Returning IEnumerable from Linq query

Question

I'm trying to return an IEnumerable<string> from a linq query and I'm getting the error: Cannot convert IEnumerable<AnonymousType> to IEnumerable<string>

I have no idea how to go about fixing this issue.

private IEnumerable<string> GetAllMembers(Type type)
        {    

            var query =
                (from member in type.GetMembers()
                 select new
                 {
                     Member = member.GetType() + " " + member.ToString()

                 }
                );

            return query;
        }

using ToList() will solve your problem – Developer Nov 21 '12 at 10:21 — Developer, Nov 21 '12 at 10:21

Justin Harvey · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-21T10:26:40.833

5

Try this

private IEnumerable<string> GetAllMembers(Type type)
    {    

        var query =
            from member in type.GetMembers()
             select member.GetType() + " " + member.ToString();

        return query;
    }

You were creating an IEnumerable of anonymous types, when I think you just wanted an enumeration of strings.

edited Nov 21 '12 at 10:26

answered Nov 21 '12 at 10:20

Justin Harvey

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score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 21 '12 at 10:20

You are creating anonymous type with Member property. Simply return string values thus you are expect IEnumerable<string>

private IEnumerable<string> GetAllMembers(Type type)
{    
    return from member in type.GetMembers()
           select member.GetType() + " " + member.ToString();
}

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 21 '12 at 10:20

You are returning an anonymous type (constructed by new {}) from your query and not a string. You can modify the query like this for example, so the result is an IEnumerable<string>:

return from member in type.GetMembers()
       select member.GetType() + " " + member.ToString();

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 21 '12 at 10:21

The problem is your query returns an anonymous object with one property Members which is a string, simply change to just returning the string:

 var query =
            (from member in type.GetMembers()
             select member.GetType() + " " + member.ToString()
            );

  return query;

Returning IEnumerable from Linq query

4 Answers4