Multiple WHERE clause in Linq

Question

I'm new to LINQ and want to know how to execute multiple where clause. This is what I want to achieve: return records by filtering out certain user names. I tried the code below but not working as expected.

DataTable tempData = (DataTable)grdUsageRecords.DataSource;
var query = from r in tempData.AsEnumerable()
            where ((r.Field<string>("UserName") != "XXXX") || (r.Field<string>("UserName") != "XXXX"))                            
            select r;    

            DataTable newDT = query.CopyToDataTable();

Thanks for the help in advance!!!

Answer 1

Well, you can just put multiple "where" clauses in directly, but I don't think you want to. Multiple "where" clauses ends up with a more restrictive filter - I think you want a less restrictive one. I think you really want:

DataTable tempData = (DataTable)grdUsageRecords.DataSource;
var query = from r in tempData.AsEnumerable()
            where r.Field<string>("UserName") != "XXXX" &&
                  r.Field<string>("UserName") != "YYYY"
            select r;

DataTable newDT = query.CopyToDataTable();

Note the && instead of ||. You want to select the row if the username isn't XXXX and the username isn't YYYY.

EDIT: If you have a whole collection, it's even easier. Suppose the collection is called ignoredUserNames:

DataTable tempData = (DataTable)grdUsageRecords.DataSource;
var query = from r in tempData.AsEnumerable()
            where !ignoredUserNames.Contains(r.Field<string>("UserName"))
            select r;

DataTable newDT = query.CopyToDataTable();

Ideally you'd want to make this a HashSet<string> to avoid the Contains call taking a long time, but if the collection is small enough it won't make much odds.

Answer 2

@Jon: Jon, are you saying using multiple where clauses e.g.

var query = from r in tempData.AsEnumerable()
            where r.Field<string>("UserName") != "XXXX" 
            where r.Field<string>("UserName") != "YYYY"
            select r;

is more restictive than using

var query = from r in tempData.AsEnumerable()
            where r.Field<string>("UserName") != "XXXX" && r.Field<string>("UserName") != "YYYY"
            select r;

I think they are equivalent as far as the result goes.

However, I haven't tested, if using multiple where in the first example cause in 2 subqueries, i.e. .Where(r=>r.UserName!="XXXX").Where(r=>r.UserName!="YYYY) or the LINQ translator is smart enought to execute .Where(r=>r.UserName!="XXXX" && r.UsernName!="YYYY")