C# Language XmlDocument and the System.Xml namespace XmlDocument vs XDocument (Example and comparison)
Example
There are several ways interact with an Xml file.
- Xml Document
- XDocument
- XmlReader/XmlWriter
Before LINQ to XML we were used XMLDocument for manipulations in XML like adding attributes, elements and so on. Now LINQ to XML uses XDocument for the same kind of thing. Syntaxes are much easier than XMLDocument and it requires a minimal amount of code.
Also XDocument is mutch faster as XmlDocument. XmlDoucument is an old and dirty solution for query an XML document.
I am going to show some examples of XmlDocument class and XDocument class class:
Load XML file
string filename = @"C:\temp\test.xml";
XmlDocument
XmlDocument _doc = new XmlDocument();
_doc.Load(filename);
XDocument
XDocument _doc = XDocument.Load(fileName);
Create XmlDocument
XmlDocument
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement root = doc.CreateElement("root");
root.SetAttribute("name", "value");
XmlElement child = doc.CreateElement("child");
child.InnerText = "text node";
root.AppendChild(child);
doc.AppendChild(root);
XDocument
XDocument doc = new XDocument(
new XElement("Root", new XAttribute("name", "value"),
new XElement("Child", "text node"))
);
/*result*/
<root name="value">
<child>"TextNode"</child>
</root>
Change InnerText of node in XML
XmlDocument
XmlNode node = _doc.SelectSingleNode("xmlRootNode");
node.InnerText = value;
XDocument
XElement rootNote = _doc.XPathSelectElement("xmlRootNode");
rootNode.Value = "New Value";
Save File after edit
Make sure to safe the xml after any change.
// Safe XmlDocument and XDocument
_doc.Save(filename);
Retreive Values from XML
XmlDocument
XmlNode node = _doc.SelectSingleNode("xmlRootNode/levelOneChildNode");
string text = node.InnerText;
XDocument
XElement node = _doc.XPathSelectElement("xmlRootNode/levelOneChildNode");
string text = node.Value;
Retreive value from all from all child elements where attribute = something.
XmlDocument
List<string> valueList = new List<string>();
foreach (XmlNode n in nodelist)
{
if(n.Attributes["type"].InnerText == "City")
{
valueList.Add(n.Attributes["type"].InnerText);
}
}
XDocument
var accounts = _doc.XPathSelectElements("/data/summary/account").Where(c => c.Attribute("type").Value == "setting").Select(c => c.Value);
Append a node
XmlDocument
XmlNode nodeToAppend = doc.CreateElement("SecondLevelNode");
nodeToAppend.InnerText = "This title is created by code";
/* Append node to parent */
XmlNode firstNode= _doc.SelectSingleNode("xmlRootNode/levelOneChildNode");
firstNode.AppendChild(nodeToAppend);
/*After a change make sure to safe the document*/
_doc.Save(fileName);
XDocument
_doc.XPathSelectElement("ServerManagerSettings/TcpSocket").Add(new XElement("SecondLevelNode"));
/*After a change make sure to safe the document*/
_doc.Save(fileName);
