Existe alguma maneira de fazer isso? Eu tenho um campo de seqüência de caracteres no banco de dados e desejo analisá-lo em uma propriedade int na minha consulta LINQ (sim, ele deve estar no nível IQueryable, não na memória

Eu sei que há 2 anos o EF 1.0 não podia fazer isso (mesmo que o LINQ to SQL suportasse essa funcionalidade básica pronta para uso) ... mas estou me perguntando se alguém inventou uma maneira de fazer isso neste momento. ponto

Mapeamentos de funções personalizadas? Sintaxe especial? Nada mesmo...

ATUALIZAR

Tentei uma função definida pelo modelo da seguinte maneira:

    <Function Name="ConvertToInt32" ReturnType="Edm.Int32">
      <Parameter Name="v" Type="Edm.String" />
      <DefiningExpression>
        CAST(v AS INT)
      </DefiningExpression>
    </Function>

    [EdmFunction("Model.Repository", "ConvertToInt32")]
    public static int ConvertToInt32(string value)
    {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("Only valid when used as part of a LINQ query.");
    }

mas parece que não funciona. Recebo a exceção de tempo de execução:

        ErrorDescription=Type 'INT' could not be found. Make sure that the required schemas are loaded and that the namespaces are imported correctly.
        StackTrace:
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.ConvertTypeName(Node typeName, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.ConvertTypeExprArgs(BuiltInExpr astBuiltInExpr, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.<CreateBuiltInExprConverter>b__73(BuiltInExpr bltInExpr, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.ConvertBuiltIn(Node astExpr, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.Convert(Node astExpr, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.ConvertValueExpression(Node astExpr, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.ConvertQueryStatementToDbExpression(Statement astStatement, SemanticResolver sr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.SemanticAnalyzer.AnalyzeQueryCommand(Node astExpr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.CqlQuery.<AnalyzeQueryExpressionSemantics>b__8(SemanticAnalyzer analyzer, Node astExpr)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.CqlQuery.AnalyzeSemanticsCommon[TResult](Node astExpr, Perspective perspective, ParserOptions parserOptions, IEnumerable`1 parameters, IEnumerable`1 variables, Func`3 analysisFunction)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.CqlQuery.AnalyzeQueryExpressionSemantics(Node astQueryCommand, Perspective perspective, ParserOptions parserOptions, IEnumerable`1 parameters, IEnumerable`1 variables)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.CqlQuery.<>c__DisplayClass4.<CompileQueryCommandLambda>b__3(Node astCommand, ParserOptions validatedParserOptions)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.CqlQuery.CompileCommon[TResult](String commandText, Perspective perspective, ParserOptions parserOptions, Func`3 compilationFunction)
             at System.Data.Common.EntitySql.CqlQuery.CompileQueryCommandLambda(String queryCommandText, Perspective perspective, ParserOptions parserOptions, IEnumerable`1 parameters, IEnumerable`1 variables)
             at System.Data.Mapping.ViewGeneration.Utils.ExternalCalls.CompileFunctionDefinition(String functionFullName, String functionDefinition, IList`1 functionParameters, EdmItemCollection edmItemCollection)
             at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.EdmItemCollection.GenerateFunctionDefinition(EdmFunction function)
             at System.Data.Common.Utils.Memoizer`2.<>c__DisplayClass2.<Evaluate>b__0()
             at System.Data.Common.Utils.Memoizer`2.Result.GetValue()
             at System.Data.Common.Utils.Memoizer`2.Evaluate(TArg arg)
             at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.EdmItemCollection.GetGeneratedFunctionDefinition(EdmFunction function)
             at System.Data.Metadata.Edm.MetadataWorkspace.GetGeneratedFunctionDefinition(EdmFunction function)
             at System.Data.Query.PlanCompiler.ITreeGenerator.Visit(DbFunctionExpression e)
        InnerException: 

UPDATE: Eu consegui funcionar da seguinte maneira

 <Function Name="ConvertToInt32" ReturnType="Edm.Int32">
      <Parameter Name="v" Type="Edm.String" />
      <DefiningExpression>
        CAST(v AS Edm.Int32)
      </DefiningExpression>
    </Function>