Convert an XpathNodeIterator to a List<XElement>

Question

In C#, I sorted an RSS feed using XpathExpression and a self defined compare function for the field Publication Date.

I need to convert this sorted XPathNodeIterator object to a List<XElement> 'Generic Linq type' object. I've tried to use an intermediary data-type but did not have any luck.

Tried:

List<XElement> elements = new List<XElement>();
IEnumerable<XElement> sortedElements;
IEnumerable<XElement> newElements;

sortedElements = (IEnumerable <XElement>) iterator;

I've also tried using order by on the list but that was unsuccessful using only List<XElement>.

Answer 1

Since this is an IEnumerable, the easiest way to convert to an IEnumerable<> is to use OfType, like this:

var sortedElements = iterator.OfType<XPathNavigator>();

This will not give you XElement objects; that's part of a separate XML API. However, the XPathNavigator objects may have the data you need, so you can follow up with some sort of Select depending on what you need:

var elementValues = iterator.OfType<XPathNavigator>().Select(n => n.Value);

If you do want to use System.Linq.Xml stuff, you may be able to rewrite your XPath as LINQ on an XDocument instead.

Answer 2

I know this question is old, but have you checked whether this works?

var xmlStrings = iterator.OfType<XPathNavigator>().Select(n => n.OuterXml).ToList();
var xmlElements = new List<XElement>();
xmlStrings.ForEach(el => xmlElements.Add(XElement.Parse(el)));