Extensions.Descendants(Of T) Method (IEnumerable(Of T))
Returns a collection of elements that contains the descendant elements of every element and document in the source collection.
Assembly: System.Xml.Linq (in System.Xml.Linq.dll)
'Declaration <ExtensionAttribute> _ Public Shared Function Descendants(Of T As XContainer) ( _ source As IEnumerable(Of T) _ ) As IEnumerable(Of XElement) 'Usage Dim source As IEnumerable(Of T) Dim returnValue As IEnumerable(Of XElement) returnValue = source.Descendants()
Type Parameters
- T
The type of the objects in source, constrained to XContainer.
Parameters
- source
- Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of T)
An IEnumerable(Of T) of XContainer that contains the source collection.
Return Value
Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of XElement)An IEnumerable(Of 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(Of T). When you use instance method syntax to call this method, omit the first parameter. For more information, see Extension Methods (Visual Basic) or Extension Methods (C# Programming Guide).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.
The following example retrieves a collection of elements, and then uses this axis method to retrieve all descendent elements of every item in the collection of elements.
Dim xmlTree As XElement = _ <Root> <Para> <t>This is some text </t> <b> <t>where</t> </b> <t> all of the nodes must be concatenated. </t> </Para> <Para> <t>This is a second sentence.</t> </Para> </Root> Dim elList = From el In xmlTree.<Para>.Descendants _ Select el For Each el As XElement In elList Console.WriteLine(el) Next
This example produces the following output:
<t>This is some text </t> <b> <t>where</t> </b> <t>where</t> <t> all of the nodes must be concatenated. </t> <t>This is a second sentence.</t>
The following is the same example, but in this case the XML is in a namespace. For more information, see Working with XML Namespaces.
Imports <xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com"> Module Module1 Sub Main() Dim xmlTree As XElement = _ <Root> <Para> <t>This is some text </t> <b> <t>where</t> </b> <t> all of the nodes must be concatenated. </t> </Para> <Para> <t>This is a second sentence.</t> </Para> </Root> Dim elList = From el In xmlTree.<Para>.Descendants _ Select el For Each el As XElement In elList Console.WriteLine(el) Next End Sub End Module
This example produces the following output:
<t xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">This is some text </t> <b xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com"> <t>where</t> </b> <t xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">where</t> <t xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com"> all of the nodes must be concatenated. </t> <t xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">This is a second sentence.</t>
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune
The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.