parse an xml for a particular element value

Question

i have a xml like

{
<TrainTime>
<Train number="1">
<trainData>
<entry id="111"/>
<stations>
<station name="s1" id="s_s1" dep="11:10:00" arr=""/>
<station name="s2" id="s_s2" dep="" arr=""/>
<station name="s3" id="s_s3" dep="" arr=""/>
.
.
.
</stations>
</trainData>
</train>
<Train number="5">
<trainData>
<entry id="222"/>
<stations>
<station name="t1" id="s_t1" dep="" arr=""/>
<station name="t2" id="s_t2" dep="" arr=""/>
<station name="t3" id="s_t3" dep="" arr=""/>
.
.
.
 </stations>
</trainData>
</train>
</TrainTime>
}

Similarly, I have many train Numbers and their details. I want to parse the xml for a particular train number and get all the details related to it. Like if I want to get the details for train number 2.

I am using xpath as:

{xPath = "//Train[@number='1'/trainData/stations";}

Its not working and whats the correct way? Can this also be done through Linq Xml? How?

Side notes - you have station elements not closed here. Also stations is not closed. Also start tag Train does not match end tag train. Too many errors. Please, post valid xml — Sergey Berezovskiy
– Sergey Berezovskiy, Commented Mar 17, 2014 at 8:46
@SergeyBerezovskiy: sorry.. i have edited it now.. I can't post the actual xml here as it is more detailed than this so just posted a sample structure only to explain my problem in short. — Silver
– Silver, Commented Mar 17, 2014 at 8:53

Sergey Berezovskiy · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-17 08:56:54Z

3

If you are looking for XPath and Linq to Xml:

var xdoc = XDocument.Load(path_to_xml);
var data = xdoc.XPathSelectElement("//Train[@number='1']/trainData");
                                                       ^

You are missing closing bracket in your XPath query. That query will give you trainData XElement if there is any train matching your number in xml. Further parsing is simple:

if (data != null)
{
    int entryId = (int)data.Element("entry").Attribute("id");
    var stations = data.Element("stations")
                       .Elements("station")
                       .Select(s => new {
                            Name = (string)s.Attribute("name"),
                            Id = (string)s.Attribute("id"),
                            Arrival = (string)s.Attribute("arr"),
                            Departure = (string)s.Attribute("dep")
                       }).ToList();
}

You can also use pure Linq query without XPath. Following query will return first matching anonymous train object (if any) with its number, entry id and stations:

int number = 1; // number of train to find
var train = (from t in xdoc.Root.Elements("Train")
             let d = t.Element("trainData")
             where (int)t.Attribute("number") == number
             select new {
                Number = number,
                EntryId = (int)d.Element("entry").Attribute("id"),
                Stations = (from s in d.Element("stations").Elements("station")
                            select new {
                                 Name = (string)s.Attribute("name"),
                                 Id = (string)s.Attribute("id"),
                                 Arrival = (string)s.Attribute("arr"),
                                 Departure = (string)s.Attribute("dep")
                            }).ToList()
            }).FirstOrDefault();

NOTE - thus your sample xml is not valid (see comment under question) I assumed you have following structure of xml:

<TrainTime>
  <Train number="1">
    <trainData>
      <entry id="111"/>
      <stations>
        <station name="s1" id="s_s1" dep="11:10:00" arr=""/>
        <station name="s2" id="s_s2" dep="" arr=""/>
        <station name="s3" id="s_s3" dep="" arr=""/>
      </stations>
    </trainData>
  </Train>
  <Train number="5">
    <trainData>
      <entry id="222"/>
      <stations>
        <station name="t1" id="s_t1" dep="" arr=""/>
        <station name="t2" id="s_t2" dep="" arr=""/>
        <station name="t3" id="s_t3" dep="" arr=""/>
      </stations>
    </trainData>
  </Train>
</TrainTime>

If some names do not match, update query appropriately.

edited Mar 17, 2014 at 8:56

answered Mar 17, 2014 at 8:20

Sergey Berezovskiy

237k44 gold badges441 silver badges468 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Silver Over a year ago

Thanks for your answer I have placed the missing bracket but I am getting error @ var train = xdoc.XPathSelectElement("//Train[@number='1']"); has some invalid arguments..

Sergey Berezovskiy Over a year ago

@Vipasha make sure you have referenced System.Xml.Linq and System.Xml.XPath namespaces

Sergey Berezovskiy Over a year ago

@Vipasha I just verified query - it works fine. Make sure your code does not differs from mine. Note - I updated query due to element name changes in your sample xml

Silver Over a year ago

thanks all the solutions suggested by you are working..I prefer the one without XPath.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

parse an xml for a particular element value

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related