Searching XML Nodes

I have been trying to search an XML File. I have tried several methods but I can't get it to populate the nodes. Here is an example of the code I've tried.

XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load(filename.xml);

XmlNodeList nodes = document.DocumentElement.SelectNodes("/reports/metadata]");

foreach (XmlNode node in nodes)
{
// Show Search results
}

Here is a sample file I'm trying to parse.

         2014-01-21T20:28:06+00:00










       2014-01-22T18:01:34+00:00

I suspect you're having trouble because of the default namespace in the reports node. The names of the children will need to be qualified with this namespace.

Anyway, try this LINQ to XML code:

using System;

using System.Xml.Linq;

using System.Linq;

class Program

{

static void Main()

{

XElement reports = XElement.Load("miller.xml");

XNamespace ns = reports.GetDefaultNamespace();

foreach(XElement el in reports.Elements(ns + "metadata"))

{

XAttribute at = el.Attributes().First();

Console.WriteLine("metadata section = {0}\n", at.Value);

foreach(XElement item in el.Elements(ns + "item"))

{

XAttribute at2 = item.Attributes().First();

Console.WriteLine(" item name = {0}", at2.Value);

}

Console.WriteLine();

}

Console.ReadKey();

}

}

The output is:

metadata section = Additional Fields

item name = Report Number

item name = Department

item name = Unit

item name = name

item name = Location

metadata section = Report Data

item name = start date/time

item name = end date/time

item name = Identifier

item name = Version

item name = Report type

This code, of course, only gets the metadata nodes which are children of the reports node - it doesn't get those nodes which are children of the files or file nodes.

2 Replies

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Vulpes12y ago
Accepted answer
I suspect you're having trouble because of the default namespace in the reports node. The names of the children will need to be qualified with this namespace.

Anyway, try this LINQ to XML code:

using System;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Linq;

class Program
{
static void Main()
{
XElement reports = XElement.Load("miller.xml");
XNamespace ns = reports.GetDefaultNamespace();

foreach(XElement el in reports.Elements(ns + "metadata"))
{
XAttribute at = el.Attributes().First();
Console.WriteLine("metadata section = {0}\n", at.Value);

foreach(XElement item in el.Elements(ns + "item"))
{
XAttribute at2 = item.Attributes().First();
Console.WriteLine(" item name = {0}", at2.Value);
}

Console.WriteLine();
}

Console.ReadKey();
}
}

The output is:

metadata section = Additional Fields

item name = Report Number
item name = Department
item name = Unit
item name = name
item name = Location

metadata section = Report Data

item name = start date/time
item name = end date/time
item name = Identifier
item name = Version
item name = Report type

This code, of course, only gets the metadata nodes which are children of the reports node - it doesn't get those nodes which are children of the files or file nodes.
Stephen Miller12y ago
Thanks. I will try that.