Convert C# lambda function to VB.net

Question

I have this function that maps a IDataReader to a class. It is obviously written in C#. My co-worker wants to use the same method in his code, but he is writing in VB.net. Basically I am having difficulty rewriting this due to the Lambda expressions used in C#. He is running .Net 3.5.

Can anyone help me?

private Func<IDataReader, ScanItem> resultMapper = r =>
    {
        var si = new ScanItem()
        {
            StoreGroupCode = r.ToInt32("GRP_CDE"),
            StoreCode = r.ToInt32("STOR_CDE"),
            EventNumber = r.ToInt32("EVENT_NUM"),
            AreaNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_CTL_AREA_CDE"),
            LabelNumber = r.ToInt32("LBL_NUM"),
            ScanType = r.ToString("INV_SCAN_TYP_IND"),
            SequenceNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_SCAN_SEQ_NUM"),
            UPC = r.ToLong("VEN_UPC_NUM"),
            ActualQuantity = r.ToLong("ACT_CNT_QTY")
        };

        return si;
    };

Answer 1

IIRC VB.NET in .NET 3.5 doesn't support anonymous functions with body. Your co-worker using VB.NET will have to define a function containing this code and in the lambda expression use this function. Now, this being said, it's not really necessary to use a complex function with body in this case and this code could be simplified to:

private Func<IDataReader, ScanItem> resultMapper = r => new ScanItem
{
    StoreGroupCode = r.ToInt32("GRP_CDE"),
    StoreCode = r.ToInt32("STOR_CDE"),
    EventNumber = r.ToInt32("EVENT_NUM"),
    AreaNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_CTL_AREA_CDE"),
    LabelNumber = r.ToInt32("LBL_NUM"),
    ScanType = r.ToString("INV_SCAN_TYP_IND"),
    SequenceNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_SCAN_SEQ_NUM"),
    UPC = r.ToLong("VEN_UPC_NUM"),
    ActualQuantity = r.ToLong("ACT_CNT_QTY")
};

which normally if my VB.NET isn't too rusty should look something along the lines of:

Private resultMapper As Func(Of IDataReader, ScanItem) = Function(r) New ScanItem() With { _
    .StoreGroupCode = r.ToInt32("GRP_CDE"), _
    .StoreCode = r.ToInt32("STOR_CDE"), _
    .EventNumber = r.ToInt32("EVENT_NUM"), _
    .AreaNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_CTL_AREA_CDE"), _
    .LabelNumber = r.ToInt32("LBL_NUM"), _
    .ScanType = r.ToString("INV_SCAN_TYP_IND"), _
    .SequenceNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_SCAN_SEQ_NUM"), _
    .UPC = r.ToLong("VEN_UPC_NUM"), _
    .ActualQuantity = r.ToLong("ACT_CNT_QTY") _
}

Answer 2

Easy:

Private resultMapper As Func(Of IDataReader, ScanItem) = Function (r) _
    New ScanItem() With { _
        .StoreGroupCode = r.ToInt32("GRP_CDE"), _
        .StoreCode = r.ToInt32("STOR_CDE"), _
        .EventNumber = r.ToInt32("EVENT_NUM"), _
        .AreaNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_CTL_AREA_CDE"), _
        .LabelNumber = r.ToInt32("LBL_NUM"), _
        .ScanType = r.ToString("INV_SCAN_TYP_IND"), _
        .SequenceNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_SCAN_SEQ_NUM"), _
        .UPC = r.ToLong("VEN_UPC_NUM"), _
        .ActualQuantity = r.ToLong("ACT_CNT_QTY") _
    }

In newer versions of VB you can omit the annoying explicit line continuations (_).

Answer 3

I just tried this and it had no problem converting the code:

http://www.developerfusion.com/tools/convert/csharp-to-vb/

The only thing to beware of is VB.NET 9 (VS 2008/.NET 3.5) doesn't support multi-line lambda expressions. So you can't split it into 2 lines.

So...

Private resultMapper As Func(Of IDataReader, ScanItem) = Function(r) New ScanItem() With { _
    .StoreGroupCode = r.ToInt32("GRP_CDE"), _
    .StoreCode = r.ToInt32("STOR_CDE"), _
    .EventNumber = r.ToInt32("EVENT_NUM"), _
    .AreaNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_CTL_AREA_CDE"), _
    .LabelNumber = r.ToInt32("LBL_NUM"), _
    .ScanType = r.ToString("INV_SCAN_TYP_IND"), _
    .SequenceNumber = r.ToInt32("INV_SCAN_SEQ_NUM"), _
    .UPC = r.ToLong("VEN_UPC_NUM"), _
    .ActualQuantity = r.ToLong("ACT_CNT_QTY") _
}