Returning distinct data for a dropdownlist box with selectlistItem - asp.net-mvc-4

Question

I have a field in my database with duplicates. I want to use it in a dropdown list, which has to return distinct data.
Here is the method that I created to do this:
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GetBranches(string username)
{
using (var objData = new BranchEntities())
{
IEnumerable<SelectListItem> objdataresult = objData.ABC_USER.Select(c => new SelectListItem
{
Value = c.BRANCH_CODE.ToString(),
Text = c.BRANCH_CODE
}).Distinct(new Reuseablecomp.SelectListItemComparer());
return objdataresult;
}
}
Here is the class I am using:
public static class Reuseablecomp
{
public class SelectListItemComparer : IEqualityComparer<SelectListItem>
{
public bool Equals(SelectListItem x, SelectListItem y)
{
return x.Text == y.Text && x.Value == y.Value;
}
public int GetHashCode(SelectListItem item)
{
int hashText = item.Text == null ? 0 : item.Text.GetHashCode();
int hashValue = item.Value == null ? 0 : item.Value.GetHashCode();
return hashText ^ hashValue;
}
}
}
Nothing is returned and I get the error below. When I try a basic query without Distinct, everything works fine.
{"The operation cannot be completed because the DbContext has been disposed."}
System.Exception {System.InvalidOperationException}
Inner exception = null
How can I return distinct data for my dropdown?

Answer 1

Technically, your problem can be solved simply by appending .ToList() after your Distinct(...) call. The problem is that queries are evaluated JIT (just in time). In other words, until the actual data the query represents is needed, the query is not actually sent to the database. Calling ToList is one such thing that requires the actual data, and therefore will cause the query to be evaluated immediately.
However, the root cause of your problem is that you are doing this within a using statement. When the method exits, the query has not yet been evaluated, but you have now disposed of your context. Therefore, when it comes time to actually evaluate that query, there's no context to do it with and you get that exception. You should really never use a database context in conjuction with using. It's just a recipe for disaster. Your context should ideally be request-scoped and you should use dependency injection to feed it to whatever objects or methods need it.
Also, for what it's worth, you can simply move your Distinct call to before your Select and you won't need a custom IEqualityComparer any more. For example:
var objdataresult = objData.ABC_USER.Distinct().Select(c => new SelectListItem
{
Value = c.BRANCH_CODE.ToString(),
Text = c.BRANCH_CODE
});
Order of ops does matter here. Calling Distinct first includes it as part of the query to the database, but calling it after, as you're doing, runs it on the in-memory collection, once evaluated. The latter requires, then, custom logic to determine what constitutes distinct items in an IEnumerable<SelectListItem>, which is obviously not necessary for the database query version.