Question

Ok,

I have a LinqToXml query that returns a single record (correct terminology?),

however, I don’t want to use a for.. loop to pull that one record from the query. Is there an easier way?

*bonus if you find a better way to write the query (I’m still learning)

my xml file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- first draft of LibMappings.xml file -->
<LibMappings>
    <File>
        <Name>Foundation.dll</Name>
        <Map>Lib\Foundation</Map>
    </File>
</LibMappings>

My Code:

private static string GetMapFor(string dllName)
{
        //Opens Xml File and gets "Lib" map for dllName
        string retVal;
    XDocument libMapFile = XDocument.Load(_libMapFilePath);

    //This query will return 1 record
    IEnumerable<XElement> query = from c in libMapFile.Descendants("File")
                            where (string)c.Element("Name") == dllName
                        select c.Element("Map");
    if (query.Count() == 1)
    {
        //there's only gonna be one here.. I might as well do this..
        foreach (string x in query)
        {
            retVal = x;
            break;
        }

        //I'd like to do this:
        retVal = query[0];

    }
        return retVal;
}

Answer 1

IEnumerable<XElement> query = from c in libMapFile.Descendants("File")
                                        where (string)c.Element("Name") == dllName
                                select c.Element("Map");
XElement element = query.First();
return element.Value;