Returning empty IQueryable<> - entity-framework

Question

I have this method that tries to get a list of things:
private static IQueryable<Thing> GetThings(int thingsType)
{
try
{
return from thing in entities.thing.Include("thingStuff")
select thing;
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
return new EnumerableQuery<Thing>(?????);
}
}
}
I want to return an empty IQueryable if I can't for whatever reason get the query to run. I don't want to return NULL because that could break the calling code. Is it possible or am I going totally wrong about this?

Answer 1

These answers are good and do work, however I have always felt using Empty and not creating a new List is cleaner:
Enumerable.Empty<Thing>().AsQueryable();

Answer 2

Try the following:
private static IQueryable<Thing> GetThings(int thingsType)
{
IQueryable<Thing> things = new List<Thing>().AsQueryable();
try
{
things = from thing in entities.thing.Include("thingStuff")
select thing;
return things;
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
return things;
}
}

Answer 3

I would add block finally {} and put my return type in that code.
This will take care of the issue by returning the type that your application expects.
private static IQueryable<T> GetThings(int thingsType)
{
IQueryable<T> list = new List<Thing>().AsQueryable();
try
{
list = from thing in entities.thing.Include("thingStuff")
select t;
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
// handle exception here;
}
finally {
return list;
}
}
}

Answer 4

Returning empty IQueryable<>
DbSet.Take(0)

Answer 5

I think this would be tidier:
private static IQueryable<T> GetThings(int thingsType)
{
try
{
return from thing in entities.thing.Include("thingStuff")
select t;
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
// Exception handling code goes here
return new List<Thing>().AsQueryable();
}
}