LINQ to XML - Where子句

Question

I have an XML file with 2 types of information - Locations and job types which is determined by the SLvl value. I wish to bind the SearchTxt value for these to 2 drop downs (one for locations, one for job types) to be used as filters on my page.

The problem is I cant quite get my where clause to filter on the SLvl value. With the where clause in no results are returned. If I remove it the query does return all the text values.

C#

using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Linq;
.....

// Loading from file
XDocument loaded = XDocument.Load(@"http://[LINKREMOVED]/vacancies.aspx");

// Query the data
var q = (from c in loaded.Descendants("items")
         where c.Element("SLvl").ToString() == "0"
         select c.Element("SearchTxt").ToString()).Distinct();

// Populate drop down
foreach(string name in q)
{
    ddlLocation.Items.Add(new ListItem(name, name));
}

XML:

<VacancyMatch>
  <items>
   <SearchID>60</SearchID>
   <SearchTxt>Scotland</SearchTxt>
   <ParentID>0</ParentID>
   <SearchCatID>1</SearchCatID>
   <SLvl>1</SLvl>
   <SubCat>1</SubCat>
  </items>
  <items>
   <SearchID>92</SearchID>
   <SearchTxt>Accounting</SearchTxt>
   <ParentID>60</ParentID>
   <SearchCatID>2</SearchCatID>
   <SLvl>2</SLvl>
   <SubCat>2</SubCat>
 </items>
 ... More items here
</VacancyMatch>

I guess the problem is that the data is at the same level? Its my first time using LINQ to XML so any help is greatly appriciated. Note: XML is provided by a third party so formatting is up to them.

Answer 1

Drop the .ToString() and use .Value property instead:

var values = loaded.Descendants("items")
    .Where(i => i.Element("SLvl").Value == "0")
    .Select(i => i.Element("SearchTxt").Value)
    .Distinct();

Calling ToString() on XElement will return entire node as text. For example, if we change i.Element("SearchTxt").Value in the query above to i.Element("SearchTxt").ToString() it will produce strings such as:

<SearchTxt>Accounting</SearchTxt>

Accessing Value property will extract node's inner text - "Accounting" in this case.

Answer 2

This:

where c.Element("SLvl").ToString() == "0"

should be:

where c.Element("SLvl").Value == "0"

You can't get a value of an element with "ToString()" method, you need to read it's "Value" property instead.

Same goes for any other lines where you are trying to get a value of an element.

Hope it helps.

Answer 3

I notice one problem, you use ToString() on the XElements which is not exactly what you want, I think :), to get the text content of a XElement use the Value property.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.linq.xelement.value.aspx