LINQ Count problems while trying to access to subList from a List of Objects (VB.NET) - vb.net

Question

I'm having a pretty tough time figuring it out why it doesn't work properly but I'm asking for it.
Dim goodCount As Integer = (From item In equipmentTagList
Where item.Importance = "Critique"
Where item.Status <> TargetRange.OutOfRange
Select item).Count()
Dim badCount As Integer = (From item In equipmentTagList
Where item.Importance = "Critique"
Where item.Status.Contains(TargetRange.OutOfRange)
Select item).Count()
EquipmentTagList is a List(Of MachineTag) (custom object) so I want to get how many MachineTag from the EquipmentTagList matches the criteria. I'm still confused about why the first one works but not the other one. I know by debugging that the first one returns at least one result while the other returns nothing... I've searched a lot to get help for this error but unfortunately found nothing...
Thanks for helping me out.
EDIT:
The error I get is :
System.InvalidOperationException with Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Answer 1

Assuming for the moment that item.Status is an Integer data type (inferred from your use of TargetRange.OutOfRange as though it's an Enum), the syntax in your second snippet would be expected to fault.
The .Contains() method is reserved for use with IEnumerable objects, not Integer values.
If you modify your code slightly, to this:
Dim badCount = (From item In equipmentTagList
Where item.Importance = "Critique"
Where item.Status.Contains(TargetRange.OutOfRange)
Select item)
...and then set a breakpoint at some point after this call, you'll note that badCount is Nothing. Since Nothing can't have a .Count, the call fails.
Your first snippet is correct—as you've already pointed out.
EDIT
Something's not right here. Your code shouldn't even compile.
Here's what I'm getting:
So item.Status certainly can't be an Integer.

Answer 2

Maybe this will make it a bit easier. You can group by Status after filtering by Importance:
Dim items = From i In equipmentTagList Where i.Importance = "Critique"
Dim counts = items.ToLookup(Function(i) i.Status <> TargetRange.OutOfRange)
Dim goodCount = counts(True).Count()
Dim badCount = counts(False).Count()