How Can I Return Anonymous Types from a C# Method?

Returning Anonymous Types in C#

In C#, anonymous types are a convenient way to create temporary objects with custom properties. However, when it comes to returning anonymous types from a method, there's a limitation.

Problem:

How do you return an anonymous type from a method, considering the following code:

public "TheAnonymousType" TheMethod(SomeParameter)
{
  using (MyDC TheDC = new MyDC())
  {
     var TheQueryFromDB = (....
                           select new { SomeVariable = ....,
                                        AnotherVariable = ....}
                           ).ToList();

      return "TheAnonymousType";
    }
}

Answer:

Unfortunately, it's not possible to return an anonymous type directly from a method in C#.

The reason lies in the fact that anonymous types are compiled at runtime and do not have a known type at the time of compilation. Therefore, they cannot be returned as a specific named type, such as "TheAnonymousType" in your example.

Solution:

To workaround this limitation, you have two options:

1. Use a strongly-typed anonymous type:
   Create a strongly-typed anonymous type using var anonymousObject = new { ... }. This will create a named type with the specified properties, which can be returned from the method.
2. Use a container object:
   Return the anonymous type as part of a container object, such as a List