Develop Reference

Load repeated elements from an XML file

I am looking to load repeated elements from an XML file I have called initialInspections.xml. The problem is that the system needs to be dynamic and to allow as many different inspectionNotes to be added. I need to input all of them even though they have the same name.
If someone could please give me a method of doing this I would be extremely appreciative, since I have been searching for almost 3 hours now and I haven't found anything that works.
I need all off the data from within each inspectionNote node, and it will be put into an array of a structure called initialInspectionNotes.
Here is what I have up to now:
public int propertyID;
public string initialInspectorUsername;
public DateTime intialDateTime;
public struct initialInspectionNotes
{
public string locationWithinProperty;
public string locationExtraNote;
public string costCode;
public float estimatedTime;
}
private void finalInspection_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Open the intialInspections xml file and load the values into the form
XmlDocument xdoc = new XmlDocument();
FileStream rFile = new FileStream(values.xmlInitialFileLocation, FileMode.Open);
xdoc.Load(rFile);
XmlNodeList list = xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("initialInspection");
for (int i = 0; i < list.Count; i++)
{
XmlElement initialInspection = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("initialInspection")[i];
XmlElement initialInspector = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("userInspection")[i];
XmlElement dateTime = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("dateTime")[i];
propertyID = int.Parse(initialInspection.GetAttribute("propertyID"));
initialInspectorUsername = initialInspector.InnerText;
intialDateTime = DateTime.Parse(dateTime.InnerText);
}
rFile.Close();
}
The XML looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<initialInspections>
<initialInspection propertyID="1">
<userInspection>defaultadmin</userInspection>
<dateTime>07/11/2015 17:15:20</dateTime>
<inspectionNote>
<location>Dining Room</location>
<locationNote>Remove whole carpet, leave underlay</locationNote>
<CostCode>L1</CostCode>
<estimatedTime>5</estimatedTime>
</inspectionNote>
<inspectionNote>
<location>Other - See Notes</location>
<locationNote>On the marked area with orange spray paint.</locationNote>
<CostCode>B1</CostCode>
<estimatedTime>12</estimatedTime>
</inspectionNote>
</initialInspection>
</initialInspections>
Any help would be much appreciated.

class Note
{
public string Location { get; set; }
public string LocationNote { get; set; }
public string CodeCost { get; set; }
public string EstimatedTime { get; set; }
}
var xml = XElement.Load(...your xml path here );
var data = xml.Descendants("initialInspection").Elements("inspectionNote").Select(n => new Note()
{
Location = n.Element("location").Value,
LocationNote = n.Element("locationNote").Value,
CodeCost = n.Element("CostCode").Value,
EstimatedTime = n.Element("estimatedTime").Value
}).ToList();

One possibility would be to use the LINQ2XML and the LINQ Descendants method to fetch all inspectionNotes at once:
var xml = XDocument.Load(fileLocation); // for example c:\temp\input.xml
// fetch all inspectionNotes
var inspectionNotes = xml.Root.Descendants("inspectionNote").ToList();
// TODO: error handling!
// map inspectionNote node to custom structure
var arrayOfNotes = inspectionNotes.Select (n => new initialInspectionNotes
{
costCode = n.Element("CostCode").Value,
estimatedTime = float.Parse(n.Element("estimatedTime").Value),
locationExtraNote = n.Element("locationNote").Value,
locationWithinProperty = n.Element("location").Value,
})
// and convert the result to array holding elements of the custom structure
.ToArray();
foreach (var note in arrayOfNotes)
{
Console.WriteLine(note.locationExtraNote);
}
The output is:
Remove whole carpet, leave underlay
On the marked area with orange spray paint.
Same logic applies if you want to read and map another XML nodes (f.e. initialInspection).
If you need to use XmlReader then use XPath in order to fetch the inner inspectionNote elements and the values of every inspectionNote element, using XmlNode.SelectSingleNode and XmlNode.SelectNodes:
//Open the intialInspections xml file and load the values into the form
XmlDocument xdoc = new XmlDocument();
FileStream rFile = new FileStream(values.xmlInitialFileLocation, FileMode.Open);
xdoc.Load(rFile);
XmlNodeList list = xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("initialInspection");
// create list of initialInspectionNotes in order to add as many nodes as needed
var notes = new List<initialInspectionNotes>();
// map data
for (int i = 0; i < list.Count; i++)
{
// read data
XmlElement initialInspection = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("initialInspection")[i];
XmlElement initialInspector = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("userInspection")[i];
XmlElement dateTime = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("dateTime")[i];
propertyID = int.Parse(initialInspection.GetAttribute("propertyID"));
initialInspectorUsername = initialInspector.InnerText;
intialDateTime = DateTime.Parse(dateTime.InnerText);
// fetch notes!
var inspectionNotes = initialInspection.SelectNodes("inspectionNote");
foreach (XmlNode inspectionNote in inspectionNotes)
{
// insert data into list
notes.Add(new initialInspectionNotes
{
locationExtraNote = inspectionNote.SelectSingleNode("locationNote").InnerText,
costCode = inspectionNote.SelectSingleNode("CostCode").InnerText,
locationWithinProperty = inspectionNote.SelectSingleNode("location").InnerText
});
}
}
// convert to array if needed
//var arrayOfNotes = notes.ToArray();
rFile.Close();
Regardless of how many inspectionNote elements the XML contains, the list resp. array will read them all.

