Extensions.Elements<T> Method (IEnumerable<T>)
Returns a collection of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection.
Assembly: System.Xml.Linq (in System.Xml.Linq.dll)
public static IEnumerable<XElement> Elements<T>( this IEnumerable<T> source ) where T : XContainer
Parameters
- source
-
Type:
System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T>
An IEnumerable<T> of XElement that contains the source collection.
Return Value
Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<XElement>An IEnumerable<T> of XElement of the child elements of every element or document in the source collection.
Type Parameters
- T
The type of the objects in source, constrained to XContainer.
Although Visual Basic contains an integrated elements axis that allows you to find all child elements with a specified XName for every element in the source collection, there is no integrated elements axis that allows you to retrieve a collection of every child element for every element in the source collection.
This method uses deferred execution.
The following example retrieves a collection of elements with the element name of Child. It then uses this axis method to retrieve all child elements of the collection.
XElement xmlTree = new XElement("Root",
new XElement("Child",
new XElement("GrandChild1", 1),
new XElement("GrandChild2", 2)
),
new XElement("Child",
new XElement("GrandChild3", 3),
new XElement("GrandChild4", 4)
),
new XElement("Child",
new XElement("GrandChild5", 5),
new XElement("GrandChild6", 6)
)
);
IEnumerable<XElement> allGrandChildren =
from el in xmlTree.Elements("Child").Elements()
select el;
foreach (XElement el in allGrandChildren)
Console.WriteLine(el);
This example produces the following output:
<GrandChild1>1</GrandChild1> <GrandChild2>2</GrandChild2> <GrandChild3>3</GrandChild3> <GrandChild4>4</GrandChild4> <GrandChild5>5</GrandChild5> <GrandChild6>6</GrandChild6>
The following is the same example, but in this case the XML is in a namespace. For more information, see Working with XML Namespaces.
XNamespace aw = "http://www.adventure-works.com";
XElement xmlTree = new XElement(aw + "Root",
new XElement(aw + "Child",
new XElement(aw + "GrandChild1", 1),
new XElement(aw + "GrandChild2", 2)
),
new XElement(aw + "Child",
new XElement(aw + "GrandChild3", 3),
new XElement(aw + "GrandChild4", 4)
),
new XElement(aw + "Child",
new XElement(aw + "GrandChild5", 5),
new XElement(aw + "GrandChild6", 6)
)
);
IEnumerable<XElement> allGrandChildren =
from el in xmlTree.Elements(aw + "Child").Elements()
select el;
foreach (XElement el in allGrandChildren)
Console.WriteLine(el);
This example produces the following output:
<GrandChild1 xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">1</GrandChild1> <GrandChild2 xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">2</GrandChild2> <GrandChild3 xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">3</GrandChild3> <GrandChild4 xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">4</GrandChild4> <GrandChild5 xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">5</GrandChild5> <GrandChild6 xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">6</GrandChild6>
Available since 8
.NET Framework
Available since 3.5
Portable Class Library
Supported in: portable .NET platforms
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0
Windows Phone
Available since 8.1