Question

I want to retrieve a list of array from XML file. I use an integration tool for querying. But what should I do if I want to create a list of arrays without any foreach loop. (Reason is, in this case foreach cannot be applied.

XML File Format:

<arr name="ArrayinXML"><str>dsfadasfsdasda</str><str>gdhsdhshhfb</str>

In Index.cshtml:

@p.ArrayinXML.FirstOrDefault()

In the above case, it returns only the first string value and not the second one.

Answer 1

Can you make an extension method that does the foreach for you?

Something like this:

public static class IEnumerableExtensions
{
    public static string ToString<T>(this IEnumerable<T> collection, string separater)
    {
        if (collection == null)
            return String.Empty;

        return String.Join(separater, collection);
    }
}

You could, of course, just call @String.Join(p.ArrayinXML, ", ") in your code, but I think the extension method makes it a bit more elegant.

Then add the extension namespace to your web.config, and you can do this in the view:

@p.ArrayinXML.ToString(", ")

Edit:

Here’s the extension with a transform parameter so you can customize further:

public static string ToString<T>(this IEnumerable<T> collection, string separater, Func<T, object> transform) where T : class
{
    if (collection == null)
        return String.Empty;

    return String.Join(separater, collection.Select(s => transform(s).ToString()));
}