Read from xml file to objectlist using Linq

Question

I have been trying to understand how to work with xml-files using linq.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<podcasts>
  <podcast>
    <url>http://...</url>
    <name>blablabla</name>
    <frequency>20 min</frequency>
    <category>Drama</category>
    <episodes>
      <episode>
        <name>blablabla</name>
        <description>blablabla...</description>
      </episode>
      <episode>
        <name>blablabla</name>
        <description>blablabla...</description>
      </episode>
    </episodes>
  </podcast>
  <podcast>
    <url>http://...</url>
    <name>blablabla</name>
    <frequency>20 min</frequency>
    <category>Drama</category>
    <episodes>
      <episode>
        <name>blablabla</name>
        <description>blablabla...</description>
      </episode>
      <episode>
        <name>blablabla</name>
        <description>blablabla...</description>
      </episode>
    </episodes>
  </podcast>
</podcasts>

The problem is that i can retrive the podcast-info, but not the episodes to that podcast. The podcastlist gets the podcast-info, but the episodelist in the podcast object dont get the episod-info. When i debug it says that episodelist is null..

And the Podcast and Episode class looks like this

public class Podcast
    {
        public string Url { get; set; }
        public string EpisodesQuantity { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Frequency { get; set; }
        public string Category { get; set; }
        public List<Episode> episodeList { get; set; }

    }    


public class Episode
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Desc { get; set; }
        public string Link { get; set; }
    }

Im really stuck here, do u guys know what i'm doing wrong? :(

Answer 1

This should be right. I have similiar thing, just edited to fit your need. I quess I you will get oriented in that.

episodeList = (from e in p.Element("episodes").Elements("episode")
                    select new Episode
                    {
                        Name = e.Element("name").Value,
                        Desc = e.Element("description").Value
                    }).ToList()

I have code loading very complex XML. So you can see the logic. Get a look.

