Using LINQ in SharePoint 2010: Part 1

In this article we will be seeing how to use LINQ in SharePoint 2010 to query the list.

In SharePoint 2010 you have the ability to use LINQ syntax to query the list instead of using CAML query. In order to work with LINQ we need a command line tool called SPMetal.exe.

This tool is used to generate the entity classes that is required to perform object oriented queries towards SharePoint server. It is also required to get the intellisense when we are working in Visual Studio 2010.This tool resides in 14\bin folder.

Creating the entity classes:

• Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
• Change the path to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN.
• Run the following command to generate the entity classes.
  
  Spmetal.exe /web:http://servername:2010/sites/test/ /code:C:\MyEntities.cs
  
  
  

Querying SharePoint list using LINQ:

• Open Visual Studio 2010.
• Go to File => New => Project.
• Select Console Application from the installed templates.
• Right click on the solution, select "Add an existing item".
• Add the MyEntities.cs class to the solution.
• Replace the code with the following.
  
  class Program
      {
          static void Main(string[] args)
          {
              using(MyEntitiesDataContext myEntitiesDataContext=new MyEntitiesDataContext("http://servername:2010/sites/test/")) 
              {
                  var listItems = from items in myEntitiesDataContext.CustomList
                             where items.Title.StartsWith("T")
                             select new { items.Title };

                  foreach (var item in listItems)
                  {
                      Console.WriteLine(item.Title.ToString());
                  }
              }
          }
      }
   

• Build the solution.
• Hit F5.