XML Child Axis Property
Provides access to the children of one of the following: an XElement object, an XDocument object, a collection of XElement objects, or a collection of XDocument objects.
object.<child>
Parts
object
Required. An XElement object, an XDocument object, a collection of XElement objects, or a collection of XDocument objects..<
Required. Denotes the start of a child axis property.child
Required. Name of the child nodes to access, of the form [prefix:]name.Part
Description
prefix
Optional. XML namespace prefix for the child node. Must be a global XML namespace defined with an Imports statement.
name
Required. Local child node name. See Names of Declared XML Elements and Attributes.
>
Required. Denotes the end of a child axis property.
Return Value
A collection of XElement objects.
Remarks
You can use an XML child axis property to access child nodes by name from an XElement or XDocument object, or from a collection of XElement or XDocument objects. Use the XML Value property to access the value of the first child node in the returned collection. For more information, see XML Value Property.
The Visual Basic compiler converts child axis properties to calls to the Elements method.
XML Namespaces
The name in a child axis property can use only XML namespace prefixes declared globally with the Imports statement. It cannot use XML namespace prefixes declared locally within XML element literals. For more information, see Imports Statement (XML Namespace).
Example
The following example shows how to access the child nodes named phone from the contact object.
Dim contact As XElement = _
<contact>
<name>Patrick Hines</name>
<phone type="home">206-555-0144</phone>
<phone type="work">425-555-0145</phone>
</contact>
Dim homePhone = From hp In contact.<phone> _
Where contact.<phone>.@type = "home" _
Select hp
Console.WriteLine("Home Phone = {0}", homePhone(0).Value)
This code displays the following text:
Home Phone = 206-555-0144
The following example shows how to access the child nodes named phone from the collection returned by the contact child axis property of the contacts object.
Dim contacts As XElement = _
<contacts>
<contact>
<name>Patrick Hines</name>
<phone type="home">206-555-0144</phone>
</contact>
<contact>
<name>Lance Tucker</name>
<phone type="work">425-555-0145</phone>
</contact>
</contacts>
Dim homePhone = From contact In contacts.<contact> _
Where contact.<phone>.@type = "home" _
Select contact.<phone>
Console.WriteLine("Home Phone = {0}", homePhone(0).Value)
This code displays the following text:
Home Phone = 206-555-0144
The following example declares ns as an XML namespace prefix. It then uses the prefix of the namespace to create an XML literal and access the first child node with the qualified name ns:name.
Imports <xmlns:ns = "http://SomeNamespace">
Class TestClass4
Shared Sub TestPrefix()
Dim contact = <ns:contact>
<ns:name>Patrick Hines</ns:name>
</ns:contact>
Console.WriteLine(contact.<ns:name>.Value)
End Sub
End Class
This code displays the following text:
Patrick Hines
See Also
Concepts
Names of Declared XML Elements and Attributes