class InitialInspectionNotes
{
public string Location { get; set; }
public string LocationNote { get; set; }
public string CodeCost { get; set; }
public string EstimatedTime { get; set; }
}
var xdoc = XDocument.Load("yourpath\filename.xml");
var dataXml = xdoc.Descendants("initialInspection").Elements("inspectionNote").Select(n => new InitialInspectionNotes()
{
Location = n.Element("location").Value,
LocationNote = n.Element("locationNote").Value,
CodeCost = n.Element("CostCode").Value,
EstimatedTime = n.Element("estimatedTime").Value
}).ToList();
var xmlList = new List<object>();
for (int i = 0; i < dataXml.Count; i++)
{
xmlList.Add(dataXml[i]);
}

Despite all the answers above might have worked, I have however found it quite complicated for reading just elements. I found a simpler solution which I would like to share for future audience in this case.
Supposing you have read the document stream into XmlDocument object named as document.
var dataNodes = document.GetElementsByTagName("Data");
var toList = dataNodes.OfType<XmlElement>().ToList();
In my case, Data node was not being called repeatedly. Hence this works, now I was able to append multiple nodes with the same name.

XML to String List

I have some code that I need to put into a string list in C# and I am reading this code from an XML files and the layout of it is something like below...
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<accountlist>
<main>
<account id="1" special_id="4923959">
<username>Adam</username>
<motto>Hello Everyone>
<money>1004</money>
<friends>394</friends>
<rareid>9</rareid>
<mission>10</mission>
</account>
</main>
</accountlist>
How can I put each account tag into a string list? from the first < account > to the < / account > tag?
Please do NOT tell me to go to the link below as it does NOT work!!
How to read a XML file and write into List<>?
So far I have tried the below code, and the string list just stays empty
XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(this._accountsFile);
List<string> list = doc.Root.Elements("account")
.Select(element => element.Value)
.ToList();
this._accounts = list;

You'll have to use Descendants instead of Elements:
List<string> list = doc.Root.Descendants("account").Descendants()
.Select(element => element.Value)
.ToList();
Elements only returns child elements of the element (in case of the root element this means <main>).
Descendants returns the entire tree inside the element.
Also: You'll have to fix the tag <motto>Hello Everyone> to <motto>Hello Everyone</motto>

