCustomer.SmsQueues.Add(sq);
        }
        dc.SubmitChanges();

I am creating new instances of "SmsQueues", populating the values and when the foreach loop is finished I submit the changes. Given the new lambda/linq/anonymous types that .NET 3.5 has, is there a more "modern" way to accomplish the above?

As a side question, maybe related, can I return an existing type composed of different columns in the select part of the linq expression?

Suppose you have three tables:

T1 == T1.Id, T1.Name

T2 == T2.Id, T2.Phone

T3 == T3.Name, T3.Phone, T3.SomethingElse

Can I perform a LINQ query that returns:

T1.Name, T2.Phone, SomethingElseNew

And let .NET know that that is of Type T3 (and it's a new instance of it)? That way when I SubmitChanges, new T3 instances are inserted in the DB?

I don't know if I make myself clear :S

Answer 1

I don't have a system available to test this, but I think this (or something very close) should work.

CustomerId = currentCustomer.CustomerId;
var sqrange = from element in thisSmsPack.Descendants("to") )
              select new SmsQueue
              {
             // Create the queue
                MsgFrom = from,
                MsgTo = element.Attribute("name").Value,
                MsgPhone = element.Attribute("phone").Value,
                MsgBody = element.Attribute("msg").Value,
                Priority = currentCustomer.SendsSmsAtPriority,
                DontSendUntil = GetNextSendDate()
             // TimeCreated = System.DateTime.Now
            };
    currentCustomer.SmsQueues.AddRange(sqrange);

EDIT: Fixed the numerous syntax errors (as delineated in the comments)

Answer 2

You could do something like this (syntax may be off slightly, no intellisense here):

var q = T1.Join(T2, t => t.Id, t2 => t2.Id)
    select new T3{Name=t.Name,Phone=t2.Phone,SomethingElseNew="Chickens"};