Retrieving Integer with XML Task

G'day All,

  I have an XML file in which I am trying to pull one element, an Integer, into a variable via the XML Task. As I wish to use this variable within a subsequent loop, I need to extract as an int but the XML Task insists on having it defined as a string. Can anyone provide ideas on how I can suitably obtain this value as an int?

I am not able to pull as a string and then do a cast to an int (populating another variable) nor set the XPath operation to "Evaluation" and run a "number" function on the field. As someone must have needed such a requirement before, how is this resolved?

TIA