How to use LINQ join on two DataTables to fill empty fields with 0 or null when one DataTable has no matching records

Question

I have a problem joining two DataTables using LINQ.

Tables have columns like this:

table1        table2
ID, name       ID, stock
1, item1       1, 100
2, item2       3, 50
3, item3

I used LINQ to join like this:

DataTable dtResult = new DataTable();
dtResult.Columns.Add("ID", typeof(string));
dtResult.Columns.Add("name", typeof(string));
dtResult.Columns.Add("stock", typeof(int));

var result = from dataRows1 in table1.AsEnumerable()
             join dataRows2 in table2.AsEnumerable()
             on dataRows1.Field<string>("ID") equals dataRows2.Field<string>("ID")

             select dtResult.LoadDataRow(new object[]
             {
                dataRows1.Field<string>("ID"),
                dataRows1.Field<string>("name"),
                dataRows2.Field<int>("stock"),
              }, false);
result.CopyToDataTable();

The problem is that the result only shows IDs which are in the table2:

dtResult
ID, name, stock
1, item1, 100
3, item3, 50

I need to show the missing items, too. This is the desired result:

dtResult
ID, name, stock
1, item1, 100
2, item2, 0  //Prefer if it is "0", otherwise can be left "null"
3, item3, 50

I believe I should do left outer join, but I do not have enough knowledge about LINQ.

Answer 1

This will let you default to 0 if the row doesn't exist in table2:

var result = from dataRows1 in table1.AsEnumerable()
             join dataRows2 in table2.AsEnumerable()
             on dataRows1.Field<string>("ID") equals dataRows2.Field<string>("ID") into lj
             from r in lj.DefaultIfEmpty()
             select dtResult.LoadDataRow(new object[]
             {
                dataRows1.Field<string>("ID"),
                dataRows1.Field<string>("name"),
                r == null ? 0 : r.Field<int>("stock")
              }, false);

MSDN source