How to: Retrieve a Single Attribute (LINQ to XML)
This topic explains how to retrieve a single attribute of an element, given the attribute name. This is useful for writing query expressions where you want to find an element that has a particular attribute.
The Attribute method of the XElement class returns the XAttribute with the specified name.
Example
The following example uses the Attribute method.
XElement cust = new XElement("PhoneNumbers",
new XElement("Phone",
new XAttribute("type", "home"),
"555-555-5555"),
new XElement("Phone",
new XAttribute("type", "work"),
"555-555-6666")
);
IEnumerable<XElement> elList =
from el in cust.Descendants("Phone")
select el;
foreach (XElement el in elList)
Console.WriteLine((string)el.Attribute("type"));
Dim cust As XElement = <PhoneNumbers>
<Phone type="home">555-555-5555</Phone>
<Phone type="work">555-555-6666</Phone>
</PhoneNumbers>
Dim elList = From el In cust...<Phone>
For Each e As XElement In elList
Console.WriteLine(e.@type)
Next
This example finds all the descendants in the tree named Phone, and then finds the attribute named type.
This code produces the following output:
home
work
If you want to retrieve the value of the attribute, you can cast it, just as you do for with XElement objects. The following example demonstrates this.
XElement cust = new XElement("PhoneNumbers",
new XElement("Phone",
new XAttribute("type", "home"),
"555-555-5555"),
new XElement("Phone",
new XAttribute("type", "work"),
"555-555-6666")
);
IEnumerable<XElement> elList =
from el in cust.Descendants("Phone")
select el;
foreach (XElement el in elList)
Console.WriteLine((string)el.Attribute("type"));
Dim cust As XElement = <PhoneNumbers>
<Phone type="home">555-555-5555</Phone>
<Phone type="work">555-555-6666</Phone>
</PhoneNumbers>
Dim elList As IEnumerable(Of XElement) = _
From el In cust...<Phone> _
Select el
For Each el As XElement In elList
Console.WriteLine(el.@type)
Next
This code produces the following output:
home
work
LINQ to XML provides explicit cast operators for the XAttribute class to string, bool, bool?, int, int?, uint, uint?, long, long?, ulong, ulong?, float, float?, double, double?, decimal, decimal?, DateTime, DateTime?, TimeSpan, TimeSpan?, GUID, and GUID?.
The following example shows the same code for an attribute that is in a namespace. For more information, see Working with XML Namespaces.
XNamespace aw = "https://www.adventure-works.com";
XElement cust = new XElement(aw + "PhoneNumbers",
new XElement(aw + "Phone",
new XAttribute(aw + "type", "home"),
"555-555-5555"),
new XElement(aw + "Phone",
new XAttribute(aw + "type", "work"),
"555-555-6666")
);
IEnumerable<XElement> elList =
from el in cust.Descendants(aw + "Phone")
select el;
foreach (XElement el in elList)
Console.WriteLine((string)el.Attribute(aw + "type"));
Imports <xmlns:aw="https://www.adventure-works.com">
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim cust As XElement = _
<aw:PhoneNumbers>
<aw:Phone aw:type="home">555-555-5555</aw:Phone>
<aw:Phone aw:type="work">555-555-6666</aw:Phone>
</aw:PhoneNumbers>
Dim elList As IEnumerable(Of XElement) = _
From el In cust...<aw:Phone> _
Select el
For Each el As XElement In elList
Console.WriteLine(el.@aw:type)
Next
End Sub
End Module
This code produces the following output:
home
work