Creating a data table from IEnumerable of T and defining column order explicitly in C#

This article shows code how you can create a DataTable from a collection of T (IEnumerable<T>) and defining explicitly the column order. An extension method for this looks like the following:

public static class DataTableExtensions
{


	public static DataTable CreateOrderedDataTable<T>(this IEnumerable<T> data)
	{
		var dataTable = new DataTable();
		var orderedProps = typeof(T).GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public)
		 .OrderBy(prop => GetColumnOrder(prop)).ToList();
		
		foreach (var prop in orderedProps){
			dataTable.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);
		}
		
		if (data != null)
		{
			dataTable.BeginLoadData();
			var enumerator = data.GetEnumerator();
			while (enumerator.MoveNext()){
			   var item = enumerator.Current;
			   var rowValues = new List<object>();
			   foreach (var prop in orderedProps){
			    rowValues.Add(prop.GetValue(item, null));		   	
			   }
			   dataTable.Rows.Add(rowValues.ToArray());			 			
			}
			dataTable.AcceptChanges();
		}
		return dataTable;
	}

	static int GetColumnOrder(PropertyInfo prop)
	{
		var displayAttribute = prop.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false).FirstOrDefault() as DisplayAttribute;
		int orderKey = displayAttribute?.Order ?? prop.MetadataToken;		
		return orderKey;
	}
	
}

We order first by DisplayAttribute and the Order value, and fallback to property's MetadataToken. This is an integer value that also returns the order the property was declared, in case you want to order just by the way properties are defined. We get the enumerator here and fetch the row one by one. We could use a simple foreach loop here too. Note the use of BeginLoadData and AcceptChanges. Consider the two classes next. One class does not set any explicit order, the other class uses the Display attribute's Order value to define a custom order of columns for the DataTable.

public class Car
{

	public int Id { get; set; }

	public string Make { get; set; }

	public string Model { get; set; }

	public string Color { get; set; }
}


public class CarV2
{
	[Display(Order = 4)]
	public int Id { get; set; }
	
	[Display(Order = 3)]
	public string Make { get; set; }
	
	[Display(Order = 2)]
	public string Model { get; set; }

	[Display(Order = 14)]
	public bool IsElectric { get; set; }

	[Display(Order = -188865)]
	public string Color { get; set; }
	
}

Next, the following little program in Linqpad tests this extension method and displays the datatables resulting with column ordering set.

void Main()
{
	var cars = new List<Car>{
		new Car { Id = 1, Make = "Audi", Model = "A5", Color = "Blue" },
		new Car { Id = 2, Make = "Volvo", Model = "XC60", Color = "Silver" },
		new Car { Id = 3, Make = "Golf", Model = "GTI", Color = "White" },
		new Car { Id = 4, Make = "Audi", Model = "A5", Color = "Blue" },
	};
	var dataTable = cars.CreateOrderedDataTable();
	dataTable.Dump("Cars datatable, data type is: Car");
	
	var carV2s = new List<CarV2>{
		new CarV2 { Id = 1, Make = "Audi", Model = "A5", Color = "Blue" },
		new CarV2 { Id = 2, Make = "Volvo", Model = "XC60", Color = "Silver" },
		new CarV2 { Id = 3, Make = "Golf", Model = "GTI", Color = "White" },
		new CarV2 { Id = 4, Make = "Audi", Model = "A5", Color = "Blue" },
	};	
	var dataTableV2 = carV2s.CreateOrderedDataTable();
	dataTableV2.Dump("Carsv2 datatable, datatype is CarV2");

}

Aggregate in Typescript

I have implemented Aggregate method in my Linq library written for Typescript.

