Parse XML into an array of objects - with Silverlight / Windows Phone

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 by Nate Bross

I am calling a restful service via the WebClient method to return some XML. I would then like to parse through the XML, extract specific fields out of each node, and turn that into an array.

I have the code working to retrieve the XML and populate it into a listbox. For some reason I cannot work out how to turn that into an array of objects.

Code so far:

    private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        WebClient wc = new WebClient();
        wc.DownloadStringCompleted += HttpsCompleted;
        wc.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri(requestString));
    }

    private void HttpsCompleted(object sender, DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Error == null)
        {
            XDocument xdoc = XDocument.Parse(e.Result, LoadOptions.None);

            var data = from query in xdoc.Descendants("entry")
                       select new DummyClass
                       {
                           Name = (string)query.Element("title"),
                           Kitty = (string)query.Element("countryCode")
                       };
            listBox1.ItemsSource = data;
        }
    }

}

How can I turn each node into an object in an array?

Many thanks in advance! Will.

EDIT: The XML looks like this: http://api.geonames.org/findNearbyWikipedia?lat=52.5469285&lng=13.413550&username=demo&radius=20&maxRows=5

<geonames>
<entry>
<lang>en</lang>
<title>Berlin Schönhauser Allee station</title>
<summary>
Berlin Schönhauser Allee is a railway station in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin. It is located on the Berlin U-Bahn line and also on the Ringbahn (Berlin S-Bahn). Build in 1913 by A.Grenander opened as "Bahnhof Nordring" (...)
</summary>
<feature/>
<countryCode>DE</countryCode>
<elevation>54</elevation>
<lat>52.5494</lat>
<lng>13.4139</lng>
<wikipediaUrl>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Sch%C3%B6nhauser_Allee_station
</wikipediaUrl>
<thumbnailImg/>
<rank>93</rank>
<distance>0.2807</distance>
</entry>
</geonames>

I posted the following answer, which was chosen as the accepted answer and received 2 upvotes:

What is wrong with

// convert IEnumerable linq query to an array
var array = data.ToArray(); // could also use .ToList() for a list
// access like this
MessageBox.Show(array[0].Kitty);

This will give you an array of DummyClass objects, from the IEnumerable<DummyClass> generated by the linq query.

Additionally, an array may not even be required. If all you need to do is iterate over the data, you can simply do a foreach on your data object.

Originally posted on Stack Overflow — 2 upvotes (accepted answer). Licensed under CC BY-SA.

Parse XML into an array of objects - with Silverlight / Windows Phone

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