Linq to XML elements and descendants in the same search - linq

Question

Still learning Linq and had a problem trying to retrieve and element as well as descendants of another in the same select. I searched for a solution, but could not find what I was looking for and came up with a solution. But is it the right way to do it? Somehow, although it works, it does feel right.
I have the following XML structure:
<Tables>
<Table>
<SourceTable>WrittenRecordsTable</SourceTable>
<Researcher>Fred Blogs</Researcher>
<QuickRef>cwr</QuickRef>
<TableType>WrittenRecords</TableType>
<FieldMapping>
<RecordID>ID</RecordID>
<StartYear>StartYear</StartYear>
<EndYear>EndYear</EndYear>
<LastName>LastName</LastName>
<Title>Title</Title>
<Subject>Subject</Subject>
<Description>Reference</Description>
</FieldMapping>
</Table>
</Tables>
and the following Linq to XML:
var nodes = (from n in xml.Descendants("FieldMapping")
select new
{
SourceTable = (string)n.Parent.Element("SourceTable").Value,
RecordID = (string)n.Element("RecordID").Value,
StartYear = (string)n.Element("StartYear").Value,
EndYear = (string)n.Element("EndYear").Value,
LastName = (string)n.Element("LastName").Value,
Title = (string)n.Element("Title").Value,
Subject = (string)n.Element("Subject").Value
}).ToList();
It is the way I retrieve the SourceTable element that feels wrong. Am I worrying too much or is there a better way? Also, is it better to work with c# expressions rather than queries?

Answer 1

If your document structure always has to contain those nodes your query (and accessing SourceTable) is fine. It's fairly obvious of what's going on given reader knows how XML looks like.
However, if you want more top-down approach (which might seem more natural and easier to grasp), you can always query Table node first and store FieldMapping in a variable, but I wouldn't say it has any advantages over your approach:
var nodes = (from table in doc.Descendants("Table")
let fieldMapping = table.Element("FieldMapping")
select new
{
SourceTable = (string)table.Element("SourceTable").Value,
RecordID = (string)fieldMapping.Element("RecordID").Value,
StartYear = (string)fieldMapping.Element("StartYear").Value,
EndYear = (string)fieldMapping.Element("EndYear").Value,
LastName = (string)fieldMapping.Element("LastName").Value,
Title = (string)fieldMapping.Element("Title").Value,
Subject = (string)fieldMapping.Element("Subject").Value
}).ToList();