Neatest way to extract 'text' value from an XmlNode?

Question

Given the code:

  var doc = new XmlDocument();
  doc.LoadXml(@"<a>
                    <b>test
                        <c>test2</c>
                    </b>
                </a>");
  var node = doc.SelectNodes("/a/b")[0];

I want to then extract the 'text' value of node b - in this case "test", without retrieving all text elements from all child nodes (as .innerText does)

I find myself resorting to this code

 var elementText = node.ChildNodes.Cast<XmlNode>().First(a => a.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text).Value;

As unfortunately node.Value does something else in this case

is there a neater/inbuilt way without resorting to linq casting? that doesnt involve me doing something like;

foreach (var childNode in node.ChildNodes)
   if (childNode.NodeType==XmlNodeType.Text)
    ...

first idea, abandon `XmlDocument` and use `XDocument`. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.linq.xdocument.aspx — Jodrell, Sep 27 '12 at 15:48
If you are stuck on .net 2.0 or prior, say so in the question. — Jodrell, Sep 27 '12 at 15:49
@Jodrell, nope Im not, thanks for the `XDocument` suggestion, im looking at it now. — maxp, Sep 27 '12 at 15:51

Dave Zych · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-27T16:32:10.097

4

I prefer XDocument to XmlDocument, I think it's easier to work with. You can easily get a value using the Element method to find the "b" element, and then using the Value property.

using(var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
    using(var streamWriter = new StreamWriter(stream))
    {
        streamWriter.Write(@"<a>
                                 <b>test
                                     <c>test2</c>
                                 </b>
                             </a>");
        streamWriter.Flush();
        streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
        var doc = XDocument.Load(stream);
        Console.WriteLine(doc.Element("a").Element("b").FirstNode.ToString());
    }
}

EDIT: As noted in comments, that would get the incorrect value. I've updated it correctly.

edited Sep 27 '12 at 16:32

answered Sep 27 '12 at 15:51

Dave Zych

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agreed, on .Net 3.5 up there is no reason to use `XmlDocument`. – Jodrell Sep 27 '12 at 15:53
There's nothing _wrong_ with it, I think it's just preferred. Here's a good SO link describing the differences between XDocument and XmlDocument: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1542073/xdocument-or-xmldocument – Dave Zych Sep 27 '12 at 16:00
It does not get "test", it get "test\ntest2" – cuongle Sep 27 '12 at 16:18

Jetti · Answer 2 · 2012-09-27T16:01:22.300

0

You want to use node.InnerText instead of Value. So you would have this:

 foreach(XmlNode child in node.ChildNodes)
 {
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
    {
        s = child.InnerText;
    }
    else
    {
        s = s.Replace(child.InnerText, "");
    }
 }

   s.Trim();

edited Sep 27 '12 at 16:01

answered Sep 27 '12 at 15:42

Jetti

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no dude, thats going to concat all child text elements aswell, so i would get `testtest2`. I've clarified my question. – maxp Sep 27 '12 at 15:43

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 27 '12 at 15:53

0

In LINQ2XML you can do this

foreach(XNode elm in doc.Descendants("b").OfType<XText>())
{
//elm has the text
}

answered Sep 27 '12 at 15:53

Anirudha

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Neatest way to extract 'text' value from an XmlNode?

3 Answers3