Linq to SharePoint and localization

Question

I'm working on a project which has localized site definitions. Now for one part, I wanted to use spmetal to generate a datacontext. Works, but I noticed the generated class retrieves lists by their name. I don't really understand why Microsoft would have picked this approach, since even a normal site admin can easily change the name of a list and thereby break the Linq class (or I'm missing something)?

I'd like to get the list by url and use that to query and insert items. Is this possible or do I have to revert back to CAML?

Answer 1

Found a solution, but I'm not sure it's the best one. So if someone has anything better, please feel free.

Instead of

var test = context.ListName.Where(l => l.Title.Contains("test")).SingleOrDefault()

First get the SPList and then perform:

var test = context.GetList<Item>(list.Title)
     .Where(l => l.Title.Contains("test")).SingleOrDefault()

By using the correct (localized) title it should work.

SharePoint: SharePoint to Linq pitfall

Answer 2

I localize all my solution (so my feature receivers etc. are completely generic) and agree you should never query by some hardcode value. But why do a Contains? I use a ResourceHelper to get the list title directly from the resource files based on the used SPWeb's Locale.LCID. It's a wrapper around SPUtility.GetLocalizedString.