Can I 'import' this value into a XML structure and parse it? C#

Question

I have a sharepoint server and I am playing around with it programmatically. One of the applications that I am playing with is Microsoft's Call Center. I queried the list of customers:

if (cList.Title.ToLower().Equals("service requests"))
{
    textBox1.Text += "> Service Requests" + Environment.NewLine;
    foreach (SPListItem item in cList.Items)
    {
     textBox1.Text += string.Format(">> {0}{1}", item.Title, Environment.NewLine);
    }
}

One of the properties in item is XML. Here is value of one:

<z:row
  xmlns:z='#RowsetSchema' ows_ID='1' ows_ContentTypeId='0x0106006324F8B638865542BE98AD18210EB6F4'
  ows_ContentType='Contact' ows_Title='Mouse' ows_Modified='2009-08-12 14:53:50' ows_Created='2009-08-12 14:53:50'
  ows_Author='1073741823;#System Account' ows_Editor='1073741823;#System Account'
  ows_owshiddenversion='1' ows_WorkflowVersion='1' ows__UIVersion='512' ows__UIVersionString='1.0'
  ows_Attachments='0' ows__ModerationStatus='0' ows_LinkTitleNoMenu='Mouse' ows_LinkTitle='Mouse'
  ows_SelectTitle='1' ows_Order='100.000000000000' ows_GUID='{37A91B6B-B645-446A-8E8D-DA8250635DE1}'
  ows_FileRef='1;#Lists/customersList/1_.000' ows_FileDirRef='1;#Lists/customersList'
  ows_Last_x0020_Modified='1;#2009-08-12 14:53:50' ows_Created_x0020_Date='1;#2009-08-12 14:53:50'
  ows_FSObjType='1;#0' ows_PermMask='0x7fffffffffffffff' ows_FileLeafRef='1;#1_.000'
  ows_UniqueId='1;#{28A223E0-100D-49A6-99DA-7947CFC38B18}' ows_ProgId='1;#'
  ows_ScopeId='1;#{79BF21FE-0B9A-43B1-9077-C071B61F5588}' ows__EditMenuTableStart='1_.000'
  ows__EditMenuTableEnd='1' ows_LinkFilenameNoMenu='1_.000' ows_LinkFilename='1_.000'
  ows_ServerUrl='/Lists/customersList/1_.000' ows_EncodedAbsUrl='http://spvm:3333/Lists/customersList/1_.000'
  ows_BaseName='1_' ows_MetaInfo='1;#' ows__Level='1' ows__IsCurrentVersion='1' ows_FirstName='Mickey'
  ows_FullName='Mickey Mouse' ows_Comments='&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;' ows_ServerRedirected='0'
/>

Can I create an XMLnode or some other sort of XML object so that I can easily parse it and pull certain values (these certainties are unknowns right now, since I am just testing right now)?

Thanks SO!

Answer 1

I came up with this code that seems to work ok. Since my XML/C# knowledge is limited I would imagine there is a simpler way:

public void DoParse(string value, string elementname)
{
    var split = value.Split((char)39);

    XmlDocument xDoc = new XmlDocument();
    XmlElement xRoot = xDoc.CreateElement(elementname);
    xDoc.AppendChild(xRoot);

    for (var i = 0; i < split.Length - 1; i += 2)
    {
     var attribName = split[i].Replace("=", "").Trim();
     var xAttrib = xDoc.CreateAttribute(attribName);
     xAttrib.Value = split[i + 1];
     xRoot.Attributes.Append(xAttrib);
    }
    xDoc.Save(string.Format("c:\\xmlout_{0}.xml", elementname));
}

Gives me:

<Customer xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" ows_ID="1" ows_ContentTypeId="0x0106006324F8B638865542BE98AD18210EB6F4" ows_ContentType="Contact" ows_Title="Mouse" ows_Modified="2009-08-12 14:53:50" ows_Created="2009-08-12 14:53:50" ows_Author="1073741823;#System Account" ows_Editor="1073741823;#System Account" ows_owshiddenversion="1" ows_WorkflowVersion="1" ows__UIVersion="512" ows__UIVersionString="1.0" ows_Attachments="0" ows__ModerationStatus="0" ows_LinkTitleNoMenu="Mouse" ows_LinkTitle="Mouse" ows_SelectTitle="1" ows_Order="100.000000000000" ows_GUID="{37A91B6B-B645-446A-8E8D-DA8250635DE1}" ows_FileRef="1;#Lists/customersList/1_.000" ows_FileDirRef="1;#Lists/customersList" ows_Last_x0020_Modified="1;#2009-08-12 14:53:50" ows_Created_x0020_Date="1;#2009-08-12 14:53:50" ows_FSObjType="1;#0" ows_PermMask="0x7fffffffffffffff" ows_FileLeafRef="1;#1_.000" ows_UniqueId="1;#{28A223E0-100D-49A6-99DA-7947CFC38B18}" ows_ProgId="1;#" ows_ScopeId="1;#{79BF21FE-0B9A-43B1-9077-C071B61F5588}" ows__EditMenuTableStart="1_.000" ows__EditMenuTableEnd="1" ows_LinkFilenameNoMenu="1_.000" ows_LinkFilename="1_.000" ows_ServerUrl="/Lists/customersList/1_.000" ows_EncodedAbsUrl="http://spvm:3333/Lists/customersList/1_.000" ows_BaseName="1_" ows_MetaInfo="1;#" ows__Level="1" ows__IsCurrentVersion="1" ows_FirstName="Mickey" ows_FullName="Mickey Mouse" ows_Comments="&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;" ows_ServerRedirected="0" />

Anyone have some input? Thanks.

Answer 2

If the XML is valid you could use XmlDocument.LoadXMl like so:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(validxmlstring);

Answer 3

You can do this and it should work fine (although I would use the XML document approach Colin mentions, or even better LINQ). You may also find the LINQ extensions in SharePoint Extensions Lib useful.

However, I'm wondering why you would approach it this way instead of using the SPListItem.Item property? It's much simpler to use and very clear. For example:

var title = listItem["Title"];       // Returns title of item
var desc = listItem["Description"];  // Returns value of description field

The only trap is the unusual case of a list that contains a field with an internal name equal to another field's display name. This will always return the value of the field with the internal name first.

Just curious if you have a requirement to go the XML route.