Problem with converting int to string in Linq to entities

With EF v4 you can use SqlFunctions.StringConvert. There is no overload for int so you need to cast to a double or a decimal. Your code ends up looking like this:

var items = from c in contacts
            select new ListItem
            {
                Value = SqlFunctions.StringConvert((double)c.ContactId).Trim(),
                Text = c.Name
            };