Select Multiple Values From Xml Document in One Statement

Question

I'm trying to select the values from two adjacent xml nodes at the same time using

var values =
            xDoc.Element("root")
                .Elements("model")
                .Where(x => x.Element("modelName").Value == modelType.ToString())
                .Elements("directory")
                .Select(x => new { x.Element("directoryName").Value,
                               x.Element("taskName").Value });

I'm getting red squiggles under the .Values saying "Duplicate anonymous type property name 'Value'. Here is the xml

    <root>
  <model>
    <modelName>Model1</modelName>
    <directory>
      <directoryName>Dir1</directoryName>
      <taskName>Task1</taskName>
    </directory>
  </model>
  <model>
    <modelName>Model2</modelName>
    <directory>
      <directoryName>FirstValue</directoryName>
      <taskName>SecondValue</taskName>
    </directory>
  </model>
</root>

I want to extract Dir1 and Task1 or FirstValue and SecondValue.

Sergey Berezovskiy · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-22 22:11:12Z

3

I suggest you to use casting elements to string instead of accessing their Value property. Because if element is missing (e.g. for Model1 you don't have taskName element) then you will get NullReferenceException.

var values = from m in xDoc.Root.Elements("model")
             where (string)m.Element("modelName") == modelType.ToString()
             let d = m.Element("directory")
             select new {
                Directory = (string)d.Element("directoryName"),
                Task = (string)d.Element("taskName")
             };

Also I find declarative (query) syntax more readable than lambda syntax (matter of taste). You can also use XPath to make query even more compact:

string xpath = String.Format("root/model[modelName='{0}']/directory", modelType);
var values = from d in xdoc.XPathSelectElements(xpath)
             select new {
                 Directory = (string)d.Element("directoryName"),
                 Task = (string)d.Element("taskName")
             };

edited Jan 22, 2014 at 22:11

answered Jan 22, 2014 at 21:41

Sergey Berezovskiy

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5 Comments

Sergey Berezovskiy Over a year ago

@reggaeguitar your code throws exception for sample xml you provided. Try it with modelType = "Model1"

reggaeguitar Over a year ago

It's in a method where you have to provide an enum for the model type, e.g ModelType.Model2 which will turn into the string "Model2" on the ToString() call. I just filled in the xml.

reggaeguitar Over a year ago

+1 for the xDoc.Root property, I was not aware of that.

Sergey Berezovskiy Over a year ago

@reggaeguitar thanks! BTW I added xpath sample which might by interesting to you

reggaeguitar Over a year ago

Very cool! I ran it through my unit tests and it passed with flying colors.

reggaeguitar · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-22 21:35:57Z

2

Figured it out, you just need to name the properties in the anonymous type

var values =
            xDoc.Element("root")
                .Elements("model")
                .Where(x => x.Element("modelName").Value == modelType.ToString())
                .Elements("directory")
                .Select(x => new { Directory = x.Element("directoryName").Value,
                                   Task = x.Element("taskName").Value });

answered Jan 22, 2014 at 21:35

reggaeguitar

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