How to do a simple Count in Linq? - linq

Question

I wanted to do a paging style table, but NeerDinner example fetches the entire data into a PaggingList type, and I have more than 10 000 rows to be fetched, so I skipped that part.
so I come up with this query
var r = (from p in db.Prizes
join c in db.Calendars on p.calendar_id equals c.calendar_id
join ch in db.Challenges on c.calendar_id equals ch.calendar_id
join ca in db.ChallengeAnswers on ch.challenge_id equals ca.challenge_id
join cr in db.ChallengeResponses on ca.challenge_answer_id equals cr.challenge_answer_id
where
p.prize_id.Equals(prizeId)
&& ch.day >= p.from_day && ch.day <= p.to_day
&& ca.correct.Equals(true)
&& ch.day.Equals(day)
orderby cr.Subscribers.name
select new PossibleWinner()
{
Name = cr.Subscribers.name,
Email = cr.Subscribers.email,
SubscriberId = cr.subscriber_id,
ChallengeDay = ch.day,
Question = ch.question,
Answer = ca.answer
})
.Skip(size * page)
.Take(size);
Problem is, how can I get the total number of results before the Take part?
I was thinking of:
var t = (from p in db.JK_Prizes
join c in db.JK_Calendars on p.calendar_id equals c.calendar_id
join ch in db.JK_Challenges on c.calendar_id equals ch.calendar_id
join ca in db.JK_ChallengeAnswers on ch.challenge_id equals ca.challenge_id
join cr in db.JK_ChallengeResponses on ca.challenge_answer_id equals cr.challenge_answer_id
where
p.prize_id.Equals(prizeId)
&& ch.day >= p.from_day && ch.day <= p.to_day
&& ca.correct.Equals(true)
&& ch.day.Equals(day)
select cr.subscriber_id)
.Count();
but that will do the query all over again...
anyone has suggestions on how can I do this effectively ?

Answer 1

If you take a query as such:
var qry = (from x in y
select x).Count();
...LINQ to SQL will be clever enough to make this a SELECT COUNT query, which is potentially rather efficient (efficiency will depend more on the conditions in the query). Bottom line is that the count operation happens in the database, not in LINQ code.

Answer 2

Writing my old comments :Well i was facing the same issue some time back and then i came up with LINQ to SP =). Make an SP and drop that into your entities and use it.you can get write Sp according to your need like pulling total record column too. It is more easy and fast as compare to that whet you are using wright now.

Answer 3

You can put count for query logic as well as, see the sample as below:
public int GetTotalCountForAllEmployeesByReportsTo(int? reportsTo, string orderBy = default(string), int startRowIndex = default(int), int maximumRows = default(int))
{
//Validate Input
if (reportsTo.IsEmpty())
return GetTotalCountForAllEmployees(orderBy, startRowIndex, maximumRows);
return _DatabaseContext.Employees.Count(employee => reportsTo == null ? employee.ReportsTo == null : employee.ReportsTo == reportsTo);
}