Get child node values from Linq C#

Question

Trying to get values of some child elements in XML, however, when retrieving the values of these elements, they are stitched together.

Also, sometimes the file can have 1 reference number but there can also be multiple.

Code below

public class Test
{
    public static void ParseXml(string xml)
    {
        var doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
        List<KeyValuePair<string, string>> caseList = new List<KeyValuePair<string, string>>();
        var t = 1; 
        foreach (var el in doc.Descendants("ReferenceNumbers"))
        {
            //Console.WriteLine(el.ToString());
            caseList.Insert(0, new KeyValuePair<string, string>(t.ToString(), el.Value));
            t++;
        }

        for (int x = 0; x < caseList.Count; x++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(caseList[x]);
        }
    }
    
    public static void Main()
    {
        
        
        
        ParseXml(@"<root>
<ReferenceNumbers>
        <Reference1>CN534786</Reference1>
        <Reference2>CN476587</Reference2>
   </ReferenceNumbers>
</root>");
    }
}

and the result is

[1, CN534786CN476587]

However, I'm expecting [1, CN534786] [2, CN476587]

Fiddle

ipodtouch0218 · Accepted Answer · 2024-11-19 22:02:22Z

1

You might be confused on what doc.Descendants(string) actually does: it (recursively) finds the children elements of doc with the given name. So you're searching for the elements with the name "ReferenceNumbers", not getting the children of the tag with the name "ReferenceNumbers".

The for loop will only iterate over the single <ReferenceNumbers> element, not its children. Taking the .Value of this element just concatenates the values of its children, which is why you got the two reference numbers combined.

Use doc.Descendants(string).Elements() instead, to iterate over the (immediate) children of the found <ReferenceNumbers> element:

foreach (var el in doc.Descendants("ReferenceNumbers").Elements())
{
    caseList.Insert(0, new KeyValuePair<string, string>(t.ToString(), el.Value));
    t++;
}

which produces:

[2, CN476587]
[1, CN534786]

This would also handle the case of there being multiple <ReferenceNumbers> elements. If there were multiple, all of their children would combined into the same caseList list.

edited Nov 19, 2024 at 22:02

answered Nov 19, 2024 at 21:47

ipodtouch0218

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1 Comment

jwdickins Over a year ago

Thanks so much. I was trying all kinds of things with .Elements and what not. I should have asked sooner rather than wasting a day!

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