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Question

How to get all input elements in a form with HtmlAgilityPack

Answer 1

+4 A:

You can do the following:

HtmlNode.ElementsFlags.Remove("form");

HtmlDocument doc = new HtmlDocument();

doc.Load(@"D:\test.html");

HtmlNode secondForm = doc.GetElementbyId("form2");

foreach (HtmlNode node in secondForm.Elements("input"))
{
    HtmlAttribute valueAttribute = node.Attributes["value"];

    if (valueAttribute != null)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(valueAttribute.Value);
    }
}

By default HTML Agility Pack parses forms as empty node because they are allowed to overlap other HTML elements. The first line, (HtmlNode.ElementsFlags.Remove("form");) disables this behavior allowing you to get the input elements inside the second form.

Update: Example of form elements overlap:

<table>
<form>
<!-- Other elements -->
</table>
</form>

The element begins inside a table but is closed outside the table element. This is allowed in the HTML specification and HTML Agility Pack has to deal with it.

João Angelo 2010-03-05 15:53:06

Interesting approach.

Chris Lively 2010-03-05 15:57:51

Thanks, Angelo. Good to know. Can anyone explain more about "they are allowed to overlap other HTML elements."? Better with example code.

Bill Li 2010-03-05 16:16:41

@Bill, first welcome to SO. I updated my answer with an example. If the answer is satisfactory to you don't forget to mark it as accepted

João Angelo 2010-03-05 16:23:21

Excellent, Angelo! I test your code, and it works like magic.

Bill Li 2010-03-06 07:21:56

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How to get all input elements in a form with HtmlAgilityPack

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