Exception while trying to reference LINQ namespace

Question

While trying to use LINQ in a .NET 2.0 Windows Forms project I got:

Namespace or type specified in the Imports 'System.Linq' doesn't contain any public member or cannot be found. Make sure the namespace or the type is defined and contains at least one public member. Make sure the imported element name doesn't use any aliases

In both the lines that reference the following namespaces:

System.Linq;
System.Xml.Linq;

How could I get these namespaces to work on .NET 2.0 without referencing an external DLL or anything?

Jon Skeet · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-29 12:02:14Z

8

You can't. They were introduced in .NET 3.5.

I don't know of any implementations of LINQ to XML for .NET 2.0 (unless you use a Mono assembly - I assume Mono supports it). There's LINQBridge if you want LINQ to Objects in .NET 2.0, although of course that goes against your "no external libraries" requirement.

answered Mar 29, 2010 at 12:02

Jon Skeet

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Comments

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-22 19:13:16Z

1

Supposably you can use LINQ in a .NET 2.0 application if you use the 3.0 compiler and include the Mono LINQ implementation. I have no idea how to do this, myself, and I'm pretty sure it means referencing an external DLL. However, .NET applications reference external DLLs all the time, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Update: There's something called LINQBridge which may provide what you need.

edited Nov 22, 2010 at 19:13

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 29, 2010 at 12:07

MusiGenesis

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-22 19:14:26Z

1

LINQ is not avaliable in .NET Framework 2.0. It was introduced in 3.5.

edited Nov 22, 2010 at 19:14

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 29, 2010 at 12:02

Giorgi

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-22 19:12:34Z

0

Reference System.Core (I suggest you find it in a .NET 3.5 install).

edited Nov 22, 2010 at 19:12

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 11, 2010 at 4:51

Ric Tokyo

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