if (!Array.prototype.Aggregate) {
  Array.prototype.Aggregate = function <T>(accumulator: any, currentValue: any, reducerFunc: (accumulator: any, currentValue: any) => any): any {
    //debugger
    if (reducerFunc === undefined || reducerFunc === null) {
      reducerFunc = (accumulator, currentValue) => accumulator + currentValue;
    }
    let result = this.reduce(reducerFunc);
    return result;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.AggregateSelect) {
  Array.prototype.AggregateSelect = function <T>(property: (keyof T), accumulator: any, currentValue: any, reducerFunc: (accumulator: any, currentValue: any) => any): any {
    //debugger
    if (reducerFunc === undefined || reducerFunc === null) {
      reducerFunc = (accumulator, currentValue) => accumulator + currentValue;
    }
    //debugger
    let result = this.Select(property).map(n => n[property]).reduce(reducerFunc);
    return result;
  }
}

Here are some Jasmine tests for these two methods - note that I also support setting the initial value.

  it('can aggregate items to expected result using Aggregate on array of items of numbers', () => {
    let someNums = [1, 2, 3, 4];
    let result = someNums.Aggregate(0, 0, null);
    expect(result).toBe(10);
  });

  it('can aggregate items and project to expected result using AggregateSelect on array of items of objects', () => {
    let someArray: any[] = [];
    someArray.push(<SomeClass>{ Name: "Foo", Num: 1 });
    someArray.push(<SomeClass>{ Name: "FooBaz", Num: 4 });
    someArray.push(<SomeClass>{ Name: "AllyoBaze", Num: 7 });
    let result = someArray.AggregateSelect<SomeClass>("Num", 0, 0, null);
    expect(result).toBe(12);
  });

  it('can aggregate once more items and project to expected result using AggregateSelect on array of items of objects with accumulator value set initially', () => {
    let someArray: Student[] = [];
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 1, StudentName: "John", Age: 13 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 2, StudentName: "Moin", Age: 21 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 3, StudentName: "Bill", Age: 18 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 4, StudentName: "Ram", Age: 20 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 5, StudentName: "Ron", Age: 15 });
    let result = someArray.AggregateSelect<Student>("StudentName", "Student Names: ", 0, (a, b) => a + "," + b);
    expect(result).toBe("John,Moin,Bill,Ram,Ron");
  });

My interface definition is growing everytime for my Linq Library! Here is how it looks now:

export { } //creating a module of below code
declare global {
  type predicate<T> = (arg: T) => boolean;
  type sortingValue<T> = (arg: T) => any;
  interface Array<T> {
    FirstOrDefault<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T;
    LastOrDefault<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T;
    Where<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[];
    Count<T>(): number;
    CountBy<T>(condition: predicate<T>): number;
    Select<T>(...properties: (keyof T)[]): any[];
    GroupBy<T>(groupFunc: (arg: T) => string): any[];
    EnumerableRange(start: number, count: number): number[];
    Any<T>(condition: predicate<T>): boolean;
    All<T>(condition: predicate<T>): boolean;
    MaxSelect<T>(property: (keyof T)): any;
    MinSelect<T>(property: (keyof T)): any;
    Average<T>(): number;
    AverageSelect<T>(property: (keyof T)): number;
    Max(): any;
    Min(): any;
    Sum(): any;
    Distinct<T>(): T[];
    DistinctBy<T>(property: (keyof T)): any;
    SumSelect<T>(property: (keyof T)): any;
    Intersect<T>(otherArray: T[]): T[];
    IntersectSelect<T>(property: (keyof T), otherArray: T[]): T[];
    MinSelect<T>(property: (keyof T)): any;
    OrderBy<T>(sortMember: sortingValue<T>): T[];
    OrderByDescending<T>(sortMember: sortingValue<T>): T[];
    ThenBy<T>(sortMember: sortingValue<T>): T[];
    OfType<T>(compareObject: T): T[];
    SequenceEqual<T>(compareArray: T): boolean;
    Take<T>(count: number): T[];
    TakeWhile<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[];
    SkipWhile<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[];
    Skip<T>(count: number): T[];
    defaultComparerSort<T>(x: T, y: T);
    ElementAt<T>(index: number);
    ElementAtOrDefault<T>(index: number);
    Aggregate<T>(accumulator: any, currentValue: any, reducerFunc: (accumulator: any, currentValue: any) => any): any;
    AggregateSelect<T>(property: (keyof T), accumulator: any, currentValue: any, reducerFunc: (accumulator: any, currentValue: any) => any): any;
  }
}

