XML/C#: Read content if only if attribute is correct

Question

Hi Guys,

I have an XML file as follows, and I'm trying to read the content of the Name tag, only if the attribute of the Record tag is what I want. (continued below code)

The XML file is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Database>
  <Record Number="1">
    <Name>John Doe</Name>
    <Position>1</Position>
    <HoursWorked>290</HoursWorked>
    <LastMonthChecked>0310</LastMonthChecked>
  </Record>
  <Record Number="2">
    <Name>Jane Doe</Name>
    <Position>1</Position>
    <HoursWorked>251</HoursWorked>
    <LastMonthChecked>0310</LastMonthChecked>
  </Record>
</Database>

This is the C# code I have so far:

 public static string GetName(int EmployeeNumber)
        {
            XmlTextReader DataReader = new XmlTextReader("Database.xml");
            DataReader.MoveToContent();
            while (DataReader.Read())
            {
                if (DataReader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element
                    && DataReader.HasAttributes && DataReader.Name == "Record")
                {
                    DataReader.MoveToAttribute(EmployeeNumber);
                    DataReader.MoveToContent();
                    if (DataReader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element
                        && DataReader.Name == "Name")
                    {
                      return DataReader.ReadContentAsString();
                    }
                }
            }
        }

So for example, if 2 is passed to the function, I want it to return the string "Jane Doe". I'm new to XML parsing, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Use XPath for this.

Check this article: http://www.developer.com/xml/article.php/3383961/NET-and-XML-XPath-Queries.htm. It has an example that is very similar to your situation.

Answer 2

You could use XPath if your XML is not very large:

using System;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Xml.XPath;

public class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var elements = XDocument.Load("Database.xml")
            .XPathSelectElements("//Record[@Number='2']/Name");
        foreach (var item in elements)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(item.Value);
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Could you try something like this:-

        public static string GetName(int EmployeeNumber)   
        {   
        XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); 
        doc.Load("Database.xml"); 
        XmlElement rootNode = doc.DocumentElement; 

        String query ="Record[@Number='"+EmployeeNumber.ToString()+"']/Name"; 
        XmlNode data= rootNode.SelectSingleNode(query); 
        return data.InnerText; 
        } 

Answer 4

string searchTerm = "2";

var list = from XElement segment in workingXmlDocument.Descendants(wix + "File")
           where segment.Attribute("Id").Value.ToString() == searchTerm
           select segment.Descendant("Name").Value;

That is a LINQ statement that will give you the name based on the variable searchTerm.