Using XMLTextReader, how can I tell which element I am on?

Question

This is what my code looks like:

case "Creator":
    br.Read();
    br.MoveToContent();  // gives the content of the role
    tbComposer.Text = br.Value;
    br.Read();
    br.MoveToContent();  // gives the content of the role
    tbConductor.Text = br.Value;
    br.Read();
    br.MoveToContent();  // gives the content of the role
    tbOrchestra.Text = br.Value;
    break;

This is the working code: (Thanks everybody for your input... couldn't have done it without you!) Spokane-Dude

                case "Creator":
                    br.MoveToFirstAttribute();
                    if (br.Value == "Composer") {
                        br.Read();
                        tbComposer.Text = br.Value;
                    }
                    if (br.Value == "Conductor") {
                        br.Read();
                        tbConductor.Text = br.Value;
                    }
                    if (br.Value == "Orchestra") {
                        br.Read();
                        tbOrchestra.Text = br.Value;
                    }
                    break;

This is what my XML looks like:

<ItemLookupResponse>
    <OperationRequest/>
    <Items>
        <Request/>
        <Item>
            <ItemAttributes>
                <Binding>Audio CD</Binding>
                <CatalogNumberList>
                    <CatalogNumberListElement>43850</CatalogNumberListElement>
                </CatalogNumberList>
                <Creator Role="Composer">Gioachino Rossini</Creator>
                <Creator Role="Conductor">Riccardo Chailly</Creator>
                <Creator Role="Orchestra">National Philharmonic Orchestra</Creator>
            </ItemAttributes>
        </Item>
    </Items>
</ItemLookupResponse>

I need to know if I am reading the element Creator Role="Composer" or Creator Role="Conductor", etc

So, using XMLTextReader, how can I determine what the element text is?

The XML you posted is invalid. Please post the actual XML, or at least a small example that reproduces the problem. — John Saunders, Nov 20 '11 at 23:50
.NET is 3.5... how do I post the XML (it's about 50 lines... — SpokaneDude, Nov 20 '11 at 23:55
What do you mean? Post it in your question, select it, then press Control-K to indent it all by four characters so it's treated like code. — John Saunders, Nov 20 '11 at 23:58
Hey John... Sorry... I need to move it into an editor... do you want me to do that, or can you kinda see what's going on? — SpokaneDude, Nov 21 '11 at 00:00
Gotta go for tonight... be back early in the morning... thanks for the help so far... — SpokaneDude, Nov 21 '11 at 00:01
See my edit. Pretty-printed, and irrelevant content removed. — John Saunders, Nov 21 '11 at 00:04
Thanks John... I thought I implied that I can't guarantee that all three Role's are going to be there...that's why I needed to see where I was. — SpokaneDude, Nov 21 '11 at 03:09
Please tell us what you're trying to accomplish. XmlReader is almost certainly not what you want to use. In particular what do you want to see if one of the roles is not present? Since you're using .NET 3.5, you should probably be using LINQ to XML. — John Saunders, Nov 21 '11 at 03:11

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

1

You can't until its actually read. XmlTextReader reads a stream, sequentially.

So it is rather the other way around: you can know what element you had when you reach the attribute Role="Composer".

Consider using XPath, LINQ-To-XML or similar: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb156083.aspx

node.XPathSelectElement(@"*/Creator[@Role=""Conductor""]");

For XmlTextReader there is a XPathReader component somewhere:

What ever happened to XPathReader

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

1
1

answered Nov 20 '11 at 23:38

sehe

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Here's my code: ' case "Creator": br.Read(); br.MoveToContent(); // gives the content of the role tbComposer.Text = br.Value; br.Read(); br.MoveToContent(); // gives the content of the role tbConductor.Text = br.Value; br.Read(); br.MoveToContent(); // gives the content of the role' – SpokaneDude Nov 20 '11 at 23:48
Could you update the question instead? Reading that comment made my head hurt :) – sehe Nov 20 '11 at 23:49
Put that in your question, not in a comment – John Saunders Nov 20 '11 at 23:49

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 21 '11 at 05:38

How about this sample ? I hope it would useful to you

   static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        string xmlStr = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><Creators><Creator Role=\"Composer\">Gioachino Rossini</Creator><Creator Role=\"Conductor\">Riccardo Chailly</Creator><Creator Role=\"Orchestra\">National Philharmonic Orchestra</Creator></Creators>";
        using (XmlReader xmlReader = XmlTextReader.Create(new StringReader(xmlStr)))
        {
            xmlReader.MoveToContent();
            xmlReader.ReadStartElement("Creators" , "");
            SomeMethod("Composer", xmlReader);
            SomeMethod("Conductor", xmlReader);
            SomeMethod("Orchestra", xmlReader);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("........");
        Console.Read();
    }

    static void SomeMethod(string role, XmlReader xmlReader)
    {
        xmlReader.MoveToAttribute("Role");

        switch (role)
        {
            case "Composer":
                {
                    xmlReader.MoveToContent();
                    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Composer:{0}", xmlReader.ReadElementContentAsString()));

                } break;
            case "Conductor":
                {
                    xmlReader.MoveToContent();
                    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Conductor:{0}", xmlReader.ReadElementContentAsString()));

                } break;
            case "Orchestra":
                {
                    xmlReader.MoveToContent();
                    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Orchestra:{0}", xmlReader.ReadElementContentAsString()));

                } break;

            default: break;
        }
    }

Using XMLTextReader, how can I tell which element I am on?

2 Answers2