This will work on your example (but you need to close this tag <motto>Hello Everyone>
public List<string> GetAccountsAsXmlList(string filePath)
{
XmlDocument x = new XmlDocument();
x.Load(filePath);
List<string> result = new List<string>();
XmlNode currentNode;
foreach (var accountNode in x.LastChild.FirstChild.ChildNodes)
{
currentNode = accountNode as XmlNode;
result.Add(currentNode.InnerXml);
}
return result;
}
EDIT as an answer to your question:
Is there a way I can get the id and specal_id in a seperate string?
you can use currentNode.Attributes["YourAttributeName"].Value, to get the values.
assume you have class Account :
class Account
{
public string accountXml { get; set; }
public string Id { get; set; }
public string Special_id { get; set; }
}
Then :
public List<Account> GetAccountsAsXmlList(string filePath)
{
XmlDocument x = new XmlDocument();
x.Load(filePath);
List<Account> result = new List<Account>();
XmlNode currentNode;
foreach (var accountNode in x.LastChild.FirstChild.ChildNodes)
{
currentNode = accountNode as XmlNode;
result.Add(new Account
{
accountXml = currentNode.InnerXml,
Id = currentNode.Attributes["id"].Value,
Special_id = currentNode.Attributes["special_id"].Value,
});
}
return result;
}

Use XPath to get the account element first:
using System.Xml.XPath;
XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
foreach(var account in doc.XPathSelectElements("accountlist/main/account")){
List<string> list = account.Descendants()
.Select(element => element.Value)
.ToList();
}

Try this
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;
namespace ConsoleApplication37
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string input =
"<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>" +
"<accountlist>" +
"<main>" +
"<account id=\"1\" special_id=\"4923959\">" +
"<username>Adam</username>" +
"<motto>" +
"Hello Everyone>" +
"<money>1004</money>" +
"<friends>394</friends>" +
"<rareid>9</rareid>" +
"<mission>10</mission>" +
"</motto>" +
"</account>" +
"</main>" +
"</accountlist>";
XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(input);
var results = doc.Descendants("accountlist").Select(x => new {
id = x.Element("main").Element("account").Attribute("id").Value,
special_id = x.Element("main").Element("account").Attribute("special_id").Value,
username = x.Element("main").Element("account").Element("username").Value,
motto = x.Element("main").Element("account").Element("motto").FirstNode.ToString(),
money = x.Element("main").Element("account").Element("motto").Element("money").Value,
friends = x.Element("main").Element("account").Element("motto").Element("friends").Value,
rareid = x.Element("main").Element("account").Element("motto").Element("rareid").Value,
mission = x.Element("main").Element("account").Element("motto").Element("mission").Value,
}).ToList();
}
}
}

Array in C# with data of XML

I get a XML and I want to get the value of Role to make an array in C#, and then remove the same value to make another one.xml goes here:
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="1"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="1"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="1"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
Here is my start up, I get all the Role, but when I add them in to an array it doesn't show the value of the Role, just get System.Int32[].
The load xml and transform to class code goes here:
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml("<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="1"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="1"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="1"></Phrase>
<Phrase Role="2"></Phrase>");
//get all the phrases
XmlNodeList phrases = xml.GetElementsByTagName("Phrase");
foreach (XmlNode phraseNode in phrases)
{
Phrase phrase = NodeToPhrase(phraseNode);
phrasesList.Add(phrase);
}
//Phrase node to phrase
private Phrase NodeToPhrase(XmlNode node)
{
Phrase phrase = new Phrase();
XmlNode roleNode = node.Attributes["Role"];
if (roleNode != null && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(roleNode.Value))
phrase.Role = roleNode.Value;
return phrase;
}
//Crate a phrase class
public Dictionary<string, Phrase> Phrases = new Dictionary<string, Phrase>();
public class Phrase
{
public string Role = null;
}
My create array and remove the same value code goes here:
//Create Array
List<int> roleIntList = new List<int>();
foreach(var roles in Phrases){
var roleNode = roles.Value as Phrase;
int roleNum = int.Parse(roleNode.Role);
roleIntList.Add(roleNum);//this can't get value 2,1,1,2,1,2;;
int [] roleInt = roleIntList.Distinct().ToArray();//this not work;
}

Looking at the code labeled // Create Array it looks like you may want to move this line:
int [] roleInt = roleIntList.Distinct().ToArray();
to be outside the foreach loop:
List<int> roleIntList = new List<int>();
foreach(var roles in Phrases){
var roleNode = roles.Value as Phrase;
int roleNum = int.Parse(roleNode.Role);
roleIntList.Add(roleNum);//this can't get value 2,1,1,2,1,2;;
}
int [] roleInt = roleIntList.Distinct().ToArray();//this not work;

