Merge contents of multiple lists of custom objects - C#

Using a Lookup you can do it like this:

        List<Project> lst = lst1.Union(lst2).Union(lst3).ToLookup(x => x.ProjectId).Select(x => new Project()
        {
            ProjectId = x.Key,
            ProjectName = x.Select(y => y.ProjectName).Aggregate((z1,z2) => z1 ?? z2),
            Customer = x.Select(y => y.Customer).Aggregate((z1, z2) => z1 ?? z2),
            Address = x.Select(y => y.Address).Aggregate((z1, z2) => z1 ?? z2)
        }).ToList();

I belive the folloing is how LINQ Join works:

var mergedProjects =
    lst1
        .Join(lst2,
            proj1 => proj1.ProjectID,
            proj2 => proj2.ProjectID,
            (proj1, proj2) => new { Proj1 = proj1, Proj2 = proj2 })
        .Join(lst3,
            pair => pair.Proj1.ProjectID,
            proj3 => proj3.ProjectID,
            (pair, proj3) => new Project
            {
                ProjectID = proj3.ProjectID,
                ProjectName = pair.Proj1.ProjectName,
                Customer = pair.Proj2.Customer,
                Address = proj3.Address
            });

This will not return any results where the ProjectID is not found in all three lists.

If this is a problem, I think you'd be better off doing this manually rather than using LINQ.

I assume that list contains same number of items and are sorted by ProjectId.

List<Project> lst1; List<Project> lst2; List<Project> lst3

If list are not sorted you can sort it first.

list1.Sort(p => p.ProjectId);
list2.Sort(p => p.ProjectId);
list3.Sort(p => p.ProjectId);

For merging the object

List<Project> list4 = new List<Project>();
for(int i=1; i<list.Count; i++)
{ 
    list4.Add(new Project
    {
       ProjectId = list1[i].ProjectId;
       ProjectName = list1[i].ProjectName;
       Customer = list2[i].Customer;
       Address = list3[i].Address;
    });

}

Although overkill, I was tempted to make this an extension method:

public static List<T> MergeWith<T,TKey>(this List<T> list, List<T> other, Func<T,TKey> keySelector, Func<T,T,T> merge)
{
    var newList = new List<T>();
    foreach(var item in list)
    {
        var otherItem = other.SingleOrDefault((i) => keySelector(i).Equals(keySelector(item)));
        if(otherItem != null)
        {
            newList.Add(merge(item,otherItem));
        }
    }
    return newList;
}

Usage would then be:

var merged = list1
     .MergeWith(list2, i => i.ProjectId,
       (lhs,rhs) => new Project{ProjectId=lhs.ProjectId,ProjectName=lhs.ProjectName, Customer=rhs.Customer})
    .MergeWith(list3,i => i.ProjectId,
       (lhs,rhs) => new Project{ProjectId=lhs.ProjectId,ProjectName=lhs.ProjectName, Customer=lhs.Customer,Address=rhs.Address});

Live example: http://rextester.com/ETIVB14254

This is assuming that you want to take the first non-null value, or revert to the default value - in this case null for a string.

private static IEnumerable<Project> GetMergedProjects(IEnumerable<List<Project>> projects)
{
    var projectGrouping = projects.SelectMany(p => p).GroupBy(p => p.ProjectId);
    foreach (var projectGroup in projectGrouping)
    {
        yield return new Project
                            {
                                ProjectId = projectGroup.Key,
                                ProjectName =
                                    projectGroup.Select(p => p.ProjectName).FirstOrDefault(
                                        p => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(p)),
                                Customer =
                                    projectGroup.Select(c => c.Customer).FirstOrDefault(
                                        c => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(c)),
                                Address =
                                    projectGroup.Select(a => a.Address).FirstOrDefault(
                                        a => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(a)),
                            };
    }
}

You could also make this an extension method if needed.