Linq To Xml Null Checking of attributes

Answer 1

You can cast the attribute to a string. If it is absent you will get null and subsequent code should check for null, otherwise it will return the value directly.

Try this instead:

var books = from book in booksXml.Descendants("book")
            select new
            {
                Name = (string)book.Attribute("name"),
                Price = (string)book.Attribute("price"),
                Special = (string)book.Attribute("special")
            };