c# - Handling null XElements whilst parsing an XDocument -

is there better way of doing this:

private xelement getsafeelem(xelement elem, string key) {     xelement safeelem = elem.element(key);     return safeelem ?? new xelement(key); }  private string getattributevalue(xattribute attrib) {     return attrib == null ? "n/a" : attrib.value; }  var elem = getsafeelem(elem, "hdhdhddh"); string foo = getattributevalue(e.attribute("fkfkf"));  //attribute has fallback value 

when parsing elements/attribute values xml document? in cases element may not found when doing like:

string foo (string)elem.element("fooelement").attribute("fooattribute").value 

so object reference error occur (assuming element/attribute aren't found). same when trying access element value

not sure better approach, saw in codeproject post , thought might useful approach here.

its monadic solution using "with" extension method:

public static tresult with<tinput, tresult>(this tinput o,         func<tinput, tresult> evaluator)        tresult : class tinput : class {   if (o == null) return null;   return evaluator(o); } 

and return extension method:

public static tresult return<tinput,tresult>(this tinput o,         func<tinput, tresult> evaluator, tresult failurevalue) tinput: class {   if (o == null) return failurevalue;   return evaluator(o); } 

and combining them both query this:

var myelement = element.with(x => x.element("fooelement")).return(x => x.attribute("fooattribute").value, "mydefaultvalue") 

not sure prettier using simple extension methods guys suggested in previous posts, bit more generic , nice approach imo

codeproject - chained null checks , maybe monad