Parse and Generate xml from template file (C#)

Question

I have a template XML that looks something similar to this

<a:Demographics>     
    <b:Id>      
        <c:IdValue></c:IdValue>      
        <c:IdScheme></c:IdScheme>      
        <c:IdType></c:IdType>     
    </b:Id>    
</a:Demographics>

Using Visual Studio and c#, How can I parse the xml, then based on my current record, add my own data into c:IdValue, c:IdScheme and c:IdType as these are required xml fields. They have been left blank in the template so that my the program will fill them I then need to save that as a new xml file but that should be straightforward once the values have been added.

I am open to using any library that can get the job done!

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 31 '14 at 09:55

you can use System.Xml.Linq

Load the Template

XDocument Template = XDocument.Load("Template.xml");

Modify it

void AddData(string elemName, string value)
    {
        XElement element = Template.Root.Descendants("elemName").First();
        element.Value = value;
    }

and Save it

Template.Save("newXml.xml");

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 31 '14 at 10:42

A valid XML must have namespace prefix declaration somewhere, I assume your XML has it. Then you can do something like this using XDocument :

XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("path_to_xml_file.xml");
XNamespace a = "http://uri.for.a.prefix.com";
XNamespace b = "http://uri.for.b.prefix.com";
XNamespace c = "http://uri.for.c.prefix.com";
XElement id = doc.Descendants(a+"Demographics")
                 .First()
                 .Element(b+"Id");
id.Element(c+"IdValue").Value = "new value here";
id.Element(c+"IdScheme").Value = "new scheme here";
id.Element(c+"IdType").Value = "new type here";

doc.Save("path_to_new_xml_file.xml");

Parse and Generate xml from template file (C#)

2 Answers2