Getting XML data from the string

Question

string xml = "<ABCProperties> <Action> Yes | No | None </Action><Content>
<Header> Header Text </Header><Body1> Body Paragraph 1 </Body1>
<BodyN> Body Paragraph N</BodyN></Content><IsTrue> true | false </IsTrue>
<Duration> Long | Short </Duration></ABCProperties>";

Here, from the XML, I want to extract certain strings. First is the Header Text in the Header tags.

When, I try

XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
var a = doc.Descendants("Header").Single();

I get variable a = <Header> Header Text </Header>. How can I get only var a = Header Text?

Secondly, I want to get text of all the Body paragrahs. It can be either Body1, Body2 or BodyN. How can I get contents of all Body tags.

Can anyone help me with this?

Your question doesn't make very much sense at the moment, even after I've edited the formatting a bit. A variable isn't <Header> Header Text </Header> - it's just a variable. If you convert the variable to a string, you might get "<Header> Header Text </Header> but you should clarify that that's what you mean. — Jon Skeet
– Jon Skeet, Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 16:23

Jon Skeet · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-19 16:21:54Z

3

You're asking for the Header element - so that's what it gives you. If you only want the text of that, you can just use:

var headerText = doc.Descendants("Header").Single().Value;

To find all the body tags, just use a Where clause:

var bodyText = doc.Descendants()
                  .Where(x => x.Name.LocalName.StartsWith("Body"))
                  .Select(x => x.Value);

answered Jan 19, 2016 at 16:21

Jon Skeet

1.5m893 gold badges9.3k silver badges9.3k bronze badges

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

Comments

Dan Field · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-19 16:25:23Z

0

Start with just getting the content node, which is what you really want, and then iterate through its children checking if it's a body or header node, and use the string.Trim() function to get rid of leading/trailing whitespace.:

string xml = @"<ABCProperties> <Action> Yes | No | None </Action><Content>
<Header> Header Text </Header><Body1> Body Paragraph 1 </Body1>
<BodyN> Body Paragraph N</BodyN></Content><IsTrue> true | false </IsTrue>
<Duration> Long | Short </Duration></ABCProperties>";

XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);

XElement content = doc.Root.Element("Content");

foreach (XElement el in content.Elements())
{
    string localName = el.Name.LocalName;

    if (localName == "Header")
    {
        Console.WriteLine(localName + ": " + el.Value.Trim());
    }
    else if (localName.StartsWith("Body"))
    {
        Console.WriteLine(localName + ": " + el.Value.Trim());
    }
}

Console.ReadKey();

answered Jan 19, 2016 at 16:25

Dan Field

21.8k6 gold badges60 silver badges74 bronze badges

2 Comments

demo stack Over a year ago

How can I do foreach loop from ABCProperties here ? Not from Content.

Dan Field Over a year ago

Just change the loop - foreach (XElement el in doc.Root.Descendants()) is probably what you want in that case

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Getting XML data from the string

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related