Ignore CData when using XPath with XDocument

Question

I would like to extract data from XML and convert it to a DateTime through XPaths. I have following function:

DateTime? GetXPathDate(string xPath, XDocument xDoc)
{
    DateTime? result = null;
    var element = xDoc.XPathSelectElement(xPath);
    return result;
}

I can find the element but the issue it is wrapped in an CData:

<CarName>
    <![CDATA[XXX Jan]]>
</CarName>

Is there anyway to ignore the CData part via the XDocument or do I need to regex my self out of this?

Your example is unclear - you've shown the document, but not the xpath you expect to find the data (or even what the data is that you're looking for). Please provide a clearer, more complete example. — Jon Skeet
– Jon Skeet, Commented Mar 19, 2021 at 17:29
System.Xml.Linq already knows how to work with CDATA through XCData. You don't need to regex or anything. — Crowcoder
– Crowcoder, Commented Mar 19, 2021 at 17:35
To select a CData text value, see How do I retrieve element text inside CDATA markup via XPath? or How do i read individual xml nodes from a node that contains both CDATA and xml. Do those answer your question? — dbc
– dbc, Commented Mar 19, 2021 at 17:48
I tried /Root/Car/CarName/text() but thorws following: The XPath expression evaluated to unexpected type System.Xml.Linq.XCData. I saw that post but failed to succeed. — Thomas Segato
– Thomas Segato, Commented Mar 19, 2021 at 18:19
It is extremely rare that I use XPath, but when I just mocked up a sample, XElement is smart enough to provide the cdata content as the Value. So, if your xpath is correct, the string you need to parse to a date is simply element.Value — Crowcoder
– Crowcoder, Commented Mar 19, 2021 at 18:49

Yitzhak Khabinsky · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-21 02:48:08Z

0

Please try the following conceptual example.

c#

void Main()
{
    string elementName = "CarName";
    
    XElement xelem = XElement.Parse("<CarName><![CDATA[XXX Jan]]></CarName>");
    
    XElement x = xelem.DescendantsAndSelf(elementName).FirstOrDefault();
    Console.WriteLine(x.Value);
}

Output

XXX Jan

answered Mar 21, 2021 at 2:48

Yitzhak Khabinsky

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