LINQ - Left Join, Group By, and Count

Question

Let's say I have this SQL:

SELECT p.ParentId, COUNT(c.ChildId)
FROM ParentTable p
  LEFT OUTER JOIN ChildTable c ON p.ParentId = c.ChildParentId
GROUP BY p.ParentId

How can I translate this into LINQ to SQL? I got stuck at the COUNT(c.ChildId), the generated SQL always seems to output COUNT(*). Here's what I got so far:

from p in context.ParentTable
join c in context.ChildTable on p.ParentId equals c.ChildParentId into j1
from j2 in j1.DefaultIfEmpty()
group j2 by p.ParentId into grouped
select new { ParentId = grouped.Key, Count = grouped.Count() }

Thank you!

Answer 1

from p in context.ParentTable
join c in context.ChildTable on p.ParentId equals c.ChildParentId into j1
from j2 in j1.DefaultIfEmpty()
group j2 by p.ParentId into grouped
select new { ParentId = grouped.Key, Count = grouped.Count(t=>t.ChildId != null) }

Answer 2

 (from p in context.ParentTable     
  join c in context.ChildTable 
    on p.ParentId equals c.ChildParentId into j1 
  from j2 in j1.DefaultIfEmpty() 
     select new { 
          ParentId = p.ParentId,
         ChildId = j2==null? 0 : 1 
      })
   .GroupBy(o=>o.ParentId) 
   .Select(o=>new { ParentId = o.key, Count = o.Sum(p=>p.ChildId) })

Answer 3

Hey... Thanks a lot...it saved my time too..... If we specifically want count of rows of table, then we can play around in the count clause...since we have the key of Parent table.....

Answer 4

Why join when you can subquery?

from p in context.ParentTable 
let cCount =
(
  from c in context.ChildTable
  where p.ParentId == c.ChildParentId
  select c
).Count()
select new { ParentId = p.Key, Count = cCount } ;