DistinctBy operator written in Typescript

I am extended my Linq library for Typescript with many more methods! Here is my implementation of DistinctBy.

if (!Array.prototype.DistinctBy) {
  Array.prototype.DistinctBy = function <T>(property: (keyof T)): T[] {
    if (this === null || this === undefined) {
      return [];
    }
    let filteringArray = this.Select(property).map(n => n[property]);

    let distinctRunOnArray = this.filter((value, index, array) => {
      let valueProperty = value[property];
      return filteringArray.indexOf(valueProperty) === index;
    });
    return distinctRunOnArray;
  }
}

This Jasmine test can test this operator out.

describe('TSLinq Jasmine tests', () => {

  it('can filter out duplicates using DistinctBy on array of items of objects', () => {
    let someArray: Student[] = [];
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 1, StudentName: "John", Age: 13 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 2, StudentName: "Moin", Age: 21 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 2, StudentName: "Moin", Age: 21 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 4, StudentName: "Ram", Age: 20 });
    someArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 5, StudentName: "Ron", Age: 15 });
    let expectedArray: Student[] = [];
    expectedArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 1, StudentName: "John", Age: 13 });
    expectedArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 2, StudentName: "Moin", Age: 21 });
    expectedArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 4, StudentName: "Ram", Age: 20 });
    expectedArray.push(<Student>{ StudentID: 5, StudentName: "Ron", Age: 15 });
    let result = someArray.DistinctBy<Student>("StudentID");
    expect(result).toEqual(expectedArray);
  });


});

The Student class is simple:

class Student {
  StudentID: number;
  StudentName: string;
  Age: number;
}

Implementing OfType in Typescript

I am working on my Linq library for Typescript and wanted to implement OfType. Turns out, this is hard because the generic type arguments in Typescript usually requires a value, i.e. an object instance of type T to get any shape information at run-time. So I ended up passing in a vanilla object setting default property values instead. Here is how my implementation ended up:

function isOfSimilarShape<T>(input: any, compareObject: T): boolean {
  if (input === undefined || input === null || compareObject === undefined || compareObject === null)
    return false;

  let propsOfInput = Object.keys(input);
  let propsOfCompareObject = Object.keys(compareObject);
  //debugger
  let sameShapeOfInputAndCompareObject = propsOfInput.EqualTo(propsOfCompareObject);
  return sameShapeOfInputAndCompareObject;
}

if (!Array.prototype.OfType) {
  Array.prototype.OfType = function <T>(compareObject: T): T[] {
    let result: T[] = [];
    this.forEach(el => {
      //debugger
      let t: T = null;
      if (isOfSimilarShape(el, compareObject))
        result.push(el);
    });
    return result;
  }
}

The following Jasmine test shows its usage:

describe('Array Extensions tests', () => {

  it('can find desired items using OfType of type T', () => {
    let someMixedArray: any[] = [];
    someMixedArray.push(<SomeClass>{ Name: "Foo", Num: 1 });
    someMixedArray.push(<SomeOtherClass>{ SomeName: "BarBazBaze", SomeOtherNum: 813 });
    someMixedArray.push(<SomeClass>{ Name: "FooBaz", Num: 4 });
    someMixedArray.push(<SomeOtherClass>{ SomeName: "BarBaze", SomeOtherNum: 13 });
    someMixedArray.push(<SomeClass>{ Name: "AllyoBaze", Num: 7 });

    let compareObject = <SomeClass>{ Name: "", Num: 0 };
    let filteredArrayBySpecifiedType = someMixedArray.OfType(compareObject);
    console.log(filteredArrayBySpecifiedType);

    expect(filteredArrayBySpecifiedType.All(item => <SomeClass>item !== undefined)).toBe(true, "Expected only items of type SomeOtherClass in the filtered array after running OfType of SomeOtherClass on it.");
  });

