join-by-using-composite-keys.md

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Join by using composite keys	How to join by using composite keys.	.NET, .NET Core, C#	stevehoag	wpickett	wiwagn	12/1/2016	article	.net-core	.net-core-technologies	dotnet	da70b54d-3213-45eb-8437-fbe75cbcf935

Join by using composite keys

This example shows how to perform join operations in which you want to use more than one key to define a match. This is accomplished by using a composite key. You create a composite key as an anonymous type or named typed with the values that you want to compare. If the query variable will be passed across method boundaries, use a named type that overrides xref:System.Object.Equals%2A and xref:System.Object.GetHashCode%2A for the key. The names of the properties, and the order in which they occur, must be identical in each key.

Example

The following example demonstrates how to use a composite key to join data from three tables:

var query = from o in db.Orders  
    from p in db.Products  
    join d in db.OrderDetails   
        on new {o.OrderID, p.ProductID} equals new {d.OrderID,        d.ProductID} into details  
        from d in details  
        select new {o.OrderID, p.ProductID, d.UnitPrice};  

Type inference on composite keys depends on the names of the properties in the keys, and the order in which they occur. If the properties in the source sequences do not have the same names, you must assign new names in the keys. For example, if the Orders table and OrderDetails table each used different names for their columns, you could create composite keys by assigning identical names in the anonymous types:

join...on new {Name = o.CustomerName, ID = o.CustID} equals   
    new {Name = d.CustName, ID = d.CustID }  

Composite keys can be also used in a group clause.

See also

LINQ query expressions
join clause
group clause