XML element with multiple different Text elements

Question

I have the following elements as part of an XML document:

<RegisterEntry>
    <EntryNumber>3</EntryNumber>
    <EntryDate>2009-01-30</EntryDate>
    <EntryType>Registered Charges</EntryType>
    <EntryText>REGISTERED CHARGE dated 30 December 2008.</EntryText>
</RegisterEntry>
<RegisterEntry>
    <EntryNumber>4</EntryNumber>
    <EntryType>Registered Charges</EntryType>
    <EntryText>REGISTERED CHARGE dated 30 December 2008.</EntryText>
</RegisterEntry>

I am using XmlReader to iterate through the document. The RegisterEntry is an XMLNodeType.Element and the four enclosed in this element are XmlNodeType.Text. How can I assign each of these Text values to a different variable as the XmlReader returns an empty string for Node.Name on a NodeType.Text. Also, the repeated elements do not always have the same number of text elements. Code below:

XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(fName);

if(reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element && reader.Name =="RegisterEntry")
{
    propEntryNo = "";
    propEntryDate = "";
    propEntryType = "";
    propEntryText = "";

    while(reader.Read())
    {
        if(reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text && reader.Name == "EntryNumber" && reader.HasValue)
        {
            propEntryNo = reader.Value;
        }

        if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text && reader.Name == "EntryDate" && reader.HasValue)
        {
            propEntryDate = reader.Value;
        }

        if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text && reader.Name == "EntryType" && reader.HasValue)
        {
            propEntryType = reader.Value;
        }

        if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text && reader.Name == "EntryText" && reader.HasValue)
        {
            propEntryText += reader.Value + ",";
        }
        if(reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.EndElement && reader.Name == "RegisterEntry")
        {
            add variable values to list
            break;
        }
    }
}

In each of the if statements above the NodeType returns as Text and the Name as an empty string.

means you want to fetch all child nodes inside RegisterEntry whether they present or not? — er-sho
– er-sho, Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 10:32
Your XML shows RegisterEntry has child-elements, so how can they be text-nodes? Either your XML or your explanation is incorrect. Show the code! — marsze
– marsze, Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 10:32
Original post edited to include code. The XML file comes from the Land Registry in the UK. — Allen Jones
– Allen Jones, Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 10:42
@AllenJones You don't actually need to use XmlTextReader in 99.9% of cases. Just deserialize this XML file into your objects. — Yeldar Kurmangaliyev
– Yeldar Kurmangaliyev, Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 11:07

marsze · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-26 12:53:17Z

1

The XML element and the text inside are different nodes!

You have to read the content of the XML element first. Simple example:

switch (reader.Name)
{
    // found a node with name = "EntryNumber" (type = Element)
    case "EntryNumber":
        // make sure it's not the closing tag
        if (reader.IsStartElement())
        {
            // read the text inside the element, which is a seperate node (type = Text)
            reader.Read();
            // get the value of the text node
            propEntryNo = reader.Value;
        }
        break;
    // ...
}

Another option would be ReadElementContentAsString

switch (reader.Name)
{
    case "EntryNumber":
        propEntryNo = reader.ReadElementContentAsString();
        break;
    // ...
}

Of course, these simple examples assume that the XML is in the expected format. You should include appropriate checks in your code.

As for the other suggested solutions:

You could XmlDocument or XDocument or instead. The handling is easier, but the memory overhead is bigger (see also).
Deserializing the XML into objects is another option. But I feel handling errors caused by an unexpected format is trickier then.

edited Oct 26, 2018 at 12:53

answered Oct 25, 2018 at 11:04

marsze

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2 Comments

Joey Over a year ago

If going for a DOM parser, I'd probably suggest XDocument instead of XmlDocument, as the API is much easier to work with.

Allen Jones Over a year ago

Thanks for this. I will try this example.

er-sho · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-25 11:56:02Z

0

You can use XDocument to list your RegisterEntry child node like

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(@"C:\Users\xxx\source\repos\ConsoleApp4\ConsoleApp4\Files\XMLFile14.xml");

        var registerEntries = doc.Descendants("RegisterEntry");

        var result = (from e in registerEntries
                      select new
                      {
                          EntryNumber = e.Element("EntryNumber") != null ? Convert.ToInt32(e.Element("EntryNumber").Value) : 0,
                          EntryDate = e.Element("EntryDate") != null ? Convert.ToDateTime(e.Element("EntryDate").Value) : (DateTime?)null,
                          EntryType = e.Element("EntryType") != null ? e.Element("EntryType").Value : "",
                          EntryText = e.Element("EntryText") != null ? e.Element("EntryText").Value : "",
                      }).ToList();


        foreach (var entry in result)
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"EntryNumber:  {entry.EntryNumber}");
            Console.WriteLine($"EntryDate:  {entry.EntryDate}");
            Console.WriteLine($"EntryType:  {entry.EntryType}");
            Console.WriteLine($"EntryText:  {entry.EntryText}");
            Console.WriteLine();
        }

        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

Output:

You can also make certain operations on your list like.

//If you want to get all `EntryText` in xml to be comma separated then you can do like
string propEntryText = string.Join(", ", result.Select(x => x.EntryText));

//Get first register entry from xml
var getFirstRegisterEntry = result.FirstOrDefault();

//Get last register entry from xml
var getLastRegisterEntry = result.LastOrDefault();

//Get register entry from xml with specific condition 
var getSpecificRegisterEntry = result.Where(x => x.EntryNumber == 3).SingleOrDefault();

edited Oct 25, 2018 at 11:56

answered Oct 25, 2018 at 11:40

er-sho

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2 Comments

Allen Jones Over a year ago

Thank you, I will also try these examples.

er-sho Over a year ago

@AllenJones, If answer was helpful to you then mark the tick on left side of answer to make it green and vote up by clicking up arrow to answer :)

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