It would be nice if we did not have to pass in a vanilla object and populate its properties, but I could not find any tips online or in the Typescript documentation for how to implement extracting type information from generic arguments of Typescript. This is very easy in C#, but while Typescript gives compilation type information, getting runtime information from generic arguments in the Javascript code that Typescript compiles into turned much harder.

More methods: Any, All, EnumerableRange, GroupBy for Linq like library written in TypeScript

I am extending my TypeScript library written to target Linq like methods, which can be used with Angular 8 and Typescript also. You can find my Github repo SimpleLinqLibraryTs here: https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/SimpleLinqLibraryTs/blob/master/src/app/array-extensions.ts

export { } //creating a module of below code
declare global {
  type predicate<T> = (arg: T) => boolean;
  interface Array<T> {
    FirstOrDefault<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T;
    LastOrDefault<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T;
    Where<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[];
    Select<T>(...properties: (keyof T)[]): any[];
    GroupBy<T>(groupFunc: (arg: T) => string): any[];
    EnumerableRange(start: number, count: number): number[];
    Any<T>(condition: predicate<T>): boolean;
    All<T>(condition: predicate<T>): boolean;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.FirstOrDefault) {
  Array.prototype.FirstOrDefault = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): T {
    let matchingItems: T[] = this.filter((item: T) => {
      if (condition(item))
        return item;
    });
    return matchingItems.length > 0 ? matchingItems[0] : null;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.Any) {
  Array.prototype.Any = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): boolean {
    if (this.length === 0)
      return false;
    let result: boolean = false;
    for (let index = 0; index < this.length; index++) {
      const element = this[index];
      if (condition(element)) {
        result = true;
        break;
      }
    }
    return result;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.All) {
  Array.prototype.All = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): boolean {
    if (this.length === 0)
      return false;
    let result: boolean = true;
    for (let index = 0; index < this.length; index++) {
      const element = this[index];
      if (!condition(element)) {
        result = false;
      }
    }
    return result;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.LastOrDefault) {
  Array.prototype.LastOrDefault = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): T {
    let matchingItems: T[] = this.filter((item: T) => {
      if (condition(item))
        return item;
    });
    return matchingItems.length > 0 ? matchingItems[matchingItems.length - 1] : null;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.Select) {
  Array.prototype.Select = function <T>(...properties: (keyof T)[]): any[] {
    let result = [];
    for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
      let item: any = {};
      for (let j = 0; j < properties.length; j++) {
        let key = properties[j];
        item[key] = this[i][properties[j]];
      }
      result.push(item);
    }
    return result;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.GroupBy) {
  Array.prototype.GroupBy = function <T>(groupFunc: (arg: T) => string): any[] {
    let groups: any = {};
    this.forEach(el => {
      let itemKeyValue: any = groupFunc(el);
      if (itemKeyValue in groups === false) {
        groups[itemKeyValue] = [];
      }
      groups[itemKeyValue].push(el);
    });
    let result = Object.keys(groups).map(key => {
      return {
        key: key,
        values: groups[key]
      }
    });
    return result;
  }
}

function* Range(start, count) {
  for (let x = start; x < start + count; x++) {
    yield x;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.EnumerableRange) {
  Array.prototype.EnumerableRange = function (start: number, count: number): number[] {
    let generatedRange = [...Range(start, count)];
    return generatedRange;
  }
}


if (!Array.prototype.Where) {
  Array.prototype.Where = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[] {

    let matchingItems: T[] = this.filter((item: T) => {

      if (condition(item)) {
        return true;
      }
    });
    return matchingItems;
  }
}

