How to test if a XML element has a text element inside?

Question

Hello folks,

I would like to know how could I test the fallowing situation:

<foo>
    <bla1>xxx</bla1>
    <bla2>yyy</bla2>
    <bla3>zzz</bla3>
</foo>

In the while(reader.Read()), I drop in the XmlNodeType.Element when I'm in the foo and bla1, bla2, bla3... When drop in the .TextElement in the xxx, yyy, zzz. But can I test if the bla's will have a text value inside or not?

Thanks very much

Pedro Dusso

Answer 1

If you are using an XmlTextReader you can use the property IsEmptyElement

Answer 2

No, you can't as long as you are using an XmlReader.

The XmlReader class implements a forward-only cursor through an XML hieararchy. As such you can only operate on the XML node found at the current position.

In your case this means that you won't be able to check the contents of the "bla" nodes without first iterating through them.

Answer 3

Anything wrong with reader.HasValue? (or string.IsNullOrEmpty(reader.Value))?