C# XML - reading multiple elements at once

Question

I have this xml document:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<object>
    <name>Sphere</name>
    <material>Steel</material>
    <device Id="01">
        <model>Model 1</model>
        <color>Red</color>
    </device>
    <device Id="02">
        <model>Model 2</model>
        <color>Blue</color>
    </device>
</object>

I want to be able to read in a for loop both the model and the color of each device. My code can only read only one value at a time (either model or value) and I have to go through the loop twice.

I expect there should be a more elegant solution.

var xDoc = XDocument.Load(@"C:\_Projects\AProjectsCS\XML_Tutorial\Sample.xml");

IEnumerable<XElement> list1 = xDoc.Root.Descendants("model");  
IEnumerable<XElement> list2 = xDoc.XPathSelectElements("//color");  

foreach (XElement el in list1)
    Console.WriteLine(el.Value);

foreach (XElement el in list2)
    Console.WriteLine(el.Value);

Thanks, Nick

I wanted to be able to read two elements at the same time (I have two loops foreach). The solution proposed by Sergey avoided that, having only one loop. — Nick_F
– Nick_F, Commented Jan 4, 2014 at 10:08

Sergey Berezovskiy · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-04 08:58:52Z

2

Just select both model and color elements values from each device element (you can use either anonymous type, as below, or create your custom Device class to hold this data):

var xDoc = XDocument.Load(@"C:\_Projects\AProjectsCS\XML_Tutorial\Sample.xml");
var devices = from d in xDoc.Root.Elements("device")
              select new {
                  Model = (string)d.Element("model"),
                  Color = (string)d.Element("color")
              };

foreach(var device in devices)
{
    Console.WriteLine(device.Model);
    Console.WriteLine(device.Color);
}

answered Jan 4, 2014 at 8:58

Sergey Berezovskiy

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1 Comment

MiBol Over a year ago

Lovely solution

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