Convert select new to DataTable?

Question

I am using .NET 3.5 and need to convert the below select new result into a DataTable. Is there something built in for this or anyone know of a method that can do this?

var contentList = (from item in this.GetData().Cast<IContent>()
                  select new
                  {
                      Title = item.GetMetaData("Title"),
                      Street = item.GetMetaData("Street"),
                      City = item.GetMetaData("City"),
                      Country = item.GetMetaData("Country")
                  });

Answer 1

Here is one generic solution without Reflecting over the properties. Have an extension method as below

    public static DataTable ConvertToDataTable<TSource>(this IEnumerable<TSource>
                     records, params Expression<Func<TSource, object>>[] columns)
    {
        var firstRecord = records.First();
        if (firstRecord == null)
            return null;

        DataTable table = new DataTable();

        List<Func<TSource, object>> functions = new List<Func<TSource, object>>();
        foreach (var col in columns)
        {
            DataColumn column = new DataColumn();
            column.Caption = (col.Body as MemberExpression).Member.Name;
            var function = col.Compile();
            column.DataType = function(firstRecord).GetType();
            functions.Add(function);
            table.Columns.Add(column);
        }

        foreach (var record in records)
        {
            DataRow row = table.NewRow();
            int i = 0;
            foreach (var function in functions)
            {
                row[i++] = function((record));
            }
            table.Rows.Add(row);
        }
        return table;
    }

And Invoke the same using where parameters will be the column name in the order you want.

var table = records.ConvertToDataTable(
                                        item => item.Title, 
                                        item => item.Street, 
                                        item => item.City
                                      );

Answer 2

You can convert your list result to datatable by the below function

   public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(IEnumerable<T> values)
    {
        DataTable table = new DataTable();

        foreach (T value in values)
        {
            if (table.Columns.Count == 0)
            {
                foreach (var p in value.GetType().GetProperties())
                {
                    table.Columns.Add(p.Name);
                }
            }

            DataRow dr = table.NewRow();
            foreach (var p in value.GetType().GetProperties())
            {
                dr[p.Name] = p.GetValue(value, null) + "";

            }
            table.Rows.Add(dr);
        }

        return table;
    }

Answer 3

Easy and straightforward thing to do is to use reflection:

var records = (from item in this.GetData().Cast<IContent>()
                           select new
                           {
                               Title = "1",
                               Street = "2",
                               City = "3",
                               Country = "4"
                           });
var firstRecord = records.First();
if (firstRecord == null)
    return;

var infos = firstRecord.GetType().GetProperties();
DataTable table = new DataTable();
foreach (var info in infos) {
    DataColumn column = new DataColumn(info.Name, info.PropertyType);
    table.Columns.Add(column);
}

foreach (var record in records) {
    DataRow row = table.NewRow();
    for (int i = 0; i < table.Columns.Count; i++)
        row[i] = infos[i].GetValue(record);
    table.Rows.Add(row);
}

Code may not be working up front but should give you a general idea. First, you get propertyInfos from anonymous type and use this metadata to create datatable schema (fill columns). Then you use those infos to get values from every object.