How to deserialize xml using Linq?

Question

How can i deserialize this xml using Linq? I want to create List<Step>

<MySteps>
  <Step>
    <ID>1</ID>
    <Name>Step 1</Name>
    <Description>Step 1 Description</Description>
  </Step>
  <Step>
    <ID>2</ID>
    <Name>Step 2</Name>
    <Description>Step 2 Description</Description>
  </Step>
  <Step>
    <ID>3</ID>
    <Name>Step 3</Name>
    <Description>Step 3 Description</Description>
  </Step>
  <Step>
    <ID>4</ID>
    <Name>Step 4</Name>
    <Description>Step 4 Description</Description>
  </Step>
</MySteps>

A List of what? Have you defined your own List class? What have you tried so far? — El Ronnoco, Feb 28 '12 at 15:50
Any reason for using not just using `System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer`? — Daniel Moses, Feb 28 '12 at 15:56

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 28 '12 at 15:59

string xml = @"<MySteps>
                <Step>
                    <ID>1</ID>
                    <Name>Step 1</Name>
                    <Description>Step 1 Description</Description>
                </Step>
                <Step>
                    <ID>2</ID>
                    <Name>Step 2</Name>
                    <Description>Step 2 Description</Description>
                </Step>
                <Step>
                    <ID>3</ID>
                    <Name>Step 3</Name>
                    <Description>Step 3 Description</Description>
                </Step>
                <Step>
                    <ID>4</ID>
                    <Name>Step 4</Name>
                    <Description>Step 4 Description</Description>
                </Step>
                </MySteps>";

XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);

var mySteps = (from s in doc.Descendants("Step")
               select new 
                {
                    Id = int.Parse(s.Element("ID").Value),
                    Name = s.Element("Name").Value,
                    Description = s.Element("Description").Value
                }).ToList();

Heres how you would do it using LINQ. Obviously you should be doing your own error checking.

I am doing something similar but this code only returns the first element...not a list? — cbutler, Jul 05 '17 at 22:29

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '12 at 16:00

LINQ-to-XML is your answer.

List<Step> steps = (from step in xml.Elements("Step")
                    select new Step()
                    {
                        Id = (int)step.Element("Id"),
                        Name = (string)step.Element("Name"),
                        Description = (string)step.Element("Description")
                    }).ToList();

And a bit about doing the conversions from XML from Scott Hanselman

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 17 '16 at 20:10

Showing the above answers in LINQ method syntax

Descendants:

var steps = xml.Descendants("Step").Select(step => new
{
    Id = (int)step.Element("ID"),
    Name = step.Element("Name").Value,
    Description = step.Element("Description").Value
});

Elements:

var steps2 = xml.Element("MySteps").Elements("Step").Select(step => new
{
    Id = (int)step.Element("ID"),
    Name = step.Element("Name").Value,
    Description = step.Element("Description").Value
});

How to deserialize xml using Linq?

3 Answers3

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