First, if you're going to use an XML API then LINQ to XML XDocument is far better to work with than the creaking XmlDocument API.
Second, if you're just trying to get the XML into an object model then XmlSerializer is what you should be looking at. You will have very little code to write in comparison to manually parsing this:
[XmlRoot("Phrases")]
public class Phrases : List<Phrase>
{
}
public class Phrase
{
[XmlAttribute]
public int Role { get; set; }
}
To deserialize your XML:
var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Phrases));
using (var reader = new StringReader(xml))
{
var phrasesList = (Phrases)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
}
And to get your unique roles:
var uniqueRoles = phrasesList.Select(p => p.Role).Distinct();
I've assumed that your XML has a root node (your code above would throw an exception as it doesn't). For the example, I'm using Phrases, though if you add more information I can change this.

Get data from XML in simple way

I am using the following code to get data from the OData XML and its works ,
but I am not sure that I fully understand it so maybe there is a way to write it in simple way?
what i need is to get the property value which is in the first loop value = 0001 and text = approve and in the
second value = 0002 text = reject
The code
XNamespace dns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices";
if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
string decisionOptions = ReadResponse(response);
XDocument document = XDocument.Parse(decisionOptions);
foreach (XElement element in document.Element(dns + "DecisionOptions").Elements(dns + "element"))
{
PropertyKeyRef decisionOption = new PropertyKeyRef();
decisionOption.PropertyValue = element.Element(dns + "DecisionKey").Value;
decisionOption.PropertyName = element.Element(dns + "DecisionText").Value;
dat.Add(decisionOption);
}
}
the XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <d:DecisionOptions xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata">
- <d:element m:type="TAS.DecisionOption">
<d:InstanceID>007</d:InstanceID>
<d:DecisionKey>0001</d:DecisionKey>
<d:DecisionText>Approve</d:DecisionText>
<d:CommentMandatory>false</d:CommentMandatory>
<d:Nature>POSITIVE</d:Nature>
</d:element>
- <d:element m:type="TAS.DecisionOption">
<d:InstanceID>007</d:InstanceID>
<d:DecisionKey>0002</d:DecisionKey>
<d:DecisionText>Reject</d:DecisionText>
<d:CommentMandatory>true</d:CommentMandatory>
<d:Nature>NEGATIVE</d:Nature>
</d:element>
</d:DecisionOptions>

here how can do it in simple way using LINQ
namespace ConsoleApplication7
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
XDocument xdoc = XDocument.Load("test.xml");
XNamespace dns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices";
//in xml every element should have it's namespace for this reason I have to concatenate namespace with the name of element
var elementsRes = xdoc.Root.Elements(dns+"element").Select((elt) => new PropertyKeyRef { PropertyName = elt.Element(dns+"DecisionKey").Value.ToString(),PropertyValue = elt.Element(dns+"DecisionText").Value.ToString() }).ToList();
foreach (var item in elementsRes)
{
//your code for the result
}
}
}
public class PropertyKeyRef
{
public string PropertyName
{ get; set; }
public string PropertyValue
{ get; set; }
}
}

You have already achieved it in simplest way. Little bit of LINQ might improve readability (get away with foreach loop) but it's just syntactic sugar of what you have written.
XNamespace dns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices";
XDocument document = XDocument.Load("database.xml");
PropertyKeyRef decisionOption = new PropertyKeyRef();
decisionOption.PropertyValue = document.Descendants(dns + "DecisionKey")
.Select(node => node.Value).First();
decisionOption.PropertyName = document.Descendants(dns + "DecisionText")
.Select(node => node.Value).First();
dat.Add(decisionOption);

