Use Linq in Codesmith Template

If you want to use Linq in your codesmith templates to filter, organize and sort your metadata the trick to ensure you have set the CompilerVersion to "v3.5" or "v4.0" etc.


Requires CodeSmith 5.1 or above.

Using linq to read csv file

Alternative title: Fastest way to read a csv file into objects

Alternative title 2: Its only one line of code!

File.ReadAllLines("Employees.csv")
                        .Select(x => x.Split(','))
                        .Select(x =>
                             new EmployeeObject
                             {
                                 FirstName=x[0],
                                 LastName=x[1],
                                 DateOfBirth=DateTime.Parse(x[2]),
                                 Department=x[3]
                             });

Convert from IEnumerable<gobject> to IEnumerable<x>

The easiest way to convert from IEnumerable<object> to a specific class e.g. IEnumerable<DomainObject> is by using the LINQ extension method Cast<T>.

IEnumerable<object> objEnum = GetData();
IEnumerable<DomainObject> domainObjEnum = objEnum.Cast<DomainObject>().ToList();

The same process can be used in reverse.