General Linq Data Method

Question

I would like to create general method that gets data from Linq based on given parameters such as: table , field1 and field2.

one method that will be used instead of these 2 specific ones for example:

public void DistributeCB(ComboBox cb)
    {
        BooksDBDataContext db = new BooksDBDataContext();
        Type T = db.GetType();

        //Authors table
        var data =db.Authors.Select(author => new
        {
            Id = author.AuthorId, //field 1
            Value = author.AuthorName //field 2
        });
        cb.ValueMember = "Id";
        cb.DisplayMember = "Value";
        cb.DataSource = data;
    }

    public void DistributeCB2(ComboBox cb)
    {
        BooksDBDataContext db = new BooksDBDataContext();

        //Publishers table
        var data = db.Publishers.Select(publisher => new
        {
            Id = publisher.PublishingId, //field 1
            Value = publisher.PublishingName //field 2
        });
        cb.ValueMember = "Id";
        cb.DisplayMember = "Value";
        cb.DataSource = data;
    }

Answer 1

Well if you don't mind passing the entity as a generic type instead of a string parameter you could try:

For Linq-to-Entities:

public void Distribute<TEntity>(ComboBox cb, 
                                DbContext db, 
                                string valueField, 
                                string displayField) 
                        where TEntity : class
{

    //Publishers table
    var data = db.Set<TEntity>() as IEnumerable;

    cb.ValueMember = valueField;
    cb.DisplayMember = displayField;
    cb.DataSource = data;
}

For Linq-to-SQL:

public void Distribute<TEntity>(ComboBox cb, 
                                DataContext db, 
                                string valueField, 
                                string displayField) 
                        where TEntity : class
{

    //Publishers table
    var data = db.GetTable<TEntity>() as IEnumerable;

    cb.ValueMember = valueField;
    cb.DisplayMember = displayField;
    cb.DataSource = data;
}

Answer 2

i tried few things and it works but i'm sure about it's code:

    public void Distribute<TEntity>(ComboBox cb, BooksDBDataContext db, string valueField, string displayField)
                    where TEntity : class
    {


        var data = db.GetTable<TEntity>();


        cb.ValueMember = valueField;
        cb.DisplayMember = displayField;
        cb.DataSource = data;
    }