XmlDocument vs XDocument Example and comparison
suggest changeThere are several ways interact with an Xml file.
- Xml Document
- XDocument
- XmlReader/XmlWriter
Before LINQ to XML we were used XMLDocument for manipulations in XML > like adding attributes, elements and so on. Now LINQ to XML uses > XDocument for the same kind of thing. Syntaxes are much easier than > XMLDocument and it requires a minimal amount of code.
Also XDocument is mutch faster as XmlDocument. XmlDoucument is an old > and dirty solution for query an XML document.
I am going to show some examples of XmlDocument class and XDocument class class:
Load XML file
string filename = @"C:\temp\test.xml";
XmlDocument
XmlDocument _doc = new XmlDocument();
_doc.Load(filename);
XDocument
XDocument _doc = XDocument.Load(fileName);
Create XmlDocument
XmlDocument
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement root = doc.CreateElement("root");
root.SetAttribute("name", "value");
XmlElement child = doc.CreateElement("child");
child.InnerText = "text node";
root.AppendChild(child);
doc.AppendChild(root);
XDocument
XDocument doc = new XDocument(
new XElement("Root", new XAttribute("name", "value"),
new XElement("Child", "text node"))
);
/*result*/
<root name="value">
<child>"TextNode"</child>
</root>
Change InnerText of node in XML
XmlDocument
XmlNode node = _doc.SelectSingleNode("xmlRootNode");
node.InnerText = value;
XDocument
XElement rootNote = _doc.XPathSelectElement("xmlRootNode");
rootNode.Value = "New Value";
Save File after edit
Make sure to safe the xml after any change.
// Safe XmlDocument and XDocument
_doc.Save(filename);
Retreive Values from XML
XmlDocument
XmlNode node = _doc.SelectSingleNode("xmlRootNode/levelOneChildNode");
string text = node.InnerText;
XDocument
XElement node = _doc.XPathSelectElement("xmlRootNode/levelOneChildNode");
string text = node.Value;
Retreive value from all from all child elements where attribute = something.
XmlDocument
List<string> valueList = new List<string>();
foreach (XmlNode n in nodelist)
{
if(n.Attributes["type"].InnerText == "City")
{
valueList.Add(n.Attributes["type"].InnerText);
}
}
XDocument
var accounts = _doc.XPathSelectElements("/data/summary/account").Where(c => c.Attribute("type").Value == "setting").Select(c => c.Value);
Append a node
XmlDocument
XmlNode nodeToAppend = doc.CreateElement("SecondLevelNode");
nodeToAppend.InnerText = "This title is created by code";
/* Append node to parent */
XmlNode firstNode= _doc.SelectSingleNode("xmlRootNode/levelOneChildNode");
firstNode.AppendChild(nodeToAppend);
/*After a change make sure to safe the document*/
_doc.Save(fileName);
XDocument
_doc.XPathSelectElement("ServerManagerSettings/TcpSocket").Add(new XElement("SecondLevelNode"));
/*After a change make sure to safe the document*/
_doc.Save(fileName);
Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea?
Let me know.
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