Question

Here is what I want to do:

string parseCode = from x in xml.Descendants("LogType")
                   where x.Attribute("ID").Value == string)ddlHistoryLogDefinitions.SelectedValue
                   select x.Attribute("ParseCode").Value;

But that gives error: “Cannot implicitly convert type ‘System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable’ to ‘string'”

There will only be one value for x.Attribute("ParseCode") but it insists on returning type IEnumerable<string>. How can I extract that value into a string ?

EDIT: Thank you for your responses. Here is what worked for me:

string parseCode = (from x in xml.Descendants("LogType")
                    where x.Attribute("ID").Value == (string) ddlHistoryLogDefinitions.SelectedValue
                    select (string) x.Attribute("ParseCode").Value).FirstOrDefault();

This trick was wrapping the entire linq query in () before the .FirstOrDefault().

Answer 1

Use .Single to select the only result if you know there will be one and only one:

string parseCode = (from x in xml.Descendants("LogType")
                   where x.Attribute("ID").Value == string)ddlHistoryLogDefinitions.SelectedValue
                   select x.Attribute("ParseCode").Value).Single();

Use .SingleOrDefault or .First If there might be none or more then one respectively.