Read XML Attribute using XmlDocument

Question

How can I read an XML attribute using C#'s XmlDocument?

I have an XML file which looks somewhat like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<MyConfiguration xmlns="http://tempuri.org/myOwnSchema.xsd" SuperNumber="1" SuperString="whipcream">
    <Other stuff />
</MyConfiguration>

How would I read the XML attributes SuperNumber and SuperString?

Currently I'm using XmlDocument, and I get the values in between using XmlDocument's GetElementsByTagName() and that works really well. I just can't figure out how to get the attributes?

radbyx · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-21 08:10:51Z

121

XmlNodeList elemList = doc.GetElementsByTagName(...);
for (int i = 0; i < elemList.Count; i++)
{
    string attrVal = elemList[i].Attributes["SuperString"].Value;
}

edited Sep 21, 2017 at 8:10

radbyx

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answered Jun 1, 2009 at 5:58

Arsen Mkrtchyan

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1 Comment

Nani Over a year ago

thank you so much. it really works and it doesn't need any paths and nothing. simply superb!!

Aleks Andreev · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-25 20:11:40Z

91

You should look into XPath. Once you start using it, you'll find its a lot more efficient and easier to code than iterating through lists. It also lets you directly get the things you want.

Then the code would be something similar to

string attrVal = doc.SelectSingleNode("/MyConfiguration/@SuperNumber").Value;

Note that XPath 3.0 became a W3C Recommendation on April 8, 2014.

edited May 25, 2018 at 20:11

Aleks Andreev

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answered Jun 1, 2009 at 6:07

Greg

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Comments

Matt Sherman · Accepted Answer · 2009-06-01 07:23:33Z

8

You can migrate to XDocument instead of XmlDocument and then use Linq if you prefer that syntax. Something like:

var q = (from myConfig in xDoc.Elements("MyConfiguration")
         select myConfig.Attribute("SuperString").Value)
         .First();

answered Jun 1, 2009 at 7:23

Matt Sherman

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Comments

kratenko · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05 11:38:44Z

8

I have an Xml File books.xml

<ParameterDBConfig>
    <ID Definition="1" />
</ParameterDBConfig>

Program:

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load("D:/siva/books.xml");
XmlNodeList elemList = doc.GetElementsByTagName("ID");     
for (int i = 0; i < elemList.Count; i++)     
{
    string attrVal = elemList[i].Attributes["Definition"].Value;
}

Now, attrVal has the value of ID.

edited Jun 5, 2012 at 11:38

kratenko

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answered Jun 5, 2012 at 10:50

siva

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Comments

jerryjvl · Accepted Answer · 2009-06-01 05:53:48Z

5

XmlDocument.Attributes perhaps? (Which has a method GetNamedItem that will presumably do what you want, although I've always just iterated the attribute collection)

answered Jun 1, 2009 at 5:53

jerryjvl

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Comments

Colonel Panic · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-17 19:55:43Z

1

Assuming your example document is in the string variable doc

> XDocument.Parse(doc).Root.Attribute("SuperNumber")
1

answered Mar 17, 2013 at 19:55

Colonel Panic

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Comments

Voicu · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-01 19:47:02Z

If your XML contains namespaces, then you can do the following in order to obtain the value of an attribute:

var xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

// content is your XML as string
xmlDoc.LoadXml(content);

XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(new NameTable());

// make sure the namespace identifier, URN in this case, matches what you have in your XML 
nsmgr.AddNamespace("ns", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol");

// get the value of Destination attribute from within the Response node with a prefix who's identifier is "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol" using XPath
var str = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("/ns:Response/@Destination", nsmgr);
if (str != null)
{
    Console.WriteLine(str.Value);
}

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