Make Reachable Class Out Of DataTable LINQToDataTable<T>()?

Question

Within my code I get instances of needing to convert a query list into table. I use the following method to achieve this:

//Attach query results to DataTables
    public DataTable LINQToDataTable<T>(IEnumerable<T> varlist)
    {
        DataTable dtReturn = new DataTable();

        // column names 
        PropertyInfo[] oProps = null;

        if (varlist == null) return dtReturn;

        foreach (T rec in varlist)
        {
            // Use reflection to get property names, to create table, Only first time, others will follow 
            if (oProps == null)
            {
                oProps = ((Type)rec.GetType()).GetProperties();
                foreach (PropertyInfo pi in oProps)
                {
                    Type colType = pi.PropertyType;

                    if ((colType.IsGenericType) && (colType.GetGenericTypeDefinition()
                    == typeof(Nullable<>)))
                    {
                        colType = colType.GetGenericArguments()[0];
                    }

                    dtReturn.Columns.Add(new DataColumn(pi.Name, colType));
                }
            }

            DataRow dr = dtReturn.NewRow();

            foreach (PropertyInfo pi in oProps)
            {
                dr[pi.Name] = pi.GetValue(rec, null) == null ? DBNull.Value : pi.GetValue
                (rec, null);
            }

            dtReturn.Rows.Add(dr);
        }
        return dtReturn;
    }

it works perfectly, in the following example:

DataTable gridTable = LINQToDataTable(GetGrids); // Loads Query into Table

Instead of duplicating the method in various .cs files - How would it look if it was a utility class of its own that would allow me to write something like the following:

DataTable gridTable = Utility.LINQToDataTable(GetGrids); // Loads Query into Table

so as to avoid numerous duplications ??

Answer 1

move your method to Utility calls and make it as static

public class Utility
{
   public static DataTable LINQToDataTable<T>(IEnumerable<T> varlist)
   {
      // code ....
   }

}

now you can call it as :

DataTable gridTable = Utility.LINQToDataTable(GetGrids); 

Answer 2

public static class EnumerableExtensions
{
    public static DataTable ToDataTable<T>(this IEnumerable<T> varlist)
    {
        // .. existing code here ..
    }
}

Use it as follows:

GetGrids.ToDataTable();
// just like the others
GetGrids.ToList();