How can I use Linq to build a c# object from xml where an element has zero or more elements of the same type? -

i'm trying parse xml file looks this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" ?> <log>     <request id="1" result="deny">         <user name="corp\joe"/>         <session number="1"/>         <file name="xyz"/>         <policy type="default" name="default rules" result="deny"/>         <policy type="adgroup" name="domain users" result="allow"/>     </request>         <request id="1" result="deny">         <user name="corp\joe"/>         <session number="1"/>         <file name="abc"/>         <policy type="default" name="default rules" result="deny"/>         <policy type="device" name="laptop12" result="deny"/>     </request> </log> 

note presence of multiple policy elements per request.

here's code far:

public class request {    public int request_id { get; set; }    public string user_name { get; set; }    public string session_number { get; set; }    public string file_name { get; set; } }  void main() {     var xml = xdocument.load(@"c:\temp\test.xml");      var query = c in xml.descendants("request")         (string)c.attribute("result") == "deny"         select new request() {             request_id = (int) c.attribute("id"),             user_name = (string) c.element("user").attribute("name"),             session_number = (string) c.element("session").attribute("number"),             file_name = (string) c.element("file").attribute("name"),         };      foreach (request r in query.tolist()) {         system.diagnostics.debug.writeline(r.user_name + "," + r.file_name);     } } 

i'm not sure how query , capture 0+ policy elements. should i:

• define new class policy {type, name, result}
• add list member request class
• somehow populate list when creating new request object part of linq query

it's somehow bit i'm stuck on. need add linq query within existing select, , if so, like? c.descendents("policy")...

you're on track! points correct. need policy class , list<policy> property in request class. need subquery in existing query populate them:

var query = c in xml.descendants("request")     (string)c.attribute("result") == "deny"     select new request() {         request_id = (int) c.attribute("id"),         user_name = (string) c.element("user").attribute("name"),         session_number = (string) c.element("session").attribute("number"),         file_name = (string) c.element("file").attribute("name"),         policies = (from p in c.elements("policy")                     select new policy() {                         type = (string) p.attribute("type")                         // (...)                     }).tolist()     };