read only particular instance using xmlreader

I have a xml file that looks like
<Name>AAA</Name>
<Age>23</Age>
<I1>
<Element1>A</Element1>
<Element2>B</Element2>
<Element3>C</Element3>
<\I1>
<I2>
<Element1>AA</Element1>
<Element2>BB</Element2>
<Element3>CC</Element3>
</I2>
I am reading all the values of elements using xmlreader in C# 3.0. But now i have to change by reading only the values within particular start and end tage. For the xml file mentioned above, i need to read <Name>, <Age> by default and then i have a function that returns the value "I1" or "I2" which is basically the element names. If it returns "I1" then i should read only the elements between <I1> and </I1> and should not read <I2> and vice versa. So the code structure would be (just the logic please ignore the syntax errors) like
/******function that returns element name I1 or I2*********/
string elementName = func(a,b);
xmlreader reader = reader.create("test.xml");
while(reader.read())
{
switch(reader.nodetype)
{
case xmlnodetype.element:
string nodeName = reader.name
break;
case xmlnodetype.text
switch(nodeName)
{
/*************Read default name and age values*******/
case "Name":
string personName = reader.value
break;
case "Age":
string personAge = reader.value;
break;
/*******End of reading default values**************/
/*** read only elements between the value returned by function name above
If function returns I1 then i need to read only values between <I1> </I1> else read </I2> and </I2>**/
}
}
}
Thanks!

So assuming, since we dont have any other tags to go off, that your file would look something such as this from beginning to end
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<RootElement>
<UserInformation>
<Name>AAA</Name>
<Age>23</Age>
<I1>
<Element1>A</Element1>
<Element2>B</Element2>
<Element3>C</Element3>
<\I1>
<I2>
<Element1>AA</Element1>
<Element2>BB</Element2>
<Element3>CC</Element3>
</I2>
</UserInformation>
</RootElement>
and then to call it
System.IO.StreamReader sr = new System.IO.StreamReader("test.xml");
String xmlText = sr.ReadToEnd();
sr.Close();
List<UserInfo> finalList = readXMLDoc(xmlText);
if(finalList != null)
{
//do something
}
private List<UserInfo> readXMLDoc(String fileText)
{
//create a list of Strings to hold our user information
List<UserInfo> userList = new List<UserInfo>();
try
{
//create a XmlDocument Object
XmlDocument xDoc = new XmlDocument();
//load the text of the file into the XmlDocument Object
xDoc.LoadXml(fileText);
//Create a XmlNode object to hold the root node of the XmlDocument
XmlNode rootNode = null;
//get the root element in the xml document
for (int i = 0; i < xDoc.ChildNodes.Count; i++)
{
//check to see if we hit the root element
if (xDoc.ChildNodes[i].Name == "RootElement")
{
//assign the root node
rootNode = xDoc.ChildNodes[i];
break;
}
}
//Loop through each of the child nodes of the root node
for (int j = 0; j < rootNode.ChildNodes.Count; j++)
{
//check for the UserInformation tag
if (rootNode.ChildNodes[j].Name == "UserInformation")
{
//assign the item node
XmlNode userNode = rootNode.ChildNodes[j];
//create userInfo object to hold results
UserInfo userInfo = new UserInfo();
//loop through each if the user tag's elements
foreach (XmlNode subNode in userNode.ChildNodes)
{
//check for the name tag
if (subNode.Name == "Name")
{
userInfo._name = subNode.InnerText;
}
//check for the age tag
if (subNode.Name == "Age")
{
userInfo._age = subNode.InnerText;
}
String tagToLookFor = "CallTheMethodThatReturnsTheCorrectTag";
//check for the tag
if (subNode.Name == tagToLookFor)
{
foreach (XmlNode elementNode in subNode.ChildNodes)
{
//check for the element1 tag
if (elementNode.Name == "Element1")
{
userInfo._element1 = elementNode.InnerText;
}
//check for the element2 tag
if (elementNode.Name == "Element2")
{
userInfo._element2 = elementNode.InnerText;
}
//check for the element3 tag
if (elementNode.Name == "Element3")
{
userInfo._element3 = elementNode.InnerText;
}
}
}
}
//add the userInfo to the list
userList.Add(userInfo);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(e.Message);
return null;
}
//return the list
return userList;
}
//struct to hold information
struct UserInfo
{
public String _name;
public String _age;
public String _element1;
public String _element2;
public String _element3;
}