Reading XML elements in C# with XMLReader

Question

I have a project that keeps track of people in XML. Example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AddressBook>
  <Person>
    <FirstName>Bobby</FirstName>
    <LastName>Hill</LastName>
    <PhoneNumber>0123456789</PhoneNumber>
    <Address>123 Fake St</Address>
  </Person>
  <Person>
    <FirstName>Dangit</FirstName>
    <LastName>Bobby</LastName>
    <PhoneNumber>09088898898</PhoneNumber>
    <Address>Pro-pain</Address>
  </Person>
</AddressBook>

My problem is using reader.ReadStartElement("FirstName");, reader.ReadElementContentAsString("FirstName", "");, or an if statement on reader.Name does not seem to find the <FirstName> or other tags. Example code below:

Person person = new Person();

// Switch statement, doesn't find the "FirstName" tag
switch(reader.ReadStartElement())
{
    case "FirstName":
        if (reader.Read())
        {
            person.FirstName = reader.Value.Trim();
        }
        break;
}

// ReadStartElement, doesn't find the "FirstName" tag
reader.ReadStartElement("FirstName");
person.FirstName = reader.ReadElementContentAsString();
reader.ReadEndElement();

// ReadElementAsString(), doesn't find the "FirstName" tag
person.FirstName = reader.ReadElementContentAsString("FirstName", "");

Could someone give me a bit of guidance into what is going on with my code? The FirstName tags are being created with WriteElementString so I'm not sure why ReadElementAsString isn't finding it.

the startelement simply isn´t `FirstName`, but `?xml`. You have to loop through your xml-document in order to get the correct tags. Alternativly use an `XmlSerializer`. — MakePeaceGreatAgain, Aug 23 '19 at 07:47

Reading XML elements in C# with XMLReader

0 Answers0