 public static EdiFile read(XElement xmlDoc)
        {
            return new EdiFile
            {
                SPPLR_MAILBOX = xmlDoc.Element("SPPLR_MAILBOX").Value,
                MESSAGE_ID = xmlDoc.Element("MESSAGE_ID").Value,
                ASN_NO = xmlDoc.Element("ASN_NO").Value,
                MESSAGE_SEND_DATE = xmlDoc.Element("MESSAGE_SEND_DATE").Value,
                ETD = xmlDoc.Element("ETD").Value,
                ETA = xmlDoc.Element("ETA").Value,
                INVOICE_NUM = xmlDoc.Element("INVOICE_NUM").Value,
                SPPLR_CD = xmlDoc.Element("SPPLR_CD").Value,
                SPPLR_CONTACT = xmlDoc.Element("SPPLR_CONTACT").Value,
                DELIVERY_PARTY_CD = xmlDoc.Element("DELIVERY_PARTY_CD").Value,
                DELIVERY_TO_PLACE = xmlDoc.Element("DELIVERY_TO_PLACE").Value,
                DELIVERY_FROM_PLACE = xmlDoc.Element("DELIVERY_FROM_PLACE").Value,
                SHIPPING_TYPE = xmlDoc.Element("SHIPPING_TYPE").Value,
                FREIGHT_TERMS = xmlDoc.Element("FREIGHT_TERMS").Value,
                TRUCK_CONTACT = xmlDoc.Element("TRUCK_CONTACT").Value,
                TRUCK_LICENCE_NUM = xmlDoc.Element("TRUCK_LICENCE_NUM").Value,
                CREATED_BY = xmlDoc.Element("CREATED_BY").Value,
                CREATED_DATE = xmlDoc.Element("CREATED_DATE").Value,
                ATTRIBUTE01 = xmlDoc.Element("ATTRIBUTE01").Value,
                ATTRIBUTE02 = xmlDoc.Element("ATTRIBUTE02").Value,
                ATTRIBUTE03 = xmlDoc.Element("ATTRIBUTE03").Value,
                ATTRIBUTE04 = xmlDoc.Element("ATTRIBUTE04").Value,
                ATTRIBUTE05 = xmlDoc.Element("ATTRIBUTE05").Value,
                Levels0 = (from a in xmlDoc.Element("LEVELS0").Elements("LEVEL0")
                           select new Level0
                           {
                               PLT_NUM = a.Element("PLT_NUM").Value,
                               PLT_LABEL_ID = a.Element("PLT_LABEL_ID").Value,
                               BOX_COUNT = a.Element("BOX_QTY").Value,
                               PLT_WEIGHT = a.Element("PLT_WEIGTH").Value,
                               PLT_DIMENSION = a.Element("PLT_DIMENSION").Value,
                               PLT_CHEM = a.Element("PLT_CHEM").Value,
                               PLT_NOT_STACK = a.Element("PLT_NOT_STACK").Value,
                               PLT_NOTE = a.Element("PLT_NOTE").Value,
                               ATTRIBUTE01 = a.Element("ATTRIBUTE01").Value,
                               ATTRIBUTE02 = a.Element("ATTRIBUTE02").Value,
                               ATTRIBUTE03 = a.Element("ATTRIBUTE03").Value,
                               ATTRIBUTE04 = a.Element("ATTRIBUTE04").Value,
                               ATTRIBUTE05 = a.Element("ATTRIBUTE05").Value,
                               Levels1 = (from b in a.Element("LEVELS1").Elements("LEVEL1")
                                          select new Level1
                                          {
                                              BOX_NUM = b.Element("BOX_NUM").Value,
                                              BOX_LABEL_ID = b.Element("BOX_LABEL_ID").Value,
                                              Items = (from c in b.Element("ITEMS").Elements("ITEM")
                                                       select new Item
                                                       {
                                                           SPPLR_ITEM = c.Element("SPPLR_ITEM").Value,
                                                           CUST_ITEM = c.Element("CUST_ITEM").Value,
                                                           PO_NO = c.Element("PO_NO").Value,
                                                           PO_REF = c.Element("PO_REF").Value,
                                                           COUNTRY_OF_ORIGIN = c.Element("COUNTRY_OF_ORIGIN").Value,
                                                           BATCH_NO = c.Element("BATCH_NO").Value,
                                                           MLS_CLASS = c.Element("MLS_CLASS").Value,
                                                           ATTRIBUTE01 = c.Element("ATTRIBUTE01").Value,
                                                           ATTRIBUTE02 = c.Element("ATTRIBUTE02").Value,
                                                           ATTRIBUTE03 = c.Element("ATTRIBUTE03").Value,
                                                           ATTRIBUTE04 = c.Element("ATTRIBUTE04").Value,
                                                           ATTRIBUTE05 = c.Element("ATTRIBUTE05").Value,
                                                           Lots = (from d in c.Element("LOTS").Elements("LOT")
                                                                   select new Lot
                                                                   {
                                                                       LOT_NUM = d.Element("LOT_NUM").Value,
                                                                       LOT_LABEL_ID = d.Element("LOT_LABEL_ID").Value,
                                                                       LOT_NOTE = d.Element("LOT_NOTE").Value,
                                                                       LOT_EXP_DATE = d.Element("LOT_EXP_DATE").Value,
                                                                       QTY = d.Element("QTY").Value,
                                                                       UOM = d.Element("UOM").Value,
                                                                       ATTRIBUTE01 = d.Element("ATTRIBUTE01").Value,
                                                                       ATTRIBUTE02 = d.Element("ATTRIBUTE02").Value,
                                                                       ATTRIBUTE03 = d.Element("ATTRIBUTE03").Value,
                                                                       ATTRIBUTE04 = d.Element("ATTRIBUTE04").Value,
                                                                       ATTRIBUTE05 = d.Element("ATTRIBUTE05").Value
                                                                   }).ToList()
                                                       }).ToList()
                                          }).ToList()
                           }).ToList()
            };
        }

Thats just if you were curios, you can see clearly how it works in my example here.