C# accessing html element without id

Question

I've been trying various different methods(webclient, webrequest, etc) to do this however I could not do it after all.

<td class="period_slot_1">
<strong>TG</strong>

What I want is to get access to the text value of above, so that I will get "TG" as result.

How can I do that?

You could use a regex. Or an HTML parser.

Luke Joshua Park
– Luke Joshua Park

2016-04-02 03:37:31 +00:00
Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 3:37 — Luke Joshua Park
– Luke Joshua Park, Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 3:37

jdphenix · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-02 03:59:24Z

3

I'm a fan of AngleSharp. Here's a minimal example using your HTML snippet.

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var source = @"
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <td class=""period_slot_1"">
    <strong>TG</strong>
</body>
</html>";

            var parser = new HtmlParser();
            var document = parser.Parse(source);
            var strong = document.QuerySelector("strong"); 

            Console.WriteLine(strong.TextContent);
        }

The QuerySelector() method takes a CSS selector, so you can of course select "strong" without difficulty.

If you're aiming to get data out of a table and the class matters, you can (again, using normal DOM from JavaScript you're likely used to) use the DOM and LINQ to project the classes and data, like

            static void Main(string[] args)
            {
                var source = @"
<table>
    <tr>
        <td class=""period_slot_1"">
            <strong>TG</strong>
        </td>
        <td class=""period_slot_2"">
            <strong>TH</strong>
        </td>
        <td class=""period_slot_3"">
            <strong>TJ</strong>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class=""period_slot_1"">
            <strong>YG</strong>
        </td>
        <td class=""period_slot_2"">
            <strong>YH</strong>
        </td>
        <td class=""period_slot_3"">
            <strong>YJ</strong>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>";

                var parser = new HtmlParser();
                var document = parser.Parse(source);
                var strongs = document.QuerySelectorAll("td > strong")
                    .Select(x => new
                    {
                        Class = x.ParentElement.ClassName,
                        Data = x.TextContent
                    })
                    .OrderBy(x => x.Class);

                strongs.ToList().ForEach(Console.WriteLine);
            }

outputs:

{ Class = period_slot_1, Data = TG }
{ Class = period_slot_1, Data = YG }
{ Class = period_slot_2, Data = TH }
{ Class = period_slot_2, Data = YH }
{ Class = period_slot_3, Data = TJ }
{ Class = period_slot_3, Data = YJ }

edited Apr 2, 2016 at 3:59

answered Apr 2, 2016 at 3:41

jdphenix

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2 Comments

Jack J Over a year ago

It works! thank you so much. However since I'm trying to read those data from website, how could make the var source refer to the website's so that it actually loads from the website?

jdphenix Over a year ago

The Anglesharp readme docs has an example of loading a site here: github.com/AngleSharp/AngleSharp#simple-demo

Hari Prasad · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-02 03:38:25Z

0

Use getElementsByClassName to identify parent and then look for descendants.

var parent = getElementsByClassName("period_slot_1")
var descendants = parent.getElementsByTagName("strong");
if ( descendants.length )
{
    // logic goes here.
}

answered Apr 2, 2016 at 3:38

Hari Prasad

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5 Comments

Jack J Over a year ago

Thanks for the comment! Though I dont understand why you put if ( descendants.length ) there?

Hari Prasad Over a year ago

Just ensure we have elements in the descendants

Jack J Over a year ago

Sorry for keep asking. So i have got element by tagname of "strong", in var descendants, but how can I get access to the information that's saved there(which will be the TG)?

Hari Prasad Over a year ago

Once you get the element just use element.value that should give you TG in this case.

Jack J Over a year ago

I'm sorry but do you mean use it like: descendants.value ?? Thank you so much for your answer :)

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