Parsing a xml string & retrieving its attribute Value using Linq to XML C#

Question

I am quite new to Linq to XML & trying to Parse a xml string & retrieve its attribute Value using Linq to XML in C#.

My XML string looks like :

<configuration xmlns:lui="http://www.xyz.com/UITags">
   <pub id="pubId1" lang="en-US">
     <configitem name="visible" value="visible"/>
     <configitem name="working_status" value="unlocked"/>
     <configitem name="prepared" value="prepared"/>
   </pub>
.....
.....
   <pub id="Pub2" lang="es-XM">...</pub>
....
....
</configuration>

I want to fetch the value of 'id' & 'lang' from pub node & value of attribute named 'working_status' from configitem Node.

Now as I am getting the above xml as a string parameter (i.e. myXmlData), by doing

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
            doc.LoadXml(myXmlData);
XmlNodeList publicationsNodeList = doc.SelectNodes("//configuration/pub");

... ...

Then I have to loop through using foreach, which I want to avoid as much as possible. Can anyone help me how to achieve this using Linq to XML in C#, rather then conventional way.

Sergey Berezovskiy · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-04 08:08:31Z

5

Following LINQ to XML query will return sequence of anonymous objects with id, lang, and working status of pub elements:

var xdoc = XDocument.Parse(myXmlData);
var query = 
  from p in xdoc.Root.Elements("pub")
  let ws = p.Elements("configitem")
            .FirstOrDefault(c => (string)c.Attribute("name") == "working_status")
  select new {
      Id = (string)p.Attribute("id"),
      Lang = (string)p.Attribute("lang"),
      WorkingStatus = (ws == null) ? null : (string)ws.Attribute("value")
  };

For your sample xml it returns two objects with following data:

{
   Id = "pubId1",
   Lang = "en-US",
   WorkingStatus = "unlocked"
},
{
   Id = "Pub2",
   Lang = "es-XM",
   WorkingStatus = null
}

edited Dec 4, 2013 at 8:08

answered Dec 4, 2013 at 8:02

Sergey Berezovskiy

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8 Comments

Biki Over a year ago

Thanks for quick response. Do I need to add any namespace for following error? NB : I already ve added System.Linq.

Biki Over a year ago

Error 130 'System.Xml.Linq.XElement' does not contain a definition for 'FirstOrDefault' and no extension method 'FirstOrDefault' accepting a first argument of type 'System.Xml.Linq.XElement' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

Sergey Berezovskiy Over a year ago

@Biki yes, you need to add System.Linq namespace for this extension method

Biki Over a year ago

As I mentioned, I already have added System.Linq, but still seeing this error. Also I am not able to find System.Linq to add in my reference from framework section.

decPL Over a year ago

@Biki looking at your error message: any chance you've typed p.Element("configitem") (without s)?

|

Shreya · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-23 09:24:33Z

1

var query = from x in xdoc.Descendants("pub")
                select new
                {
                    Id = (string)x.Attribute("id"),
                    Lang = (string)x.Attribute("lang"),                        
                    Name = x.Descendants("configitem").Select(y => y.Attribute("name").Value).FirstOrDefault(y => y == "working_status")
                };

answered Dec 23, 2013 at 9:24

Shreya

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