Sorting a xml file

[milecimm]

HI,
I'm trying to sort this list of xml data alphabetically (supplier name) but for some reason this code is not working. Coud you help? Thanks!

My xml

CONTRACTS
-CONTRACT
---SUPPLIER
----SUPPLIERID
----SUPPLIERNAME

My .net.vb page

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
 
 
        Dim myString As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder(100)
 
        Dim xdoc As New XPathDocument(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "/cupid/local_xml.xml")
 
 
        Dim nav As XPathNavigator = xdoc.CreateNavigator()
 
        Dim expr As XPathExpression
 
        expr = nav.Compile("/pf:CONTRACTS/pf:CONTRACT/pf:SUPPLIERS/pf:SUPPLIER[not(pf:SUPPLIERID=preceding::pf:SUPPLIER/pf:SUPPLIERID)]")
 
 
        Dim namespaceManager As XmlNamespaceManager = New XmlNamespaceManager(nav.NameTable)
        namespaceManager.AddNamespace("pf", "http://namespace.com/")
 
        expr.AddSort("/pf:CONTRACTS/pf:CONTRACT/pf:SUPPLIERS/pf:SUPPLIER/pf:SUPPLIERNAME", XmlSortOrder.Ascending, XmlCaseOrder.None, String.Empty, XmlDataType.Text)
 
        expr.SetContext(namespaceManager)
 
        Dim nodes As XPathNodeIterator = nav.Select(expr)
 
 
        If nodes.Count > 0 Then
 
            Dim tr As String = Nothing
 
 
            myString.AppendLine("<table width='300px' border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' border='0' class='datatable1'>")
            myString.AppendLine("<th>Supplier name</th>")
 
            While nodes.MoveNext()
 
                Dim sChars As String = " "
 
                Dim supplier As XPathNavigator = nodes.Current.SelectSingleNode("pf:SUPPLIERNAME", namespaceManager)
                Dim supplierID As XPathNavigator = nodes.Current.SelectSingleNode("pf:SUPPLIERID", namespaceManager)
 
 
                myString.AppendLine("<tr><td><a href=""javascript:poptastic('http://www.cupid.ac.uk/Supplier/SupplierDisplay.aspx?supplierId=" & supplierID.ToString() & "');"">" & supplier.ToString.TrimEnd(sChars) & "</a>")
 
                myString.AppendLine("</td></tr>")
 
            End While
 
            myString.AppendLine("</table>")
 
            Dim strOutput As String = myString.ToString()
            lblOutput.Text = strOutput
 
 
        Else
 
            lblOutput.Text = "No results for your search"
 
        End If
    End Sub

[jkmyoung]

What result are you getting? If you're getting nothing I would consider adding the namespace manager to the XPathExpression before you give it the xpath or the sort.

[milecimm]

Hi,
I get the list but NOT in alphabetical order, I wonder why.

Thanks

[jkmyoung]

I think this is a context problem. Try shortening the sort path to the relative path:
../pf:SUPPLIERNAME
Otherwise, each of them will all be sorting based on the first SupplierName, which will, of course, always be the same; thus no sort.

[Monomachus]

@jkmyoung
If you can, if your project is .NET => 3.0, than consider using LINQ.
You can see here an xml I wrote to test the sorting.

<fish>
  <finish></finish>
  <fool>
    <coincidence>
 
    </coincidence>
  </fool>
  <end>
    <begin>
 
    </begin>
  </end>
  <wisdom>
    <yahoo>
 
    </yahoo>
    <google></google>
  </wisdom>
  <zebra></zebra>
  <llama></llama>
</fish>
 

Now the code that I wrote,

 public static void SortElements()
        {
            XElement xElement = XElement.Load("TestSorting.xml");
 
            int i = 0;
 
            xElement.DescendantsAndSelf().ToList().ForEach((XElement el) => PrintXElementName(el, i++));
 
            Console.ReadKey();
            Console.WriteLine();
 
            List<XElement> sortedElements = xElement.DescendantsAndSelf().OrderBy(el => el.Name.ToString()).ToList();
 
            i = 0;
 
            sortedElements.ForEach((XElement el) => PrintXElementName(el,i++));
 
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
 
        private static void PrintXElementName(XElement el, int index)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Element #{0}: {1}",index, el.Name));
        }
 

And the output of these

Element #0: fish
Element #1: finish
Element #2: fool
Element #3: coincidence
Element #4: end
Element #5: begin
Element #6: wisdom
Element #7: yahoo
Element #8: google
Element #9: zebra
Element #10: llama
 
Element #0: begin
Element #1: coincidence
Element #2: end
Element #3: finish
Element #4: fish
Element #5: fool
Element #6: google
Element #7: llama
Element #8: wisdom
Element #9: yahoo
Element #10: zebra
 

And that is all.

[milecimm]

Hi

Thanks but shortening the sorting path did not help and I am not using .net 3/LINQ

Any help?

Thanks!

[jkmyoung]

Is there only ever a single supplierID and supplierName per Supplier?

I think I misread the expression. The sort should be just:
pf:SUPPLIERNAME