Getting null value from XML element with value

Question

I have a XML structured like this:

<airports>
  <airport code="code">
  Airport name
    <location>Airport location</location>
   </airport>
...
</airports>

And I am trying to parse its code and name:

List<string> list = new List<string>();
XmlDocument xDoc = new XmlDocument();
xDoc.Load("file.xml");

foreach (XmlNode node in xDoc.GetElementsByTagName("airport"))
{
    list.Add(node.Attributes["code"] + " " + node.Value);
}

But instead of the value I am not getting anything. When debugging, it says, the value of the node in null. Yet, I can see the text in .InnerText. Can you tell me, where is the problem and how can I get the value?

Grant Winney · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-08 21:58:55Z

1

Try replacing node.Value with node.FirstChild.Value.

That should return something like:

"\r\n        Airport name\r\n        "

answered Dec 8, 2013 at 21:58

Grant Winney

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Comments

Tony Hopkinson · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-08 22:18:43Z

1

Well you could have probably just used innertext, but as Grant Winney alluded to the "value" of the airport node is a child node of type (text) of the airport node.

It seems strange but it was a way of dealing with xml like this

<NodeA>Fred<NodeB>Bloggs</NodeB></NodeA>

ie NodeA has two children, one of type text and another of type elements. Other node types also fit in nicely.

answered Dec 8, 2013 at 22:18

Tony Hopkinson

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mnsr · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-08 22:48:56Z

0

What Grant Winney said will solve your issue. But is there any reason why you're not using LINQ 2 XML instead of XmlDocument?

You can achieve what you're doing very quickly and easily with minimal code:

XDocument.Load("file.xml")
    .Root
    .Elements("airport")
    .Select (s => s.Attribute("code").Value + " " + s.FirstNode)
    .ToList<string>();

Ideally though, if you have the opportunity, you should put 'airport name' into it's own element inside <airport>. Like this:

<airports>
  <airport code="code">
    <name>Airport name</name>
    <location>Airport location</location>
   </airport>
...
</airports>

edited Dec 8, 2013 at 22:48

answered Dec 8, 2013 at 22:24

mnsr

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1 Comment

MarcinJuraszek Over a year ago

It does not return exactly what OP stands for.

user2864740 · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-08 22:33:26Z

0

The issue is that an XmlElement, which is a specialization of XmlNode where NodeType is Element, has no "value" and thus always returns null.

It has Attributes, and it has Child nodes. XmlElement.InnerText works because it recursively builds the result from the Children and grandchildren, etc (some of which are Text nodes).

Remember that text sections in XML are really just Nodes themselves.

Ideally, the XML would be fixed such that the name was an attribute (or even the sole [Text] node in an element).

edited Dec 8, 2013 at 22:33

answered Dec 8, 2013 at 22:28

user2864740

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