Why can't I project ToString() in VB?

Question

If you try to compile the query below in Visual Basic .NET, it fails.

From x In {1, 2} Select x.ToString()

The error given by the compiler

Answer 1

While I can't offer details about the error, a simple workaround it:

From x In {1, 2, 3} Let str = x.ToString() Select str

For what it's worth, when you have the following line:

Dim b = From num In {1, 2, 3} Select num.ToString("d")

it is compiles and decompiles to (using Reflector, to C#):

public class Class1
{
    [CompilerGenerated]
    private static string _Lambda$__1(int num)
    {
        return num.ToString("d");
    }

    public void Test1()
    {
        IEnumerable b = new int[] { 1, 2, 3 }
            .Select(new Func(Class1._Lambda$__1));
    }
}

There doesn't seem to be any anonymous class along the way.