Why does NamespaceManager not use DefaultNamespace when using no prefix in XPath

Question

When I want to traverse my XmlDocument using XPath, I came unto the problem that there were many ugly namespaces in the document, so I started using a NamespaceManager along with the XPath.

The XML looks like this

<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
    <Worksheet ss:Name="KA0100401">
        <Table>
            <Row>
                <Cell>Data</Cell>
            </Row>
            <!-- more rows... -->
        </Table>
    </Worksheet>
    <Worksheet ss:Name="KA0100402">
        <!-- .... --->
    </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Now, from what I see from this document, "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" is the default namespace, because it sits on the root element.

So, naively, I configured my NamespaceManager like this:

XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load(reader);
XmlNamespaceManager manager = new XmlNamespaceManager(document.NameTable);
manager.AddNamespace(String.Empty, "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet");
manager.AddNamespace("o", "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office");
manager.AddNamespace("x", "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel");
manager.AddNamespace("ss", "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet");
manager.AddNamespace("html", "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40");

But, when I try to access a node

foreach (XmlNode row in document.SelectNodes("/Workbook/Worksheet[1]/Table/Row", manager))

I never get any results. I was under the impression that by setting the first namespace with an empty prefix, I wouldn't need to set that when searching for nodes in that workspace.

But, as it is stated on the AddNamespace method:

If an XPath expression does not include a prefix, it is assumed that the namespace Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is the empty namespace.

Why is that? And, more important: How do I access nodes in the default namespace, if not using a prefix sets them into an empty namespace?

What good is setting the default namespace on the manager if I can't even access it when searching for nodes?

"What good is..." - has it not occurred to you that the `XmlNamespaceManager` is used by more pieces of code than *just* using it for XPath queries and in *those* situations the default namespace might be perfectly useful? — Damien_The_Unbeliever, Oct 29 '14 at 14:16
Possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/585812/using-xpath-with-default-namespace-in-c-sharp @Damien: no need to be rude. — LarsH, Oct 29 '14 at 14:51
@LarsH - it was a rhetorical device. I'm sorry you felt it was rude, I often use that style of comment to make people question their assumptions and this is the first time someone has asserted that it's rude. I'm sorry it caused you offence. — Damien_The_Unbeliever, Oct 29 '14 at 15:06
Good comment, because; yeah, it actually has. I have no idea what other applications this manager has. — F.P, Oct 29 '14 at 15:59

JLRishe · Answer 1 · 2015-12-11T10:53:35.130

From the XPath 1.0 spec:

A QName in the node test is expanded into an expanded-name using the namespace declarations from the expression context. This is the same way expansion is done for element type names in start and end-tags except that the default namespace declared with xmlns is not used: if the QName does not have a prefix, then the namespace URI is null (this is the same way attribute names are expanded). It is an error if the QName has a prefix for which there is no namespace declaration in the expression context.

So this is not a matter regarding NamespaceManager but rather the way XPath is defined to work.

The point that you're missing is that the prefixes you use in your NamespaceManager don't have to be anything like the ones in your XML document. You can use the xcel prefix for urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel if you want, and the sp prefix for urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet. In fact, you're already assigning a prefix for that URN in your namespace manager, so you can just use that:

foreach (XmlNode row in 
       document.SelectNodes("/ss:Workbook/ss:Worksheet[1]/ss:Table/ss:Row", manager))

Regarding this question:

What good is setting the default namespace on the manager if I can't even access it when searching for nodes?

The good is that XmlNamespaceManager is used for more than just evaluating XPath. For example, it could be used to keep track of the namespaces in an XML document, in which there is a concept of default namespaces.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 29 '14 at 14:23

@JLRishe's answer is correct for accessing nodes in the default namespace (ie. always mapping a prefix to the default namespace in the XmlNamespaceManager).

Reading the entire context of the link from your quote (MSDN XmlNamespaceManager.AddNamespace) it is stated that the default "empty" prefix is not used in XPath expressions.

prefix Type: System.String

The prefix to associate with the namespace being added. Use String.Empty to add a default namespace.>

Note If the XmlNamespaceManager will be used for resolving namespaces in an XML Path Language (XPath) expression, a prefix must be specified. If an XPath expression does not include a prefix, it is assumed that the namespace Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is the empty namespace. For more information about XPath expressions and the XmlNamespaceManager, refer to the XmlNode.SelectNodes and XPathExpression.SetContext methods.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 29 '14 at 14:08

I can't answer your last question ("What good is ...") unless maybe it helps in non-XPath situations. But regarding "How do I access nodes in the default namespace, if not using a prefix sets them into an empty namespace?", the answer is that you have to use a prefix.

So in this case, since you declared the prefix ss as being bound to the namespace whose URI is urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet, which is the same namespace as the default namespace, you can just use the ss prefix in your XPath expression:

foreach (XmlNode row in document.SelectNodes("/ss:Workbook/ss:Worksheet[1]/ss:Table/ss:Row",
  manager))

yu yang Jian · Answer 4 · 2016-01-08T02:13:01.103

I find that if you delete the default namespace

xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" <-delete it

or make the default namespace null

xmlns=""

When using XPath to search, it'll not need to add namespace to XPath before "the element without namespace".

So, is the default namespace declare really important,?

if not, I may delete the default namespace declaration, it makes using XPath to search much more easier because don't need to add namespace as usual.

I have tried another way is to add a default namespace with a name "default" which give by myself,

and I write a method that can automatically add "default" to the element without other namespace:

public static string XPathAddDeafultNameSpaceProccess(this string XPathProcess)
        {
            string[] XPSplit = XPathProcess.Split('/');

            for (int i = 0; i < XPSplit.Length; i++)//if element no namespace, add default
            {
                if (!XPSplit[i].Contains(':') && !XPSplit[i].Contains('@'))
                    XPSplit[i] = "default:" + XPSplit[i];
            }
            for (int i = 0; i < XPSplit.Length; i++)
            {
                if (i != XPSplit.Length - 1)//if not the last, add"/"                       
                XPSplit[i] += "/";
            }

            string output = "";
            foreach (string s in XPSplit)//combine
                output += s;
            return output;
        }

it can turn

aa/xx:cc/dd/hh:gg/bb"

to

"default:aa/xx:cc/default:dd/hh:gg/default:bb"

Why does NamespaceManager not use DefaultNamespace when using no prefix in XPath

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