'Return RequestType created from an xml string.'

def from_elem(self, elem, request_form, sample_form, external_service):

    name = elem.get('name', '')
    description = elem.get('description', '')
    rval = self.new(name, request_form, sample_form, external_service=external_service, description=description)
    sample_states_elem = elem.find('sample_states')
    if sample_states_elem:
        for sample_state_elem in sample_states_elem.findall('state'):
            self.sample_state_factory.from_elem(rval, sample_state_elem)
    return rval
