Develop Reference

Remove root node and first child from XML document, while keeping second child node

I am currently developing a custom pipeline component for an XML document flow, where the root node and the first child of that root node needs to be stripped off, leaving only the second child node left (which is now the new root node).
I'm using XDocument as container class for the XML document. Ive written some code which gets the second child node, and creates a new XML document with that node as the root, thus removing the two undesired nodes from the picture.
XNode secondChild = xDoc.Root.Elements().First().NextNode;
XDocument outputXml = new XDocument(new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", "yes"),
secondChild);
But when I test this setup in Biztalk, I only get an empty document back as a response. It seems to create an empty XML document which is then returned.
To give an example of what I want to achieve:
I want to go from a structure like this:
<Root>
<FirstChild></FirstChild>
<SecondChild></SecondChild>
</Root>
To a simple structure like this:
<SecondChild></SecondChild>
The full code of the Execute method in the pipeline:
public IBaseMessage Execute(IPipelineContext pContext, IBaseMessage pInMsg)
{
var originalStream = pInMsg.BodyPart.GetOriginalDataStream();
XDocument xDoc; //new XML document to return as the message
using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(originalStream))
{
reader.MoveToContent();
xDoc = XDocument.Load(reader);
}
XNode secondChild = xDoc.Root.Elements().First().NextNode;
XDocument outputXml = new XDocument(new XDeclaration("1.0", "utf-8", "yes"),
secondChild);
// Returning stream, serializing the XML to byte array
byte[] output = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(outputXml.ToString());
MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
memoryStream.Write(output, 0, output.Length);
memoryStream.Position = 0;
pInMsg.BodyPart.Data = memoryStream; //overwrite the original message with the modified stream
return pInMsg;
}
Looking around on SO I found this answer, which I tried to follow, but as mentioned it produces an empty document. Is there a different option, other than simply creating a new XDocument?

If you develop a regular map to edit the document you can place it in the maps section of the receive port. It's simpler to create, test, and install than a pipeline component.

Correct way to add a namespace to an element using XmlDocument

I have to modify a incoming SOAP XML message to add a namespace to one of the elements so that the deserialisation will work. However when I add the xmlns attribute to the correct element, I get an error when I try to load the xml in to an XmlWriter via a stream (which I need to do to in my IClientMessageInspector implementation to replace the Message reply).
The prefix '' cannot be redefined from '' to 'http://www.example.com' within the same start element tag.
I have a work around, which is that after I've modifed the attribute, I reload the entire XML document from it's own OuterXML. This works for some reason, but makes me think there must be a 'correct' way to do this.
Here's a sample test that demonstrates the problem and my current solutions:
[Test]
public void XmlNamespaceTest()
{
var originalXmlString = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?><TestElement><Child>thing</Child></TestElement>";
var desiredXmlString = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?><TestElement xmlns=\"http://www.example.com\"><Child>thing</Child></TestElement>";
var doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(originalXmlString);
Assert.That(originalXmlString, Is.EqualTo(doc.OuterXml));
// Write this document via an XMLWriter
var ms = new MemoryStream();
var xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(ms);
doc.WriteTo(xmlWriter);
xmlWriter.Flush();
ms.Position = 0;
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ms);
var originalXmlViaXmlWriter = sr.ReadToEnd();
Assert.That(originalXmlString, Is.EqualTo(originalXmlViaXmlWriter));
// Add the namespace to the element
((XmlElement)doc.GetElementsByTagName("TestElement").Item(0))?.SetAttribute("xmlns", "http://www.example.com");
Assert.That(desiredXmlString, Is.EqualTo(doc.OuterXml));
// Now attempt to write this modified xml via an XMLWriter
ms.SetLength(0);
xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(ms);
//Uncomment line below to fix the error.
//doc.LoadXml(doc.OuterXml);
doc.WriteTo(xmlWriter);
xmlWriter.Flush();
ms.Position = 0;
sr = new StreamReader(ms);
var modifedXmlViaXmlWriter = sr.ReadToEnd();
Assert.That(desiredXmlString, Is.EqualTo(modifedXmlViaXmlWriter));
}

According to this you can't change an elements namespace in an XmlDocument. This is also what #LocEngineer found in his comment. The referenced article mentions that the only way to do this is to save and reload the XmlDocument, which is exactly what you are doing.
If you are in a position to use XDoxument instead, it is possible. See this answer for a solution.

Generate XML from C# Code

I have to generate specific XML data from code.
The XML needs to look like this
<this:declarationIdentifier xmlns:this="demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentifier"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentifier DeclarationGbIdentifier.xsd"
xmlns:nsIdentity="demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentityType">
<this:declarationIdentity>
<nsIdentity:declarationUcr>Hello World</nsIdentity:declarationUcr>
</this:declarationIdentity>
</this:declarationIdentifier>
I have dabbled with XmlSerializer and XDocument but cant get the output to match this exactly
Please help.

