Simple xpath query with default namespace

[Jason Mobarak]

Hello --

I'm attempting to get a handle on how to do xpath queries with
System.Xml -- so far the biggest hurdle has been how to deal with a
default namespace. If I use the test xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<thing xmlns="urn:thin g-schema-v1">
<foo>foo thing</foo>
<bar>bar thing</bar>
<baz>baz thing</baz>
</thing>

....everything in the code below fails (as in no nodes are located, when
3 should be). However, if I remove the xmlns declaration from the
<thingroot element everything works fine. What am I doing wrong?

using System;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace XmlTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const string szXPath = "/thing/*";
const string szFilename = @"..\..\test-wo-xmlns.xml";

System.Xml.XmlR eader xmlReader = new
System.Xml.XmlT extReader(Syste m.IO.File.OpenR ead(szFilename) );

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace(String.E mpty, "urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument xpath = new
System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument (xmlReader);

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNavigato r xpathNavi =
xpath.CreateNav igator();

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNodeIter ator xpathQuery =
xpathNavi.Selec t(szXPath);
while(xpathQuer y.MoveNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathExpressi on xpathExpr =
xpathNavi.Compi le(szXPath);
xpathExpr.SetCo ntext(xmlNsMgr) ;

xpathQuery = xpathNavi.Selec t(xpathExpr);
while (xpathQuery.Mov eNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XmlD ocument xmlDoc = new
System.Xml.XmlD ocument();
xmlDoc.Load(szF ilename);

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr2 = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlDoc.NameTab le);
xmlNsMgr2.AddNa mespace(String. Empty,
"urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XmlN odeList xmlNodes =
xmlDoc.SelectNo des(szXPath);

foreach(System. Xml.XmlNode xmlNode in xmlNodes)
{
string szValue = xmlNode.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}
}
}
}

[Jason Mobarak]

I don't quite understand why this works... but as many others have
probably discovered if you create a namespace manager like so:

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace("q", "urn:thing-schema-v1");

....then use a query such as "/q:thing/*" then everything in the code
below works. Why is this?

On Dec 2, 11:17 pm, "Jason Mobarak" <jason.moba...@ gmail.comwrote:

Hello --

I'm attempting to get a handle on how to do xpath queries with
System.Xml -- so far the biggest hurdle has been how to deal with a
default namespace. If I use the test xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<thing xmlns="urn:thin g-schema-v1">
<foo>foo thing</foo>
<bar>bar thing</bar>
<baz>baz thing</baz>
</thing>

...everything in the code below fails (as in no nodes are located, when
3 should be). However, if I remove the xmlns declaration from the
<thingroot element everything works fine. What am I doing wrong?

using System;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace XmlTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const string szXPath = "/thing/*";
const string szFilename = @"..\..\test-wo-xmlns.xml";

System.Xml.XmlR eader xmlReader = new
System.Xml.XmlT extReader(Syste m.IO.File.OpenR ead(szFilename) );

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace(String.E mpty, "urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument xpath = new
System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument (xmlReader);

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNavigato r xpathNavi =
xpath.CreateNav igator();

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNodeIter ator xpathQuery =
xpathNavi.Selec t(szXPath);
while(xpathQuer y.MoveNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathExpressi on xpathExpr =
xpathNavi.Compi le(szXPath);
xpathExpr.SetCo ntext(xmlNsMgr) ;

xpathQuery = xpathNavi.Selec t(xpathExpr);
while (xpathQuery.Mov eNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XmlD ocument xmlDoc = new
System.Xml.XmlD ocument();
xmlDoc.Load(szF ilename);

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr2 = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlDoc.NameTab le);
xmlNsMgr2.AddNa mespace(String. Empty,
"urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XmlN odeList xmlNodes =
xmlDoc.SelectNo des(szXPath);

foreach(System. Xml.XmlNode xmlNode in xmlNodes)
{
string szValue = xmlNode.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}
}
}

}

[Mark R. Dawson]

Hi Jason,
namespaces in XML serve the same purpose as namespace in C#, they are a
way to distinguish between two items that happen to have the same identifier.
In XML you may have one XML definition that has a node called <Account
BankNo="123"whi ch refers to a Bank Account and another node that is also
called <Account Name="bob"that refers to a Video Rental account, so if both
nodes are part of the same XML document how could you distinguish between
them? The namespace allows that since one could be part of the namespace
http://www.example.org/banking and another http://www.example.org/videorental
then when you have your XPath query you will need to tell XPath which Account
element you mean by prefixing the name with the namespace in your query.
Hence in your example because the node is part of a namespace you need to use
that information in your XPath query.
Mark.
--
http://www.markdawson.org
"Jason Mobarak" wrote:

I don't quite understand why this works... but as many others have
probably discovered if you create a namespace manager like so:

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace("q", "urn:thing-schema-v1");

....then use a query such as "/q:thing/*" then everything in the code
below works. Why is this?

