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Extensions.Elements Method

Definition

Namespace:: System.Xml.Linq

Assemblies:: System.Xml.Linq.dll, System.Xml.XDocument.dll

Assemblies:: netstandard.dll, System.Xml.XDocument.dll

Assembly:: System.Xml.XDocument.dll

Assembly:: System.Xml.Linq.dll

Assembly:: netstandard.dll

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Returns a collection of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection.

Overloads

Name	Description
Elements<T>(IEnumerable<T>)	Returns a collection of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection.
Elements<T>(IEnumerable<T>, XName)	Returns a filtered collection of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection. Only elements that have a matching XName are included in the collection.

Remarks

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.

This method uses deferred execution.

Elements<T>(IEnumerable<T>)

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Returns a collection of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection.

public:
generic <typename T>
 where T : System::Xml::Linq::XContainer[System::Runtime::CompilerServices::Extension]
 static System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<System::Xml::Linq::XElement ^> ^ Elements(System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<T> ^ source);

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> Elements<T>(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T> source) where T : System.Xml.Linq.XContainer;

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> Elements<T>(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T?> source) where T : System.Xml.Linq.XContainer;

static member Elements : seq<'T (requires 'T :> System.Xml.Linq.XContainer)> -> seq<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> (requires 'T :> System.Xml.Linq.XContainer)

<Extension()>
Public Function Elements(Of T As XContainer) (source As IEnumerable(Of T)) As IEnumerable(Of XElement)

Type Parameters

T

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

Parameters

source: IEnumerable<T>

An IEnumerable<T> of XElement that contains the source collection.

Returns

IEnumerable<XElement>

An IEnumerable<T> of XElement of the child elements of every element or document in the source collection.

Examples

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);

Dim xmlTree As XElement = _
 <Root>
 <Child>
 <GrandChild1>1</GrandChild1>
 <GrandChild2>2</GrandChild2>
 </Child>

 <Child>
 <GrandChild3>3</GrandChild3>
 <GrandChild4>4</GrandChild4>
 </Child>

 <Child>
 <GrandChild5>5</GrandChild5>
 <GrandChild6>6</GrandChild6>
 </Child>
 </Root>

Dim allGrandChildren = From el In xmlTree.<Child>.Elements _
 Select el

For Each el As XElement In allGrandChildren
 Console.WriteLine(el)
Next

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 Work 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);

Imports <xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">

Module Module1
 Sub Main()
 Dim xmlTree As XElement = _
 <Root>
 <Child>
 <GrandChild1>1</GrandChild1>
 <GrandChild2>2</GrandChild2>
 </Child>

 <Child>
 <GrandChild3>3</GrandChild3>
 <GrandChild4>4</GrandChild4>
 </Child>

 <Child>
 <GrandChild5>5</GrandChild5>
 <GrandChild6>6</GrandChild6>
 </Child>
 </Root>

 Dim allGrandChildren = From el In xmlTree.<Child>.Elements _
 Select el

 For Each el As XElement In allGrandChildren
 Console.WriteLine(el)
 Next
 End Sub
End Module

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>

Remarks

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.

Applies to

Elements<T>(IEnumerable<T>, XName)

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Source:: Extensions.cs

Returns a filtered collection of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection. Only elements that have a matching XName are included in the collection.

public:
generic <typename T>
 where T : System::Xml::Linq::XContainer[System::Runtime::CompilerServices::Extension]
 static System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<System::Xml::Linq::XElement ^> ^ Elements(System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<T> ^ source, System::Xml::Linq::XName ^ name);

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> Elements<T>(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T> source, System.Xml.Linq.XName name) where T : System.Xml.Linq.XContainer;

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> Elements<T>(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T?> source, System.Xml.Linq.XName? name) where T : System.Xml.Linq.XContainer;

static member Elements : seq<'T (requires 'T :> System.Xml.Linq.XContainer)> * System.Xml.Linq.XName -> seq<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> (requires 'T :> System.Xml.Linq.XContainer)

<Extension()>
Public Function Elements(Of T As XContainer) (source As IEnumerable(Of T), name As XName) As IEnumerable(Of XElement)

Type Parameters

T

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

Parameters

source: IEnumerable<T>

An IEnumerable<T> of XElement that contains the source collection.

name: XName

The XName to match.

Returns

IEnumerable<XElement>

An IEnumerable<T> of XElement of the child elements of every element and document in the source collection. Only elements that have a matching XName are included in the collection.

Examples

This extension method is useful when you want to retrieve all elements with a specified name at a particular depth. This is easy if the document is very regular, but if the document is irregular, it can be a bit more difficult. In the following example, we want to retrieve all aaa elements that are children of Item elements. A given Item element may or may not contain an aaa element. This is easily accomplished using this extension method, as follows:

XElement xmlTree = new XElement("Root",
 new XElement("Item",
 new XElement("aaa", 1),
 new XElement("bbb", 2)
 ),
 new XElement("Item",
 new XElement("ccc", 3),
 new XElement("aaa", 4)
 ),
 new XElement("Item",
 new XElement("ddd", 5),
 new XElement("eee", 6)
 )
);

IEnumerable<XElement> allGrandChildren =
 from el in xmlTree.Elements("Item").Elements("aaa")
 select el;

foreach (XElement el in allGrandChildren)
 Console.WriteLine(el);

Dim xmlTree As XElement = _
 <Root>
 <Item>
 <aaa>1</aaa>
 <bbb>2</bbb>
 </Item>

 <Item>
 <ccc>3</ccc>
 <aaa>4</aaa>
 </Item>

 <Item>
 <ddd>5</ddd>
 <eee>6</eee>
 </Item>
 </Root>

Dim allGrandChildren = From el In xmlTree.<Item>.<aaa> _
 Select el

For Each el As XElement In allGrandChildren
 Console.WriteLine(el)
Next

This example produces the following output:

<aaa>1</aaa>
<aaa>4</aaa>

The following is the same example, but in this case the XML is in a namespace. For more information, see Work with XML Namespaces.

XNamespace aw = "http://www.adventure-works.com";
XElement xmlTree = new XElement(aw + "Root",
 new XElement(aw + "Item",
 new XElement(aw + "aaa", 1),
 new XElement(aw + "bbb", 2)
 ),
 new XElement(aw + "Item",
 new XElement(aw + "ccc", 3),
 new XElement(aw + "aaa", 4)
 ),
 new XElement(aw + "Item",
 new XElement(aw + "ddd", 5),
 new XElement(aw + "eee", 6)
 )
);

IEnumerable<XElement> allGrandChildren =
 from el in xmlTree.Elements(aw + "Item").Elements(aw + "aaa")
 select el;

foreach (XElement el in allGrandChildren)
 Console.WriteLine(el);

Imports <xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">

Module Module1
 Sub Main()
 Dim xmlTree As XElement = _
 <Root>
 <Item>
 <aaa>1</aaa>
 <bbb>2</bbb>
 </Item>

 <Item>
 <ccc>3</ccc>
 <aaa>4</aaa>
 </Item>

 <Item>
 <ddd>5</ddd>
 <eee>6</eee>
 </Item>
 </Root>

 Dim allGrandChildren = From el In xmlTree.<Item>.<aaa> _
 Select el

 For Each el As XElement In allGrandChildren
 Console.WriteLine(el)
 Next
 End Sub
End Module

This example produces the following output:

<aaa xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">1</aaa>
<aaa xmlns="http://www.adventure-works.com">4</aaa>

Remarks

Visual Basic users can use the integrated elements axis to retrieve the child elements of every element in a collection.

This method uses deferred execution.

Applies to

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URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.xml.linq.extensions.elements?view=net-10.0