How to read attribute value from XmlNode in C#?

Question

Suppose I have a XmlNode and I want to get the value of an attribute named "Name". How can I do that?

XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(path);

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlNode node = doc.ReadNode(reader);

foreach (XmlNode chldNode in node.ChildNodes)
{
     **//Read the attribute Name**
     if (chldNode.Name == Employee)
     {                    
         if (chldNode.HasChildNodes)
         {
             foreach (XmlNode item in node.ChildNodes)
             { 

             }
         }
      }
}

XML Document:

<Root>
    <Employee Name ="TestName">
    <Childs/>
</Root>

Konamiman · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-14T15:42:49.537

237

Try this:

string employeeName = chldNode.Attributes["Name"].Value;

Edit: As pointed out in the comments, this will throw an exception if the attribute doesn't exist. The safe way is:

var attribute = node.Attributes["Name"];
if (attribute != null){
    string employeeName = attribute.Value;
    // Process the value here
}

edited Jun 14 '20 at 15:42

answered Oct 21 '09 at 10:54

Konamiman

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37

Be careful with this approach. I think if the attribute is not present, then accessing the Value member will cause a Null Reference Exception. – Chris Dunaway Oct 21 '09 at 14:06
3

if(node.Attributes != null) string employeeName = chldNode.Attributes["Name"].Value; – Omidoo Sep 28 '12 at 23:03
7

@Omidoo That approach has the same issue, for example with ``, which passes the test. Perhaps something like `var attr = node.Attributes["Name"]; if(attr != null) {...}` might work. – Joel Peltonen Nov 13 '12 at 12:00
Take a look at [my answer below](http://stackoverflow.com/a/37322614/1139514), which circumvents the NullException problem and is, maybe?, safer to use. – Marco7757 May 19 '16 at 12:03
An updated answer could be string employeeName = chldNode.Attributes["Name"]?.Value; – jing May 11 '22 at 08:37

score 45 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 03 '13 at 01:55

45

To expand Konamiman's solution (including all relevant null checks), this is what I've been doing:

if (node.Attributes != null)
{
   var nameAttribute = node.Attributes["Name"];
   if (nameAttribute != null) 
      return nameAttribute.Value;

   throw new InvalidOperationException("Node 'Name' not found.");
}

answered Jan 03 '13 at 01:55

Ari Roth

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A shorthand way of not getting an error for nulls is node.Attributes?["Name"]?.Value – brandonstrong Mar 02 '17 at 19:51
1

Also true, though the only thing I'll point out is that while you can do that in one line (making it good for an assignment or something), it's a bit less flexible in terms of controlling when you throw an exception or otherwise handle the case where node has no attributes. – Ari Roth Mar 03 '17 at 00:28
1

Agreed. Anyone who uses the shorthand way should always make sure it won't cause problems downstream. – brandonstrong Mar 03 '17 at 20:13

balexandre · Answer 3 · 2009-10-21T11:15:13.573

17

you can loop through all attributes like you do with nodes

foreach (XmlNode item in node.ChildNodes)
{ 
    // node stuff...

    foreach (XmlAttribute att in item.Attributes)
    {
        // attribute stuff
    }
}

edited Oct 21 '09 at 11:15

answered Oct 21 '09 at 10:54

balexandre

73,608
45
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342

this will be more preferable..:) – SHEKHAR SHETE Feb 27 '17 at 05:39

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered May 19 '16 at 12:01

If you use chldNode as XmlElement instead of XmlNode, you can use

var attributeValue = chldNode.GetAttribute("Name");

The return value will just be an empty string, in case the attribute name does not exist.

So your loop could look like this:

XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
var nodes = document.SelectNodes("//Node/N0de/node");

foreach (XmlElement node in nodes)
{
    var attributeValue = node.GetAttribute("Name");
}

This will select all nodes <node> surrounded by <Node><N0de></N0de><Node> tags and subsequently loop through them and read the attribute "Name".

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered May 29 '15 at 20:22

4

if all you need is the names, use xpath instead. No need to do the iteration yourself and check for null.

string xml = @"
<root>
    <Employee name=""an"" />
    <Employee name=""nobyd"" />
    <Employee/>
</root>
";

var doc = new XmlDocument();

//doc.Load(path);
doc.LoadXml(xml);

var names = doc.SelectNodes("//Employee/@name");

answered May 29 '15 at 20:22

an phu

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10

The methods above didn't work for my XML (though I wish they had). This method does! Thanks! – Frecklefoot Jun 23 '15 at 21:41

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 08 '18 at 18:03

3

Use

item.Attributes["Name"].Value;

to get the value.

edited Jun 08 '18 at 18:03

Cindy Meister

25,071
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answered Oct 21 '09 at 10:55

rahul

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 27 '16 at 12:06

1

You can also use this;

string employeeName = chldNode.Attributes().ElementAt(0).Name

answered Apr 27 '16 at 12:06

cell-in

709
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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 19 '17 at 13:57

Yet another solution:

string s = "??"; // or whatever

if (chldNode.Attributes.Cast<XmlAttribute>()
                       .Select(x => x.Value)
                       .Contains(attributeName))   
   s =  xe.Attributes[attributeName].Value;

It also avoids the exception when the expected attribute attributeName actually doesn't exist.

How to read attribute value from XmlNode in C#?

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