Get value of xml attribute as string

Question

I have a set of xml that i have in an XElement that looks like this:

<Object type="Item_Element">
  <Property name="IDValue1" value="somevaluethatihave"/>
  <Property name="IDValue2" value="somevaluethatineed"/>
  <Property name="IDValue3" value="somevaluethatihaveanddonotneed"/>
</Object>

I would like to get the value attribute value of IDValue2 as a string instead of as an XElement

I have tried doing so with this:

var meID = from el in linkedTeethInfo.DescendantsAndSelf("Property") 
    where (string)el.Attribute("name") == "IDValue2" 
    select el.Attribute("value");

As well as some other combinations that did not work and kept returning it in the XElement format listed as an index value. I was wondering if it would be possible to get the single value somevaluethatineed as a string? I would preferably like to have this using one variable and not have to break this down into multiple steps.

XElement.Attribute returns an XAttribute: Are you sure you're getting an XElement because that's not what the quoted code will return (IEnumerable<XAttribute>). Have you considered getting the Value property of each returned node? — Richard
– Richard, Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 13:27
@Richard - It may be an XAttribute. Like I said, I am still trying to get my barrings with all of this. I have also tried getting the Value and it leaves me in the same position. — scapegoat17
– scapegoat17, Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 13:56

Sergey Kalinichenko · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-10 14:01:28Z

2

XElement class provides Value property. You can use it to get the text associated with the element:

IEnumerable<string> meID = from el in linkedTeethInfo.DescendantsAndSelf("Property") 
    where (string)el.Attribute("name") == "IDValue2" 
    select el.Attribute("value").Value;

You could also cast your attribute to string the way you did in the where clause:

IEnumerable<string> meID = from el in linkedTeethInfo.DescendantsAndSelf("Property") 
    where (string)el.Attribute("name") == "IDValue2" 
    select (string)el.Attribute("value");

If you know that there is only one "IDValue2" among the elements, you can get a single string like this:

string meID = (from el in linkedTeethInfo.DescendantsAndSelf("Property") 
    where (string)el.Attribute("name") == "IDValue2" 
    select el.Attribute("value").Value).FirstOrDefault();

edited Dec 10, 2014 at 14:01

answered Dec 10, 2014 at 13:26

Sergey Kalinichenko

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1 Comment

scapegoat17 Over a year ago

Doing this still provides me with the same type of format that I am currently getting with my variable. Where the value is set to an index. Am I thinking about this the wrong way?

Andrey Korneyev · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-10 13:38:57Z

0

You can get that value even without explicit LINQ query (and it looks more elegant for me) like this:

var value = your_XElement
    .XPathSelectElement("Property[@name='IDValue2']")
    .Attribute("value")
    .Value;

edited Dec 10, 2014 at 13:38

answered Dec 10, 2014 at 13:33

Andrey Korneyev

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3 Comments

scapegoat17 Over a year ago

.XPathSelectElement is not even an option in intellisense.

Andrey Korneyev Over a year ago

@scapegoat17 Have you System.Xml.Linq referenced in your project? See msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb156083%28v=vs.100%29.aspx for information about XPathSelectElement

Richard Over a year ago

@scapegoat17 To access that method you need to have a using System.Xml.XPath in scope as it is an extension method from that namespace.

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