Implementing Linq methods on arrays with Typescript for Angular 8

This article will look into implementing Linq methods on array with Typescript for Angular 8. First off, I have created a repo for this article on Github. Simple Linq Library written with Typescript for Angular 8 This only implements FirstOrDefault and Where Linq operators on arrays. We first need to define our Array prototype methods. Since we use Angular, first we define an empty module using export {} and then declare global { .. } Inside our declare global we define our type predicate and our methods Where and FirstOrDefault. Then we define our two methods if they do not exist yet on Array.prototype. The special syntax above is adaptions for Typescript and Angular. I have tested this with Angular 8. Here is the Typescript code I ended up with:

export { } //creating a module of below code
declare global {
  type predicate<T> = (arg: T) => boolean;
  interface Array<T> {
    FirstOrDefault<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T;
    Where<T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[];
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.FirstOrDefault) {
  Array.prototype.FirstOrDefault = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): T {
    let matchingItems: T[] = this.filter((item: T) => {

      if (condition(item)) {
        return item;
      }
    });
    if (matchingItems.length > 0) {
      return matchingItems[0];
    }
    return null;
  }
}

if (!Array.prototype.Where) {
  Array.prototype.Where = function <T>(condition: predicate<T>): T[] {

    let matchingItems: T[] = this.filter((item: T) => {

      if (condition(item)) {
        return true;
      }
    });
    return matchingItems;
  }
}

Let us define some input data - an array to work on and pass into predicates where we can test out FirstOrDefault and Where methods !

import { Movie } from './movie';

export const StarWarsMovies : Array>Movie< =
 [{
      "title" : "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace",
      "episode_number" : "1",
      "main_characters" : ["Qui-Gon Jinn", "Obi-Wan Kenobi", "Anakin Skywalker", "Padmé Amidala", "Jar Jar Binks", "Darth Maul"],
      "description" : "The evil Trade Federation, led by Nute Gunray is planning to take over the peaceful world of Naboo. Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to confront the leaders. But not everything goes to plan. The two Jedi escape, and along with their new Gungan friend, Jar Jar Binks head to Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, but droids have already started to capture Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Eventually, they land on Tatooine, where they become friends with a young boy known as Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon is curious about the boy, and sees a bright future for him. The group must now find a way of getting to Coruscant and to finally solve this trade dispute, but there is someone else hiding in the shadows. Are the Sith really extinct? Is the Queen really who she says she is? And what's so special about this young boy?",
      "poster" : "star_wars_episode_1_poster.png",
      "hero_image" : "star_wars_episode_1_hero.jpg"
    },

    {
      "title" : "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones",
      "episode_number" : "2",
      "main_characters" : ["Obi-Wan Kenobi", "Anakin Skywalker", "Count Dooku", "Padmé Amidala", "Mace Windu", "Yoda", "Jango Fett", "Supreme Chancellor Palpatine"],
      "description" : "Ten years after the 'Phantom Menace' threatened the planet Naboo, Padmé Amidala is now a Senator representing her homeworld. A faction of political separatists, led by Count Dooku, attempts to assassinate her. There are not enough Jedi to defend the Republic against the threat, so Chancellor Palpatine enlists the aid of Jango Fett, who promises that his army of clones will handle the situation. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi continues to train the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker, who fears that the Jedi code will forbid his growing romance with Amidala.",
      "poster" : "star_wars_episode_2_poster.png",
      "hero_image" : "star_wars_episode_2_hero.jpg"
    },

