An expression tree lambda may not contain a null propagating operator

Question

The line price = co?.price ?? 0, in the following code gives me the above error, but if I remove ? from co.? it works fine.

I was trying to follow this MSDN example where they are using ? on line select new { person.FirstName, PetName = subpet?.Name ?? String.Empty }; So, it seems I need to understand when to use ? with ?? and when not to.

Error:

an expression tree lambda may not contain a null propagating operator

public class CustomerOrdersModelView
{
    public string CustomerID { get; set; }
    public int FY { get; set; }
    public float? price { get; set; }
    ....
    ....
}
public async Task<IActionResult> ProductAnnualReport(string rpt)
{
    var qry = from c in _context.Customers
              join ord in _context.Orders
                on c.CustomerID equals ord.CustomerID into co
              from m in co.DefaultIfEmpty()
              select new CustomerOrdersModelView
              {
                  CustomerID = c.CustomerID,
                  FY = c.FY,
                  price = co?.price ?? 0,
                  ....
                  ....
              };
    ....
    ....
 }

Answer 1

The example you were quoting from uses LINQ to Objects, where the implicit lambda expressions in the query are converted into delegates... whereas you're using EF or similar, with IQueryable<T> queryies, where the lambda expressions are converted into expression trees. Expression trees don't support the null conditional operator (or tuples).

Just do it the old way:

price = co == null ? 0 : (co.price ?? 0)

(I believe the null-coalescing operator is fine in an expression tree.)