• Article

Extensions.Descendants<T> Method (IEnumerable<T>)

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Returns a collection of elements that contains the descendant elements of every element and document in the source collection.

Namespace:  System.Xml.Linq
Assembly:  System.Xml.Linq (in System.Xml.Linq.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ExtensionAttribute> _
Public Shared Function Descendants(Of T As XContainer) ( _
    source As IEnumerable(Of T) _
) As IEnumerable(Of XElement)

public static IEnumerable<XElement> Descendants<T>(
    this IEnumerable<T> source
)
where T : XContainer

Type Parameters

  • T
    The type of the objects in source, constrained to XContainer.

Parameters

Return Value

Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<XElement>
An IEnumerable<T> of XElement that contains the descendant elements of every element and document in the source collection.

Usage Note

In Visual Basic and C#, you can call this method as an instance method on any object of type IEnumerable<T>. When you use instance method syntax to call this method, omit the first parameter.

Exceptions

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

source is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

Remarks

Visual Basic users can use the integrated XML descendant axis to retrieve the descendant elements of a collection. However, the integrated axis only retrieves descendants with a specified name. If Visual Basic users want to retrieve all descendants, then they must use this axis method explicitly.

This method uses deferred execution.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.