XPATH returns null for XML with namespace

Question

I have the following XML.

<ArrayOfString xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://localhost/gsainis/GsaInisWebService">
    <string>
        <gsafeed>
            <group action="add">
                <record>
                 ......
                 ......
                </record>
            </group>
        </gsafeed>
   </string>
</ArrayOfString>

I am using C# code (.NET 4.0) to parse this XML. I am using the code below to select all <record> nodes in the above XML.

XmlNamespaceManager xmlnsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(INISRecordXMLdoc.NameTable);
xmlnsmgr.AddNamespace("xsi", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance");
xmlnsmgr.AddNamespace("xsd", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema");
xmlnsmgr.AddNamespace(string.Empty, "http://localhost/gsainis/GsaInisWebService");

foreach (XmlNode node in INISRecordXMLdoc.SelectNodes("//ArrayOfString/string/gsafeed/group/record",xmlnsmgr))
{
    //Do something
}

The problem is the foreach loop is never executed. What should be correct XPath to be used such that I get all the <record> nodes?

marc_s · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-27 06:04:24Z

6

Try this - I've had trouble in the past with having an "empty" XML prefix:

XmlNamespaceManager xmlnsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(INISRecordXMLdoc.NameTable);
xmlnsmgr.AddNamespace("ns", "http://localhost/gsainis/GsaInisWebService");

foreach (XmlNode node in INISRecordXMLdoc.SelectNodes("//ns:ArrayOfString/ns:string/ns:gsafeed/ns:group/ns:record", xmlnsmgr))
{
   // Do something
}

Use something other than an empty string - and use that XML namespace prefix in your XPath.

answered Jul 27, 2012 at 6:04

marc_s

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1 Comment

radbyx Over a year ago

I read about XmlNamespaceManager two days ago. And now here. Now I just need to use it my self, and it will be natural for me to use in the future :)

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