Linq to XML querying an XDoc

Question

I want to be able to access the text from a span class, while also able to get information outside of the span class. For example:

Here is my a sample of the XML Document information:

    <item><title>Operations Applications - MDI Diagnostics</title><link>http://confidential-link.com</link>
<description><![CDATA[<div style="margin-top:5px"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="confidential" />
<span class="srch-Icon"><a href="confidential" title="Operations Applications - MDI Diagnostics">
<img src="confidential" alt="Web Page" border="0" /></a></span>
<span class="psrch-Description"> THE INFORMATION I WANT</span>
<p class="srch-Metadata"><span class="srch-URL">
<a href="confidential" title="Operations Applications - MDI Diagnostics">confidential link</a>
        -
        66KB
          </span></p></div>]]></description>
<author>Bob Smith
</author><pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2014 18:53:49 GMT</pubDate><search:dotfileextension>.ASPX</search:dotfileextension><search:size>68076</search:size>
<search:hithighlightedsummary> SIMILAR TO THE INFORMATION I WANT, COULD BE OPTION 2  </search:hithighlightedsummary>
</item>

Here is what I have now:

                var feeds = from feed in xdoc.Descendants("item")
                        select new RSSS
                        {
                            Site = "TOPS",
                            URL = url, 
                            Title = feed.Element("title").Value,
                            Link = feed.Element("link").Value,
                            Description = feed.Element("description").Value

                        };

Which returns the "Description" as expected:

<div style="margin-top:5px"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="confidential" />
<span class="srch-Icon"><a href="confidential" title="Operations Applications - MDI Diagnostics">
<img src="confidential" alt="Web Page" border="0" /></a></span>
<span class="psrch-Description"> THE INFORMATION I WANT</span>
<p class="srch-Metadata"><span class="srch-URL">
<a href="confidential" title="Operations Applications - MDI Diagnostics">confidential link</a>
        -
        66KB
          </span></p></div>

So how do I access specifically the information between "span class = psrch-Description" while still able to access like the Link and Title and such?

**Because I am not looking for something like

var feeds = from feed in xDoc.Descendants("Show") where (string)feed.Attribute("Code") == "456" select new { EventDate = feed.Attribute("Date").Value };

this does not allow me to get the other information.

Answer 1

If <Description> contains HTML that conform to XML, you can load it to another XDocument variable :

XDocument description = XDocument.Parse(feed.Element("description").Value);

Then you can use another LINQ-to-XML query to get any part of <Description> value you are interested in.

Otherwise, you'll need another type that can handle HTML like HtmlAgilityPack 's HtmlDocument for example.