title: EF1 SelectMany() left join
body: <p>Is it possible to use SelectMany() and have it behave like a left join? </p>
  
  <p>I am trying to flatten an Entity Object into a tabular format so I can use it as a data source for an .rdlc report. The SelectMany() works like a charm so long as there is a child object, but I want to see all of the parent objects regardless of whether it has children or not.</p>
  
  <pre><code>public class Owner
  {
      public int ownerID { get; set; }
      public string ownerName { get; set; }
      public List&lt;Pet&gt; pets { get; set; }
  }
  
  public class Pet
  {
      public int petID { get; set; }
      public string petName { get; set; }
      public string petType { get; set; }
  }
  
      public void GetOwners()
      {
          List&lt;Owner&gt; owners = new List&lt;Owner&gt;();
          owners.Add(new Owner{ownerID=1, ownerName="Bobby", pets = null});
          owners.Add(new Owner
          {
              ownerID = 2,
              ownerName = "Ricky",
              pets = new List&lt;Pet&gt;(){
                  new Pet{petID=1, petName="Smudge", petType="Cat"},
                  new Pet{petID=2, petName="Spot", petType="Dog"}}
          });
  
          var ownersAndPets = owners.SelectMany(o =&gt; o.pets
              .Select(p =&gt; new { o.ownerName, p.petName }));
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This will make ownersAndPets look like:<br/>
  ownerName = "Ricky", petName = "Smudge"<br/>
  ownerName = "Ricky", petName = "Spot"</p>
  
  <p>What I need is:<br/>
  <b>ownerName = "Bobby", petName = null</b><br/>
  ownerName = "Ricky", petName = "Smudge"<br/>
  ownerName = "Ricky", petName = "Spot"</p>