XML XMLNS breaks XPath reference

[martynwb]

I have the following XML:
<configuration xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0">
<appSettings>
<add key="Main.ConnectionString" value="foo">
</appSettings>
</configuration>

The following XPath works 'only' when the above xmlns reference is removed:
//configuration/appSettings/add[@key='Main.ConnectionString']/@value

Any work arounds to this problem?

Martynwb

[jkmyoung]

Assuming you're using .Net, you would need a namespace manager.

eg. declare:
xmlns:ncf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0"
like so
XmlNamespaceManager xmlns = new XmlNamespaceManager()
xmlns.AddNamespace("ncf", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0");

and change your xpath accordingly:
//ncf:configuration/ncf:appSettings/ncf:add[@key='Main.ConnectionString']/@value

[martynwb]

This application is actually an MSBuild application with no assocaited .NET application. It updates the config file but cannot change the underlying code. Can this functionality be offered in MSBuild?

Thanks

Martyn

[jkmyoung]

I have no experience with MSBuild.
An unpretty xpath that should work is:

//*[local-name()='configuration']/*[local-name()='appSettings']/*[local-name()='add'][@key='Main.ConnectionString']/@value