Reading Attributes
To harvest data from the attributes of a document, you have to explicitly reach out and touch them. If you want to determine that a node has attributes, use the HasAttributes property. If you want to list all the attributes but you don't know the specific names, you can use an indexed access method or an enumeration method to list them all.
The indexed method of attribute traversal is shown in the code fragment of Listing 4. It uses AttributeCount to get the size of the attribute collection and builds a simple for loop to move through it. The GetAttribute method returns the value of the attribute without moving the cursor, while the MoveToAttribute call actually positions the cursor on the attribute.
Listing 4: XmlReader Attributes by Index
int Count = reader.AttributeCount;
for (int i = 0; i < Count; i++)
{
// get the attribute value
string attrval = reader.GetAttribute(i);
// ----- OR ------
// move cursor to the attribute node
reader.MoveToAttribute(i);
string attrval = reader.Value;
}
The enumeration method uses the MoveToFirstAttribute and MoveToNextAttribute methods to travel along the attribute nodes. The example in Listing 5 navigates to the attributes of the XML document using the enumeration technique. Notice how we repositioned the cursor back on the element node using the MoveToElement method. This is not necessary, but it is handy when you want to put the cursor back on the element for special processing needs.
Listing 5: XmlTextReader Elements and Attributes Navigation Code
using System;
using System.Xml;
namespace XmlDemos
{
public class ReaderNavElemAttrs
{
public static void Main()
{
// load the PO document
XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader("PO.xml");
// ignore the whitespace in the document
reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None;
Console.WriteLine("Walking nodes in document..\n");
// read each node in the document
while (reader.Read())
{
// call routine for printing out spacing
PrintDepth(reader.Depth);
// display node information
Console.WriteLine("Name:{0} Type:{1} Value:{2}",
reader.Name, reader.NodeType, reader.Value);
// check to see if the current node has attributes
if (reader.HasAttributes)
{
// move to the first attribute
reader.MoveToFirstAttribute();
// enumerate all attributes
while (reader.MoveToNextAttribute())
{
// display attribute information
PrintDepth(reader.Depth + 1);
Console.WriteLine("Name:{0} Type:{1} Value:{2}",
reader.Name, reader.NodeType, reader.Value);
}
// move back to the element node that contains
// the attributes we just traversed
reader.MoveToElement();
}
}
}
public static void PrintDepth(int depth)
{
for (int i=0; i < depth; i++)
Console.Write(" ");
}
}
}
Listing 6: XmlTextReader Elements and Attributes Navigation Output
Walking nodes in document..
Name:xml Type:XmlDeclaration Value:version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"
Name:encoding Type:Attribute Value:utf-8
Name:po:PurchaseOrder Type:Element Value:
Name:xmlns:xsd Type:Attribute
Value:http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema
Name:xmlns:xsi Type:Attribute
Value:http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance
Name:Number Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:1001
Name:Number Type:EndElement Value:
Name:OrderDate Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:8/12/01
Name:OrderDate Type:EndElement Value:
Name:BillToAddress Type:Element Value:
Name:Street Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:101 Main Street
Name:Street Type:EndElement Value:
Name:City Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:Charlotte
Name:City Type:EndElement Value:
Name:State Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:NC
Name:State Type:EndElement Value:
Name:ZipCode Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:28273
Name:ZipCode Type:EndElement Value:
Name:BillToAddress Type:EndElement Value:
Name:ShipToAddress Type:Element Value:
Name:Street Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:101 Main Street
Name:Street Type:EndElement Value:
Name:City Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:Charlotte
Name:City Type:EndElement Value:
Name:State Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:NC
Name:State Type:EndElement Value:
Name:ZipCode Type:Element Value:
Name: Type:Text Value:28273
Name:ZipCode Type:EndElement Value:
Name:ShipToAddress Type:EndElement Value:
Name:LineItem Type:Element Value:
Name:Description Type:Attribute Value:Wood desk for computer
Name:SKU Type:Attribute Value:12345A123
Name:Price Type:Attribute Value:499.99
Name:Qty Type:Attribute Value:1
Name:po:PurchaseOrder Type:EndElement Value: