Read XML with VB.net

Question

I'm struggling with reading my XML in VB and getting the data I want.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
    <Install>
        <Package>
            <Name>Office2010</Name>
            <Path>C:\Windows\Office</Path>
            <Default>0</Default>
        </Package>
        <Package>
            <Name>CCleaner</Name>
            <Path>C:\Windows\Cleaner</Path>
            <Default>0</Default>
        </Package>
    </Install>

I'm trying to read a whole node at a time, so I can fetch all the values of it.

package.Name
package.Path
package.Default

Is this possible? I'm struggling with this for over 2 hours now. Thank you.

sloth · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-01T14:26:15.663

3

You can use a simple For Each loop and XML literals, like:

' or load the XML with XDocument.Load(...) '
Dim xml = <Install>
            <Package>
                <Name>Office2010</Name>
                <Path>C:\Windows\Office</Path>
                <Default>0</Default>
            </Package>
            <Package>
                <Name>CCleaner</Name>
                <Path>C:\Windows\Cleaner</Path>
                <Default>0</Default>
            </Package>
        </Install>

' If you used XDocument.Load(...), use xml.Root.<Package> instead '
For Each package In xml.<Package>
    Console.WriteLine(package.<Name>.Value)
    Console.WriteLine(package.<Path>.Value)
    Console.WriteLine(package.<Default>.Value)
Next

edited Oct 01 '14 at 14:26

answered Oct 01 '14 at 11:52

sloth

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I Really can't get this to work. Your example is working as expected, but when I try to read my XML file, I get an error or it thinks that my .xml is empty. Can somebody provide me with a quick snippet of XDocument.Load()? I Think I'm doing this wrong. – Jente Oct 01 '14 at 12:46
If you use `XDocument.Load(yourpath)` to load the XML, use `xml.Root.` instead of `xml.` – sloth Oct 01 '14 at 14:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 01 '14 at 11:43

1

// parse your XML into an XDocument
Dim doc As XDocument = XDocument.Parse(xml)
// get "Install" element
Dim install As XElement = doc.Root

// iterate over "Package" elements in install
For Each package As XElement In install.Elements("Package")
    Dim name As String = package.Element("Name").Value
    Dim path As String = package.Element("Path").Value
    Dim def As String = package.Element("Default").Value
Next

answered Oct 01 '14 at 11:43

Saeb Amini

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Hi Saeb, i'm getting: Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1. I'm being stupid? – Jente Oct 01 '14 at 12:02
@Jente, post your complete XML. – Saeb Amini Oct 01 '14 at 13:17
Actually thatis the complete XML, except the version. I've added that to my post. – Jente Oct 01 '14 at 13:21
@Jente, Nothing wrong with the declaration, so it has to be a problem with how the XML file is being generated/written. Have a look at [this](http://stackoverflow.com/a/24513288/68080). – Saeb Amini Oct 01 '14 at 13:37
Hmm, tried it, but no luck. I even created a new XML (I've created it in notepad), same error. – Jente Oct 01 '14 at 13:56
@Jente, can you upload the problematic file somewhere? – Saeb Amini Oct 01 '14 at 14:06
@Jente Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/62277/discussion-between-saeb-amini-and-jente). – Saeb Amini Oct 01 '14 at 16:49

Read XML with VB.net

2 Answers2