How to dynamically choose two fields from a Linq query as a result - linq

Question

If you have a simple Linq query like:
var result = from record in db.Customer
select new { Text = record.Name,
Value = record.ID.ToString() };
which is returning an object that can be mapped to a Drop Down List, is it possible to dynamically specify which fields map to Text and Value?
Of course, you could do a big case (switch) statement, then code each Linq query separately but this isn't very elegant. What would be nice would be something like:
(pseudo code)
var myTextField = db.Customer["Name"]; // Could be an enumeration??
var myValueField = db.Customer["ID"]; // Idea: choose the field outside the query
var result = from record in db.Customer
select new { Text = myTextField,
Value = myValueField };

Answer 1

Right way to do this is with closures.
Func<Customer, string> myTextField = (Customer c) => c["Name"];
Func<Customer, int> myValueField = (Customer c) => c["ID"];
var result = from record in db.Customer
select new { Text = myTextField(record),
Value = myValueField(record) };
The one limitation is that your definition of myTextField always needs to return a string.

Answer 2

You could try something like
class Customer
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Surname { get; set; }
}
var dict = new Dictionary<string, Func<Customer, string>>
{ { "ID", (Customer c) => c.ID.ToString() },
{ "Name", (Customer c) => c.Name},
{ "Surname", (Customer c) => c.Surname } };
List<Customer> rows = new List<Customer>();
rows.Add(new Customer { ID = 1, Name = "Foo", Surname = "Bar"});
var list = from r in rows
select new { Text = dict["ID"](r), Value = dict["Name"](r) };
To try to access the properties dynamically, you could try something like
var dict = new Dictionary<string, Func<Customer, string>>
{ { "ID", (Customer c) => c.GetType().GetProperty("ID").GetValue(c,null).ToString() },
{ "Name", (Customer c) => c.GetType().GetProperty("Name").GetValue(c,null).ToString()},
{ "Surname", (Customer c) => c.GetType().GetProperty("Surname").GetValue(c,null).ToString() } };