Return empty string using Linq to SQL - Related table with no rows - ASP.Net MVC

I have 1 to many relationship with the following tables - Person and Email. When using linq to sql and ASP.Net MVC, I'd like to show the first email or an empty string in my Person view using code 开发者_JS百科like this:

<%= Html.Encode(Model.Emails.FirstOrDefault().EmailAddress) %>

In cases where there are no email rows, I receive a NullReferenceException. I can return null safe values from SQL by using a view or sproc, but I'd like to just stick with generic linq to sql objects bound to tables.

---

Model.Emails.Select(x => x.EmailAddress).FirstOrDefault() ?? string.Empty

---

<%= Html.Encode((Model.Emails.FirstOrDefault() ?? new Email { EmailAddress = string.Empty }).EmailAddress) %>  

Would work, not super clean to read though.

---

My vote for:

Model.Emails.Select(z => z.EmailAddress).DefaultIfEmpty("zzz").FirstOrDefault();

I thought that you could do it all inside the FirstOrDefault, but I was wrong-o! However, I also forgot that when you use DefaultIfEmpty you can just call First().

Model.Emails.Select(z => z.EmailAddress).DefaultIfEmpty("zzz").First();

Of course, replace ZZZ with just "" (not string.empty, that is unnecessary), but it is nice to see those records where the default is being chosen explicity when you are first writing it.