I believe this will produce your desired output. There possibly is a simpler way this is just off the cuff to get you started. With the prefixes that you are requiring I would look up XmlDocument and adding namespaces to it to have a better understanding of what the code below is doing. Also what I would do is attempt to acquire the XSD schema file and use the XSD.exe to build a .cs file and then you can move forward with the XmlSerializer. If you move forward with the code below i highly suggest moving off your namespaceuri's into some soft of settings file so you can easily modify them in the event they change.
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement root = doc.CreateElement("this", "declarationIdentifier", "demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentifier");
root.SetAttribute("xmlns:this", "demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentifier");
root.SetAttribute("xmlns:xsi", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance");
//Just setting an Attribute of xsi:schemaLocation it would always drop the xsi prefix in the xml so this is different to accomodate that
XmlAttribute schemaAtt = doc.CreateAttribute("xsi", "schemaLocation", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance");
schemaAtt.Value = "demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentifier DeclarationGbIdentifier.xsd";
root.Attributes.Append(schemaAtt);
root.SetAttribute("xmlns:nsIdentity", "demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentityType");
doc.AppendChild(root);
XmlElement declarationIdentity = doc.CreateElement("this", "declarationIdentity", "demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentifier");
XmlElement declarationUcr = doc.CreateElement("nsIdentity","declarationUcr","demo.org.uk/demo/DeclarationGbIdentityType");
declarationUcr.InnerText = "Hello World";
declarationIdentity.AppendChild(declarationUcr);
doc.DocumentElement.AppendChild(declarationIdentity);
To output this as a string or dump it off to a file you can use the following operations, I output to a file as well as output to the console in my test app.
using (var stringWriter = new StringWriter())
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(#"C:\<Path to File>\testing.xml"))
using (var xmlTextWriter = XmlWriter.Create(stringWriter))
{
doc.WriteTo(xmlTextWriter);
xmlTextWriter.Flush();
writer.Write(stringWriter.GetStringBuilder().ToString());
Console.WriteLine(stringWriter.GetStringBuilder().ToString());
}

XmlTextWriter serialize Object to XML element

I would like to perform object serialization to only one branch in an existing XML file. While reading by using:
RiskConfiguration AnObject;
XmlSerializer Xml_Serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(RiskConfiguration));
XmlTextReader XmlReader = new XmlTextReader(#"d:\Projects\RiskService\WCFRiskService\Web.config");
XmlReader.ReadToDescendant("RiskConfiguration");
try
{
AnObject = (RiskConfiguration)Xml_Serializer.Deserialize(XmlReader);
AnObject.Databases.Database[0].name = "NewName";
}
finally
{
XmlReader.Close();
}
It is possible, I do not know how to edit the object again performed it can save the file without erasing other existing elements in an XML file. Can anyone help me?
I found a way to display the desired item serialization. How do I go now instead of the paste to the original element in XML?
StringWriter wr = new StringWriter();
XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
settings.Indent = true;
settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;
settings.Encoding = System.Text.Encoding.Default;
using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(wr, settings))
{
XmlSerializerNamespaces emptyNamespace = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
emptyNamespace.Add(String.Empty, String.Empty);
Xml_Serializer.Serialize(writer, AnObject, emptyNamespace);
MessageBox.Show(wr.ToString());
}

First of all, you should stop using new XmlTextReader(). That has been deprecated since .NET 2.0. Use XmlReader.Create() instead.
Second, XML is not a random-access medium. You can't move forward and backwards, writing into the middle of the file. It's a text-based file.
If you need to "modify" the file, then you'll need to write a new version of the file. You could read from the original file, up to the point where you need to deserialize, writing the nodes out to a new version of the file. You could then deserialize from the original file, modify the objects, and serialize out to the new version. You could then continue reading from the original and writing the nodes out to the new version.

Process XML in C# using external entity file

I am processing an XML file (which does not contain any dtd or ent declarations) in C# that contains entities such as é and à. I receive the following exception when attempting to load an XML file...
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.LoadXml(record);
Reference to undeclared entity
'eacute'.
I was able to track down the proper ent file here. How do I tell XmlDocument to use this ent file when loading my XML file?

In versions of the framework prior to .Net 4 you use ProhibitDtd of an XmlReaderSettings instance.
var settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
settings.ProhibitDtd = false;
string DTD = #"<!DOCTYPE doc [
<!ENTITY % iso-lat1 PUBLIC ""ISO 8879:1986//ENTITIES Added Latin 1//EN//XML""
""http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xmlcharent/0.3/iso-lat1.ent"">
%iso-lat1;
]> ";
string xml = string.Concat(DTD,"<xml><txt>rené</txt></xml>");
XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();
xd.Load(XmlReader.Create(new MemoryStream(
UTF8Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xml)), settings));
From .Net 4.0 onward use the DtdProcessing property with a value of DtdProcessing.Parse which you set on the XmlTextReader.
XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();
using (var rdr = new XmlTextReader(new StringReader(xml)))
{
rdr.DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Parse;
xd.Load(rdr);
}

I ran into the same problem, and not wanting to modify my XML (or DTD), I decided to create my own XmlResolver to add entities on the fly.
My implementation actually reads entities from the config file, but this should be enough to do what you're asking for. In this example, I'm converting a right single curly quote into an apostrophe.
class XmlEntityResolver : XmlResolver {
public override object GetEntity(Uri absoluteUri,
string role,
Type ofObjectToReturn)
{
if (absoluteUri.toString() == "-//MY PUB ID") {
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(ms);
sw.Write("<!ENTITY rsquo \"'\">");
sw.Flush();
ms.Position = 0;
return ms;
}
else {
return base.GetEntity(absoluteUri, role, ofObjectToReturn);
}
}
}
Then, when you declare your XmlDocument, just set the resolver prior to load.
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.XmlResolver = new XmlEntityResolver();
doc.Load(XML_FILE);

é is not a valid XML entity by default whereas it is a valid HTML entity by default.
You would need to define é as a valid XML entity for XML parsing purposes.
EDIT:
To add a reference to your external ent file you need to do that within the XML file itself. Save the ent file to disk and place it within the same directory as the document being parsed.
<!ENTITY % stuff SYSTEM "iso-lat1.ent">
%stuff;
If you want to go a different route check out the information on ENTITY declaration.

According to this, you have to reference them within the file; you cannot tell LoadXml to do this for you.

Your question has been answered in 2004 itself at MSDN Article........ You can find it here.......
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa302289.aspx