XLINQ : Missing element in xml

Question

hi. i have the following xml

<students>
  <student>
    <id>12</id>
    <name>Mohsan</name>
  </student>
  <student>
    <id>2</id>    
  </student>
  <student>
    <id>3</id>
    <name>Azhar</name>
  </student>
</students>

note that in 2 name element is missing.

i have to read this xml using Linq to XML

i used following code to get all students..

please suggest me improvement in this code

var stds = from std in doc.Descendants("student")
                select new
                {
                    ID = std.Element("id").Value,
                    Name = (std.Element("name")!=null)?std.Element("name").Value:string.Empty
                };

Answer 1

Syntax with 'let' allows you avoid twice ask Element("name")

var stds = from std in doc.Descendants("student")
            let elName = std.Element("name") 
            select new
            {
                ID = std.Element("id").Value,
                Name = (elName!=null)?elName.Value:string.Empty
            };

Answer 2

You can use the fact that there's an explicit conversion from XElement to string, which returns null for a null XElement reference. You can then use the null-coalescing operator to go from null to an empty string:

var stds = from std in doc.Descendants("student")
           select new
           {
               ID = std.Element("id").Value,
               Name = (string) std.Element("name") ?? "";
           };