Extracting data from XML

[mjd3000]

I have the following XML document :

How do I go about getting for example the refID for a ResponseGroup tag, and the refID and selected status for a ResponseOption tag?

<ScriptedFaqSession>
- <Data>
- <Section refID="Section38" sequence="1">
- <ResponseGroup refID="AnswerGroup39">
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton141" selected="true" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton142" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton145" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton152" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton154" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton155" selected="false" />
</ResponseGroup>
+ <ResponseGroup refID="AnswerGroup42">
- <ResponseText refID="Textbox9">
<Value />
</ResponseText>
- <ResponseText refID="Textbox10">
<Value />
</ResponseText>
- <ResponseText refID="Textbox11">
<Value />
</ResponseText>
- <ResponseText refID="Textbox13">
<Value />
</ResponseText>
- <ResponseText refID="Textbox12">
<Value />
</ResponseText>
</ResponseGroup>
</Section>
- <Section refID="Section1" sequence="2">
- <ResponseGroup refID="AnswerGroup1">
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton100" selected="true" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton2" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton3" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton102" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton104" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton105" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton95" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton1" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton101" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton106" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton103" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="RadioButton107" selected="false" />
</ResponseGroup>
</Section>
- <Section refID="Section52" sequence="3">
- <ResponseGroup refID="AnswerGroup45">
<ResponseOption refID="AnswerGroup45.CheckboxInput1" selected="true" />
<ResponseOption refID="AnswerGroup45.CheckboxInput2" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="AnswerGroup45.CheckboxInput3" selected="false" />
<ResponseOption refID="AnswerGroup45.CheckboxInput4" selected="false" />
</ResponseGroup>
- <ResponseGroup refID="AnswerGroup46">
<ResponseOption refID="AnswerGroup46.CheckboxInput1" selected="false" />
</ResponseGroup>
</Section>
<Section refID="Section24" sequence="4" />
</Data>
</ScriptedFaqSession>

 

[jmeckley]

look into the System.Xml namespace your options include XPath queries, XmlReader, XmlDocument, LinqToXml, Regex, etc.

there are plenty of examples online.

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.

faq855-7190

 

[mjd3000]

I have tried the following code :

string strReceivedXML =
Convert.ToString(Request.Form["xml"]);

XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

xmlDoc.LoadXml(strReceivedXML);

XmlNodeList xnList = xmlDoc.SelectNodes("/ScriptedFaqSession/Data/Section/ResponseGroup");

foreach (XmlNode node in xnList)
{
XmlAttributeCollection attrCollResponseGroupRefID = node.Attributes;
XmlAttribute attrResponseGroupRefID = attrCollResponseGroupRefID["refID"];
lbl1.Text += Convert.ToString(attrResponseGroupRefID.InnerXml);
}

And I thought this would give me a listing of all refIDs for each ResponseGroup, but it returns nothing. Can anybody help?

 

[jmeckley]

I think attrResponseGroupRefID.InnerXml is the problem. instead you want attrResponseGroupRefID.Value.
You could also tighten up the code some

protected IEnumerable<string> GetRefIdsFrom(string xml)
{
  var doc = new XmlDocument();
  doc.Load(xml);
  var nodes = doc.SelectNodes("//ResponseGroup");
  foreach(var node in nodes)
  {
     yield return nodes.Attributes["refID"].Value;
  }
}

then you can call it like this

var ids = GetRefIdsFrom(Request.Form["xml"]);
var arrayOfIds = new List<string>(ids).ToArray();
lbl1.Text = string.Join(", ", arrayOfIds);

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.

faq855-7190