linq - Convert DataTable to Generic List in C#

Question

Disclaimer: I know its asked at so many places at SO.
My query is a little different.

Coding Language: C# 3.5

I have a DataTable named cardsTable that pull data from DB and I have a class Cards which have only some properties(no constructor)

public class Cards
{
    public Int64 CardID { get; set; }
    public string CardName { get; set; }
    public Int64 ProjectID { get; set; }
    public Double CardWidth { get; set; }
    public Double CardHeight { get; set; }
    public string Orientation { get; set; }
    public string BackgroundImage { get; set; }
    public string Background { get; set; }
}

I want to insert the cardsTable data to an object of type List.
My data will be having null fields in it and so the method should not error when i convert the data. Is the below method the best way?

DataTable dt = GetDataFromDB();
List<Cards> target = dt.AsEnumerable().ToList().ConvertAll(x => new Cards { CardID = (Int64)x.ItemArray[0] });

Answer 1

You could actually shorten it down considerably. You can think of the Select() extension method as a type converter. The conversion could then be written as this:

List<Cards> target = dt.AsEnumerable()
    .Select(row => new Cards
    {
        // assuming column 0's type is Nullable<long>
        CardID = row.Field<long?>(0).GetValueOrDefault(),
        CardName = String.IsNullOrEmpty(row.Field<string>(1))
            ? "not found"
            : row.Field<string>(1),
    }).ToList();