On Dec 2, 11:17 pm, "Jason Mobarak" <jason.moba...@ gmail.comwrote:

Hello --

I'm attempting to get a handle on how to do xpath queries with
System.Xml -- so far the biggest hurdle has been how to deal with a
default namespace. If I use the test xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<thing xmlns="urn:thin g-schema-v1">
<foo>foo thing</foo>
<bar>bar thing</bar>
<baz>baz thing</baz>
</thing>

...everything in the code below fails (as in no nodes are located, when
3 should be). However, if I remove the xmlns declaration from the
<thingroot element everything works fine. What am I doing wrong?

using System;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace XmlTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const string szXPath = "/thing/*";
const string szFilename = @"..\..\test-wo-xmlns.xml";

System.Xml.XmlR eader xmlReader = new
System.Xml.XmlT extReader(Syste m.IO.File.OpenR ead(szFilename) );

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace(String.E mpty, "urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument xpath = new
System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument (xmlReader);

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNavigato r xpathNavi =
xpath.CreateNav igator();

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNodeIter ator xpathQuery =
xpathNavi.Selec t(szXPath);
while(xpathQuer y.MoveNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathExpressi on xpathExpr =
xpathNavi.Compi le(szXPath);
xpathExpr.SetCo ntext(xmlNsMgr) ;

xpathQuery = xpathNavi.Selec t(xpathExpr);
while (xpathQuery.Mov eNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XmlD ocument xmlDoc = new
System.Xml.XmlD ocument();
xmlDoc.Load(szF ilename);

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr2 = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlDoc.NameTab le);
xmlNsMgr2.AddNa mespace(String. Empty,
"urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XmlN odeList xmlNodes =
xmlDoc.SelectNo des(szXPath);

foreach(System. Xml.XmlNode xmlNode in xmlNodes)
{
string szValue = xmlNode.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}
}
}

}

[Jason Mobarak]

Thanks Mark. You're explanation makes sense. I guess I was confused
by the fact that I needed to introduce a prefix in to the my xpath
query (a prefix that's no actually in the xml) in order for the library
to allow me to query for something in a namespace, regardless of
whether it's the default namespace.

On Dec 3, 12:45 am, Mark R. Dawson
<MarkRDaw...@di scussions.micro soft.comwrote:

Hi Jason,
namespaces in XML serve the same purpose as namespace in C#, they are a
way to distinguish between two items that happen to have the same identifier.
In XML you may have one XML definition that has a node called <Account
BankNo="123"whi ch refers to a Bank Account and another node that is also
called <Account Name="bob"that refers to a Video Rental account, so if both
nodes are part of the same XML document how could you distinguish between
them? The namespace allows that since one could be part of the namespacehttp://www.example.org/bankingand anotherhttp://www.example.org/videorental
then when you have your XPath query you will need to tell XPath which Account
element you mean by prefixing the name with the namespace in your query.
Hence in your example because the node is part of a namespace you need to use
that information in your XPath query.

Mark.
--http://www.markdawson. org

"Jason Mobarak" wrote:

I don't quite understand why this works... but as many others have
probably discovered if you create a namespace manager like so:

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace("q", "urn:thing-schema-v1");

....then use a query such as "/q:thing/*" then everything in the code
below works. Why is this?

On Dec 2, 11:17 pm, "Jason Mobarak" <jason.moba...@ gmail.comwrote:

Hello --

I'm attempting to get a handle on how to do xpath queries with
System.Xml -- so far the biggest hurdle has been how to deal with a
default namespace. If I use the test xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<thing xmlns="urn:thin g-schema-v1">
<foo>foo thing</foo>
<bar>bar thing</bar>
<baz>baz thing</baz>
</thing>

...everything in the code below fails (as in no nodes are located, when
3 should be). However, if I remove the xmlns declaration from the
<thingroot element everything works fine. What am I doing wrong?

using System;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace XmlTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const string szXPath = "/thing/*";
const string szFilename = @"..\..\test-wo-xmlns.xml";

System.Xml.XmlR eader xmlReader = new
System.Xml.XmlT extReader(Syste m.IO.File.OpenR ead(szFilename) );

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlReader.Name Table);
xmlNsMgr.AddNam espace(String.E mpty, "urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument xpath = new
System.Xml.XPat h.XPathDocument (xmlReader);

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNavigato r xpathNavi =
xpath.CreateNav igator();

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathNodeIter ator xpathQuery =
xpathNavi.Selec t(szXPath);
while(xpathQuer y.MoveNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XPat h.XPathExpressi on xpathExpr =
xpathNavi.Compi le(szXPath);
xpathExpr.SetCo ntext(xmlNsMgr) ;

xpathQuery = xpathNavi.Selec t(xpathExpr);
while (xpathQuery.Mov eNext())
{
string szValue = xpathQuery.Curr ent.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}

System.Xml.XmlD ocument xmlDoc = new
System.Xml.XmlD ocument();
xmlDoc.Load(szF ilename);

System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager xmlNsMgr2 = new
System.Xml.XmlN amespaceManager (xmlDoc.NameTab le);
xmlNsMgr2.AddNa mespace(String. Empty,
"urn:thing-schema-v1");

System.Xml.XmlN odeList xmlNodes =
xmlDoc.SelectNo des(szXPath);

foreach(System. Xml.XmlNode xmlNode in xmlNodes)
{
string szValue = xmlNode.Value;
System.Console. WriteLine(szVal ue);
}
}
}

}