problem with XML

[Ahmed Galal]

i don't know wheres the error but i'm tired of searching so i'll let u to explore it, my xml file is like the following.

<VoteData>
    <Question id="0" name="do you believe in think tanks?">
        <Choice choiceid="1" votes="0" name="Yes">
            <Vote ip="192.168.1.1"></Vote>
        </Choice>
        <Choice choiceid="2" votes="0" name="No">
        </Choice>
    </Question>
</VoteData></code>

i'm trying to use SelectNodes() method to select nodes, `XmlDocument VoteData = new XmlDocument(); VoteData.Load(@"C:\VoteData.xml"); XmlElement xElement = VoteData.DocumentElement; XmlNodeList xList = xElement.SelectNodes("/VoteData/Question[@id='0']");` the problem that xList is always empty, no results ! thanx in advance

[J4amieC]

Try validating your XML in explorer/any other Xml aware application and you will see its badly formed. You are missing ? marks in the xml declaration line... its should read: < ? xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ? >

[leppie]

Xpath can be tricky :p Try some variations eg /VoteData/Question[@id='0']/ /VoteData/Question[@id='0']/* VoteData/Question[@id='0'] I cant recall the exact syntax, but something normally is just in the wrong place :p Also, why not call SelectNodes from the VoteData xml doc itself? that mite be causing the Xpath not to match the VoteData bit. top secret
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[Ahmed Galal]

the xml is well formed, about the question mark "?" i just removed them when i did the copy and patse here, i think itsn't the problem, thanx for ur reply

[Ahmed Galal]

i tried all this variations b4 i post this problem, but i'd like to ask somthin, why its tricky ? no standard ? thanx for reply :)

[leppie]

Its tricky for me as I rarely use it, and tend to forget the exactly syntax. XPath is simply Regular Expressions for XML. The is a complete standard for it. .NET supports version 1.1 I think. The easiest way to test things is just to start with "*" and continue up to "*/*/*" and see what is really being matched, from there is should be easy, except if you are using XmlNamespaces (which u are not). Your problem looks like a context problem, iow you are starting at the wrong node, like I mentioned in my previous post. top secret
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[MyThread]

Why do you have the in you xml file? Check if xElement is empty I use something like this and see if sId has some value XmlNode node; node = xml.FirstChild; while (node.Name != "Ticket" & !(node == null)) { node = node.NextSibling; } string sId; sId = node.Attributes("id").Value;

[MyThread]

while (node.Name != "Question" & !(node == null)) { node = node.NextSibling; }

[leppie]

This type of code is exactly what XPath prevents you from having to do :p top secret
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[Christian Graus]

The XPath is fine, that is not where your problem lies. I just made your XML valid and tested it. If I have trouble with an XPath, I use XSLerator or something similar to test it, and build it one step at a time. Christian I have several lifelong friends that are New Yorkers but I have always gravitated toward the weirdo's. - Richard Stringer

[Ahmed Galal]

i think i caught where the problem lies, the problem is me, damn, sorry guys, i didn't paste the exactly code as in my project , its my first time using xml so don't blame me, i think i'm using a namespace, and heres my exactly xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<VoteData xmlns="http://tempuri.org/VoteData.xsd">
  <Question id="0" name="do you believe in think tanks?">
    <Choice choiceid="1" votes="7" name="Yes">
      <Vote ip="192.168.1.1" />
      <Vote IP="50.50.20.10" xmlns="" />
      <Vote IP="50.50.20.10" xmlns="" />
    </Choice>
    <Choice choiceid="2" votes="1" name="No">
      <Vote IP="50.50.20.10" xmlns="" />
    </Choice>
  </Question>
  <Question id="2" name="bet7eb Sawsan?">
    <Choice choiceid="0" votes="0" name="aiwa" />
    <Choice choiceid="1" votes="0" name="la2" />
    <Choice choiceid="2" votes="0" name="moot" />
    <Choice choiceid="3" votes="0" name="ya3ney" />
  </Question>
</VoteData>

i didn't think that will be a diffrent while using namespace, so now, what should i change in my C# code to let XPath work ? sorry guys again and thanx :)

[Ahmed Galal]

the file may be large and that way may take a long time to select the node i need, do u think that XPath using this way to select nodes ? i dunno

[leppie]

If speed becomes an issue, look into storing the data in database. top secret
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[Ahmed Galal]

yea thats right, but am implementing a stand alone component that don't relies on database, it has its own data file, thanks