ASP.NET my Linq code for nullable DateTime comparison is failing - asp.net

Question

My app allows user to upload an XML file, which I pass as an XDocument into my method. All the values are attribute strings, and I am using Linq to XML and Linq to SQL.
The dateCutoff query is supposed to get the latest date from SQL table - InsDate is nullable.
The where clause in the inspections XML query is supposed to get inspection elements with the inspection_date attribute value later than the dateCutoff value. I am using DateTime.Parse and Date.CompareTo, but am coming up empty.
What am I missing? Any help is much appreciated.
public IEnumerable<XElement> getInspections(XDocument xDoc)
{
IEnumerable<XElement> inspections = null;
using (InspectionDataContext db = new InspectionDataContext())
{
// get the latest date already in Inspections table
DateTime? dateCutoff = (from d in db.Inspections
select d.InsDate).Max();
if (dateCutoff.HasValue)
{
dateCutoff = dateCutoff.Value.Date;
}
// get only the inspections later than the dateCutoff
inspections = from i in xDoc.Descendants("inspections")
where DateTime.Parse(i.Element("inspection").Attribute("inspection_date").Value).Date.CompareTo(dateCutoff) == 1
select i;
}
return inspections;
}

Answer 1

I'm gong to make a few assumptions here because it's not totally clear as written.
1. You want to return "inspection" elements (not the "inspections" container elements).
2. You want to return only elements whose dates are greater than the cutoff
3. If the cutoff is null, you want to return all inspections.
In that case, you'd do something like this:
var inspections = xDoc.Descendents("inspection");
if (!dateCutoff.HasValue)
return inspections;
return inspections.Where(i => (DateTime)i.Attribute("inspection_date") > dateCutoff.Value )

Answer 2

Here is what works:
DateTime? dateCutoff;
using (InspectionDataContext db = new InspectionDataContext())
{
// get the latest date already in Inspections table
DateTime? dateCutoffQ = (from d in db.Inspections
select d.InsDate).Max();
if (dateCutoffQ.HasValue)
{
dateCutoff = dateCutoffQ.Value.Date;
}
else
{
dateCutoff = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-20).Date;
}
string date1 = dateCutoff.ToString();
// get only the inspections later than the dateCutoff
inspectionList = from i in xDoc.Descendants("inspection")
where DateTime.Parse(i.Attribute("inspection_date").Value).Date > dateCutoff
select i;