Extensions.DescendantNodes<T>(IEnumerable<T>) Method

Definition

Returns a collection of the descendant nodes of every document and element in the source collection.

C#
public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XNode> DescendantNodes<T>(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T> source) where T : System.Xml.Linq.XContainer;
C#
public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XNode> DescendantNodes<T>(this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T?> source) where T : System.Xml.Linq.XContainer;

Type Parameters

T

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

Parameters

source
IEnumerable<T>

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

Returns

An IEnumerable<T> of XNode of the descendant nodes of every document and element in the source collection.

Examples

The following example retrieves a collection of two elements, and then retrieves a collection of all descendant nodes for every element in the source collection. Note that the attribute of the GrandChild element is not surfaced as a node.

C#
XElement xmlTree = XElement.Parse(  
@"<Root>  
    <Child>aaa<GrandChild anAttribute='xyz'>Text</GrandChild>  
        <!--a comment-->  
        <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='test.xsl'?>  
    </Child>  
    <Child>ccc<GrandChild>Text</GrandChild>ddd</Child>  
</Root>");  
IEnumerable<XNode> nodes =  
    from node in xmlTree.Elements("Child").DescendantNodes()  
    select node;  

foreach (XNode node in nodes)  
{  
    switch (node.NodeType)  
    {  
        case XmlNodeType.Element:  
            Console.WriteLine("Element: {0}", ((XElement)node).Name);  
            break;  
        case XmlNodeType.Text:  
            Console.WriteLine("Text: {0}", ((XText)node).Value);  
            break;  
        case XmlNodeType.Comment:  
            Console.WriteLine("Comment: {0}", ((XComment)node).Value);  
            break;  
        case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction:  
            Console.WriteLine("PI: {0}", ((XProcessingInstruction)node).Data);  
            break;  
    }  
}  

This example produces the following output:

Text: aaa  
Element: GrandChild  
Text: Text  
Comment: a comment  
PI: type='text/xsl' href='test.xsl'  
Text: ccc  
Element: GrandChild  
Text: Text  
Text: ddd  

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

C#
XNamespace aw = "http://www.adventure-works.com";  
XElement xmlTree = XElement.Parse(  
@"<Root xmlns='http://www.adventure-works.com'>  
    <Child>aaa<GrandChild anAttribute='xyz'>Text</GrandChild>  
        <!--a comment-->  
        <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='test.xsl'?>  
    </Child>  
    <Child>ccc<GrandChild>Text</GrandChild>ddd</Child>  
</Root>");  
IEnumerable<XNode> nodes =  
    from node in xmlTree.Elements(aw + "Child").DescendantNodes()  
    select node;  

foreach (XNode node in nodes)  
{  
    switch (node.NodeType)  
    {  
        case XmlNodeType.Element:  
            Console.WriteLine("Element: {0}", ((XElement)node).Name);  
            break;  
        case XmlNodeType.Text:  
            Console.WriteLine("Text: {0}", ((XText)node).Value);  
            break;  
        case XmlNodeType.Comment:  
            Console.WriteLine("Comment: {0}", ((XComment)node).Value);  
            break;  
        case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction:  
            Console.WriteLine("PI: {0}", ((XProcessingInstruction)node).Data);  
            break;  
    }  
}  

This example produces the following output:

Text: aaa  
Element: {http://www.adventure-works.com}GrandChild  
Text: Text  
Comment: a comment  
PI: type='text/xsl' href='test.xsl'  
Text: ccc  
Element: {http://www.adventure-works.com}GrandChild  
Text: Text  
Text: ddd  

Remarks

This axis extension method is used on XDocument and XElement objects. Both of these types derive from XContainer, so this method operates on an IEnumerable<T> of XContainer that contains the source collection.

Although Visual Basic has an integrated XML axis for descendant elements, there is no integrated axis for descendant nodes, so Visual Basic users must use this axis method explicitly.

This method uses deferred execution.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

See also