LINQ Join the Top 1

Question

I have three objects (splistitemcollection) that are combined together, but the problem is that there is a one-to-many relationship between the contract object and the client object. I need to capture only the first client object for each contract object during the connection.

This is what i get

(Contract) (Customer)
12345 John Smith
12345 Jane Smith
67890 howard jones
67890 Mary Jones

That's what I want 12345 (only one of the clients, Jane or John)

Here is the code that is currently in use.

  var joinedResults = from SPListItem contracts in _contractList
                      join SPListItem customers in _customerList
                      on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals customers["ContractNumber"]  
                      join SPListItem loans in _loanList
                      on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals loans["Contract_x0020_Number"] 
                      into l from loans in l.DefaultIfEmpty()
                      select new MergedData(contracts, customers, loans);

In SQL, I would define the select top clause in the subquery defined in my connection, I just can't wrap my head around the syntax for my new linq.

Final result

  var joinedResults = from SPListItem contracts in _contractList
      join SPListItem customers in 
      // Derived subset
        (from SPListItem customers in _customerList
        group customers by customers["ContractNumber"] into groupedCustomers 
        select groupedCustomers.FirstOrDefault()
      )  on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals customers["ContractNumber"]  
      join SPListItem loans in _loanList
      on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals loans["Contract_x0020_Number"] into l
      from loans in l.DefaultIfEmpty()
      select new MergedData(contracts, customers, loans);

Answer 1

, LINQ . , ContractNumber, . , - , ( ..), tempQuery, (ContractNumber) ,

var tempQuery =  from SPListItem customers in _customerList
    group customers by customers["ContractNumber"] into gby 
    select gby.First();


var joinedResults =

    from SPListItem contracts in _contractList
    join SPListItem customer in tempQuery
on contract["ContractNumber"] equals customer["ContractNumber"]
    join SPListItem loans in _loanList
on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals loans["Contract_x0020_Number"] 
into l from loans in l.DefaultIfEmpty()
select new MergedData(
     contracts, 
     customer, 
     loans
   );

}

Answer 2

var joinedResults =   (from SPListItem contracts in _contractList
                      join SPListItem customers in _customerList
                      on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals customers["ContractNumber"]  
                      join SPListItem loans in _loanList
                      on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals loans["Contract_x0020_Number"] 
                      into l from loans in l.DefaultIfEmpty()
                      select new MergedData(contracts, customers, loans)).FirstOrDefault();

FirstOrDefault, .

Answer 3

This is similar to the Top (1) point request for each contract returned:

var joinedResults = from SPListItem contracts in _contractList
                      join SPListItem loans in _loanList
                      on contracts["ContractNumber"] equals loans["Contract_x0020_Number"] 
                      into l from loans in l.DefaultIfEmpty()
                      select new MergedData(contracts, 
                      customer = _customerList.Where( c => c["ContractNumber"] == contracts["ContractNumber"].FirstOrDefault()
                      , loans);