select specific columns when using include statement with entity framework

Check this link for more details. In short, the trick is to use .Select() and anonymous type to restrict the columns you want. In the example below first Select() is actually doing this:

var results = context.Products
        .Include("ProductSubcategory")
        .Where(p => p.Name.Contains(searchTerm)
                    && p.DiscontinuedDate == null)
        .Select(p => new
                        {
                            p.ProductID,
                            ProductSubcategoryName = p.ProductSubcategory.Name,
                            p.Name,
                            p.StandardCost
                        })
        .AsEnumerable()
        .Select(p => new AutoCompleteData
                            {
                                Id = p.ProductID,
                                Text = BuildAutoCompleteText(p.Name,
                                    p.ProductSubcategoryName, p.StandardCost)
                            })
        .ToArray();