Select from XML, Build datastructure

Question

I'm trying to build a datastructure based on xml content.

The structure looks like that:

Dictionary<string, List<Dictionary<string, string>>>

The XML looks like that:

<Table name="testTable">
<Row>
  <Column name="test01" value="2029" />
  <Column name="test02" value="2029" />
</Row>
<Row>
  <Column name="test01" value="2029" />
  <Column name="test02" value="2029" />
</Row>
</Table>
<Table name="testTable01">
<Row>
  <Column name="test01" value="2029" />
  <Column name="test02" value="2029" />
</Row>
<Row>
  <Column name="test01" value="2029" />
  <Column name="test02" value="2029" />
</Row>
</Table>

It should result in something like that:

Dictionary<tableName, List<Dictionary<columnName, columnValue>>>

It's no problem to do that with some nested foreach-loops, but I'm searching for a way to do that "in one line" with the LINQ extension methods. How could I do that?

I only tried the nested loops and that worked. But now I'am searching for a "more elegant" solution. — Marc
– Marc, Commented Sep 13, 2012 at 19:40

Jon Skeet · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-13 19:22:32Z

4

Sounds like you want something like:

var tables = doc.Descendants("Table")
                .ToDictionary(t => (string) t.Attribute("name"),
                              t => ExtractRowsFromTable(t));

...

private static List<Dictionary<string, string>> ExtractRowsFromTable(XElement table)
{
    return table.Elements("Row")
                .Select(row => row.Elements("Column")
                                  .ToDictionary(c => (string) c.Attribute("name"),
                                                c => (string) c.Attribute("value"))
                .ToList();
}

You could do all of this in one line, basically inlining ExtractRowsFromTable - but I really wouldn't.

answered Sep 13, 2012 at 19:22

Jon Skeet

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L.B · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-13 19:36:02Z

1

string xml = 
        @"<Root>
            <Table name=""testTable"">
                <Row>
                    <Column name=""test01"" value=""2029"" />
                    <Column name=""test02"" value=""2029"" />
                </Row>
                <Row>
                    <Column name=""test01"" value=""2029"" />
                    <Column name=""test02"" value=""2029"" />
                </Row>
            </Table>
            <Table name=""testTable2"">
                <Row>
                    <Column name=""test01"" value=""2029"" />
                    <Column name=""test02"" value=""2029"" />
                </Row>
                <Row>
                    <Column name=""test01"" value=""2029"" />
                    <Column name=""test02"" value=""2029"" />
                </Row>
            </Table>
        </Root>";
XDocument xDoc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
var table = xDoc
        .Descendants("Table")
        .Select(t => new
        {
            Name = t.Attribute("name").Value,
            Rows = t.Descendants("Row")
                    .Select(r=> r.Descendants("Column")
                                 .ToDictionary(c=>c.Attribute("name").Value,
                                               c=>c.Attribute("value").Value))
                    .ToList()
        })
        .ToList();

edited Sep 13, 2012 at 19:36

answered Sep 13, 2012 at 19:29

L.B

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2 Comments

Marc Over a year ago

Thank you, I will take a closer look at your solution.

Jon Skeet Over a year ago

Currently you're building a list as the "outer" part, when the OP requested a dictionary. Easy enough to fix, of course :)

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