    {
      "title" : "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith",
      "episode_number" : "3",
      "main_characters" : ["Obi-Wan Kenobi", "Anakin Skywalker", "Count Dooku", "Padmé Amidala", "Mace Windu", "Yoda", "C-3PO", "Supreme Chancellor Palpatine"],
      "description" : "Three years after the onset of the Clone Wars; the noble Jedi Knights are spread out across the galaxy leading a massive clone army in the war against the Separatists. After Chancellor Palpatine is kidnapped, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, are dispatched to eliminate the evil General Grievous. Meanwhile, Anakin's friendship with the Chancellor arouses suspicion in the Jedi Order, and dangerous to the Jedi Knight himself. When the sinister Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, unveils a plot to take over the galaxy, the fate of Anakin, the Jedi order, and the entire galaxy is at stake. Upon his return, Anakin Skywalker's wife Padme Amidala is pregnant, but he is having visions of her dying in childbirth. Anakin Skywalker ultimately turns his back on the Jedi, thus completing his journey to the dark side and his transformation into Darth Vader. Obi-Wan Kenobi must face his former apprentice in a ferocious lightsaber duel on the fiery world of Mustafar.",
      "poster" : "star_wars_episode_3_poster.png",
      "hero_image" : "star_wars_episode_3_hero.jpg"
    },

    {
      "title" : "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope",
      "episode_number" : "4",
      "main_characters" : ["Luke Skywalker", "Han Solo", "Princess Leia Organa", "Ben Kenobi", "Darth Vader", "C-3P0", "R2-D2", "Chewbacca"],
      "description" : "Part IV in George Lucas' epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a Rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple farm boy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly met allies (Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2) attempt to rescue a Rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the Rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empire's most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star.",
      "poster" : "star_wars_episode_4_poster.png",
      "hero_image" : "star_wars_episode_4_hero.jpg"
    },

    {
      "title" : "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back",
      "episode_number" : "5",
      "main_characters" : ["Luke Skywalker", "Han Solo", "Princess Leia Organa", "Darth Vader", "C-3P0", "R2-D2", "Chewbacca", "Lando Calrissian", "Boba Fett"],
      "description" : "Fleeing the evil Galactic Empire, the Rebels abandon their new base in an assault with the Imperial AT-AT walkers on the ice world of Hoth. Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca and the droid C-3PO escape in the Millennium Falcon, but are later captured by Darth Vader on Bespin. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and the droid R2-D2 follows Obi-Wan Kenobi's posthumous command, and receives Jedi training from Master Yoda on the swamp world of Dagobah. Will Skywalker manage to rescue his friends from the Dark Lord?",
      "poster" : "star_wars_episode_5_poster.png",
      "hero_image" : "star_wars_episode_5_hero.jpg"
    },

    {
      "title" : "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi",
      "episode_number" : "6",
      "main_characters" : ["Luke Skywalker", "Han Solo", "Princess Leia Organa", "Darth Vader", "C-3P0", "Chewbacca", "The Emperor", "Boba Fett"],
      "description" : "Darth Vader and the Empire are building a new, indestructible Death Star. Meanwhile, Han Solo has been imprisoned, and Luke Skywalker has sent R2-D2 and C-3PO to try and free him. Princess Leia - disguised as a bounty hunter - and Chewbacca go along as well. The final battle takes place on the moon of Endor, with its natural inhabitants, the Ewoks, lending a hand to the Rebels. Will Darth Vader and the Dark Side overcome the Rebels and take over the universe?",
      "poster" : "star_wars_episode_6_poster.png",
      "hero_image" : "star_wars_episode_6_hero.jpg"
    }];

The Movie class looks like this:

export class Movie {
  title: string;
  episode_number: string;
  main_characters: string[];
  description: string;
  poster: string;
  hero_image: string;
}

Now we can test out these predicate methods FirstOrDefault and Where ! Note that in case you have worked with C# and Linq before, the syntax and the Intellisense will make you feel more at home with this kind of code - not only do you have type checking, but you can also pass in strongly typed predicate methods using Typescript, Generics and the Array prototype techniques discussed here. Also note how I define a predicate type here defining an arrow function, being the predicate.

import { Component, Inject } from '@angular/core';
import { StarWarsMovies } from './starwarsmovies';
import { Movie } from './movie';
import './array-extensions';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.component.css']
})
export class AppComponent {
  title = 'Linq TsExtensions demo';

  firstMovieWithBoba: Movie;
  allMoviesWithLeia: Movie[];
  starwarsMovies: string;

  constructor() {
    this.starwarsMovies = JSON.stringify(StarWarsMovies);
    this.firstMovieWithBoba = 
StarWarsMovies.FirstOrDefault<Movie>(m => m.main_characters.indexOf('Boba Fett') > 0);
    this.allMoviesWithLeia = 
StarWarsMovies.Where<Movie>(m => m.main_characters.indexOf('Princess Leia Organa') > 0);
    console.log(this.firstMovieWithBoba);
    console.log(this.allMoviesWithLeia);
  }

}

We now can work on our strongly typed arrays and define easily our filtering predicates for Where and FirstOrDefault implementation. It should be easy to extend this into more methods, such as SingleOrDefault and Any and so on. The screen shot below shows the results after running ng serve -o:

Implementing projection in Javascript

Github page for source code in this article:
https://github.com/toreaurstadboss/JsLinqSimpleProjection
https://www.npmjs.com/package/jslinqsimpleprojection
Npm package for source code in this article: Since I started working with Linq in C#, I missed a good way of doing much of the same functionality in Javascript. Today, there are several Linq libraries for Javascript and Typescript, and libraries such as Backbone.Js or Lodash also containing a lot of helpful operators or utility methods. As an educational exercise, I was looking into a simple way of doing a projection method in pure Javascript (no es6 syntax). Here is what I made. First off, we need to be able to project an array of objects by listing up properties. In ES6 Javascript we could use arrow functions. But I wanted to support pure Javascript. So I choose to use a comma separated list of property or field values to dive into the array object, written in Json notation of course. Consider first this array as an example:

        var someCountries = [
          { country: "Norway", population: 5.2, code: "NO" },
          { country: "Finland", population: 5.5, code: "SU" },
          { country: "Iceland", population: 0.4, code: "IC" },
          { country: "Sweden", population: 10.2, code: "SW" }
        ];

We want to project this array using a new method select on the array of which we use the Array.prototype to achieve. Note that this will immediately add methods to all array objects immediately in the global scope. Now consider a projection of just the 'country' and the 'population' fields of the Json structure. Given a method call of just these two properties, we want to create a select projection method. First consider this lightweight linqmodule implementation, using an IFE (Immediately invoked function expression) and using the revealing module pattern. We expose the method dump to this module.

var linqmodule = (function() {
  projection = function(members) {
    var membersArray = members.replace(/s/g, "").split(",");
    var projectedObj = {};

    for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
      for (var j = 0; j < membersArray.length; j++) {
        var key = membersArray[j];
        if (j === 0) {
          projectedObj[i] = {};
        }
        projectedObj[i][key] = this[i][key];
      }
    }

    return projectedObj;
  };
  Array.prototype.select = projection;

  dumpmethod = function(arrayobj) {
    var result = "";
    result += "[";

    for (var i = 0; i < Object.keys(arrayobj).length; i++) {
      var membersArray = Object.keys(arrayobj[i]);
      for (var j = 0; j < membersArray.length; j++) {
        if (j === 0) {
          result += "{";
        }
        var key = membersArray[j];
        result +=
          "key: " +
          key +
          " , value: " +
          arrayobj[i][key] +
          (j < membersArray.length - 1 ? " , " : "");
        if (j === membersArray.length - 1) {
          result +=
            "}" + (i < Object.keys(arrayobj).length - 1 ? "," : "") + "\n";
        }
      }
    }
    result += "]";

    return result;
  };

  return {
    dump: dumpmethod
  };
})();

Now it is easy to dump the contents of our projected array (which is copied into a new object) using the dump method:

 result = someNums.select("country,population");
         document.getElementById("result").innerText = linqmodule.dump(result);

        console.log(result);

Note that our new object contains only the country and population fields in the Json structure, not the code. We have created a simple projection mechanism in Javascript in a self contained module!