将XML解析为列表

Question

I have a quite elaborate XML I have been able to parse most of it however im coming across a tree that just has me stumped and im afraid that I'm making harder then it needs to be. here is the XML I'm referring to.

<Codes>
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Account" label="Account" distributionType="PercentOfPrice">
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="10.00" splitindex="0">
                    <Value>7200</Value>
                    <Description>General Supplies</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="1">
                    <Value>7200</Value>
                    <Description>General Supplies</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="2">
                    <Value>7200</Value>
                    <Description>General Supplies</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
            </CustomFieldValueSet>
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Activity" label="Activity" distributionType="PercentOfPrice" />
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Chart" label="Chart" distributionType="PercentOfPrice">
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="10.00" splitindex="0">
                    <Value>T</Value>
                    <Description>University</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="1">
                    <Value>T</Value>
                    <Description>University</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="2">
                    <Value>T</Value>
                    <Description>University</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
            </CustomFieldValueSet>
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Fund" label="Fund" distributionType="PercentOfPrice">
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="10.00" splitindex="0">
                    <Value>360806</Value>
                    <Description>National Institutes of Health</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="1">
                    <Value>360903</Value>
                    <Description>National  Institutes of Health</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="2">
                    <Value>360957</Value>
                    <Description>National Institutes of Health</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
            </CustomFieldValueSet>
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Program" label="Program" distributionType="PercentOfPrice">
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="10.00" splitindex="0">
                    <Value>02</Value>
                    <Description>Research</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="1">
                    <Value>02</Value>
                    <Description>Research</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="2">
                    <Value>02</Value>
                    <Description>Research</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
            </CustomFieldValueSet>
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Location" label="Location" distributionType="PercentOfPrice">
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="10.00" splitindex="0">
                    <Value>015</Value>
                    <Description>Biology - Life Science</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="1">
                    <Value>015</Value>
                    <Description>Biology - Life Science</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="2">
                    <Value>015</Value>
                    <Description>Biology - Life Science</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
            </CustomFieldValueSet>
            <CustomFieldValueSet name="Organization" label="Organization" distributionType="PercentOfPrice">
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="10.00" splitindex="0">
                    <Value>04400</Value>
                    <Description>TUSM:Neuroscience</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="1">
                    <Value>04400</Value>
                    <Description>TUSM:Neuroscience</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
                <CustomFieldValue distributionValue="45.00" splitindex="2">
                    <Value>04400</Value>
                    <Description>TUSM:Neuroscience</Description>
                </CustomFieldValue>
            </CustomFieldValueSet>
        </Codes>

I'm trying to end up with a list the would look something like this.

Account distributionType   Activity   distributionValue  Fund
7200     PercentOfPrice     ""        10                 360806
7200     PercentOfPrice     ""        45                 360903
7200     PercentOfPrice     ""        45                 360957

etc...

I have written code the looks something like this. Here is a snippet. Mind you I think i have over complicated this.

if (tagName == "Codes")
                                {
                                  // Create another reader that contains just the accounting elements.
                                    XmlReader inner = reader.ReadSubtree();
                                    //inner.ReadToDescendant("Codes");
                                    //printOutXML(inner);
                                    while (inner.Read())
                                    {
                                        switch (inner.NodeType)
                                        {       
                                            //walk down the xml hiearchy then simply  fill in the values.
                                            case XmlNodeType.Element:

                                                switch (reader.Name)
                                                {
                                                    case "CustomFieldValueSet":
                                                       //get the attribute that we are currently working with such as account and  
                                                        innerTagName=inner.GetAttribute("name");

                                                        // activity and location can potentially be blank therefore i will check here if it is 
                                                        //and if it is i will immediate assign the activity list a set of empty quotes.
                                                        if (innerTagName == "Activity")
                                                        {
                                                            if (inner.IsEmptyElement)
                                                            {   //quickly put fillers in .
                                                                for (int i = 0; i < thisInvoice.account.Count; i++)
                                                                {
                                                                    thisInvoice.activity.Add("");
                                                                }
                                                            }         
                                                        }

                                                        if (innerTagName == "Location")
                                                        {
                                                            if (inner.IsEmptyElement)
                                                            {   //quickly put fillers in .
                                                                for (int i = 0; i < thisInvoice.account.Count; i++)
                                                                {
                                                                    thisInvoice.location.Add("");
                                                                }
                                                                //thisInvoice.activity.Add("");
                                                            }
                                                        }

                                                        if (null == inner.GetAttribute("distributionType"))
                                                        {
                                                            distType = null;
                                                        }
                                                       else if
                                                       (distributionSwitch == false)
                                                        {
                                                            thisInvoice.distributionType.Add(inner.GetAttribute("distributionType") ?? "");
                                                            distType = inner.GetAttribute("distributionType") ?? "";
                                                       }
                                                        //Console.WriteLine(inner.Value);
                                                        //Console.WriteLine(inner.Name);
                                                        break;

                                                    case "CustomFieldValue":
                                                        if(null == inner.GetAttribute("distributionValue"))
                                                        //thisInvoice.distributionValue.Add(inner.GetAttribute("distributionValue") ?? "");
                                                        {/*do nothing*/}
                                                    else if
                                                        (distributionSwitch == false)
                                                        {
                                                            thisInvoice.distributionValue.Add(inner.GetAttribute("distributionValue") ?? "");
                                                        }
                                                        //check the length of the current distribution  if the lenght is less than the curren distribution value
                                                       // then we must then add the values to the new location.
                                                        if (thisInvoice.distributionValue.Count > thisInvoice.distributionType.Count)
                                                        {
                                                            for (int i = 0; i < thisInvoice.distributionValue.Count - thisInvoice.distributionType.Count; i++)
                                                            {
                                                                thisInvoice.distributionType.Add(distType);
                                                            }



                                                        }

                                                        break;

                                                    case "Value":
                                                         // XmlNodeType.Text
                                                        if (innerTagName == "Account"/*&& inner.NodeType ==XmlNodeType.Text*/)
                                                        {
                                                            inner.MoveToContent();// move to the text 
                                                            inner.Read();
                                                            thisInvoice.account.Add(inner.Value);
                                                        }


                                                        if (innerTagName == "Activity")
                                                        {
                                                            // activitiy is not a mandartory field so it could be empty therefore we need 
                                                            // to check if its  a self closing tag and if it is then we need to assign and 
                                                            if (inner.IsEmptyElement)
                                                            {
                                                                thisInvoice.activity.Add("");
                                                            }
                                                            else
                                                            {
                                                                inner.MoveToContent();// move to the text 
                                                                inner.Read();
                                                                thisInvoice.activity.Add(inner.Value);
                                                            }
                                                        }

                                                        if (innerTagName == "Location")
                                                        {
                                                            if (inner.IsEmptyElement)
                                                            {
                                                                thisInvoice.location.Add("");
                                                            }
                                                            else
                                                            {
                                                                inner.MoveToContent();// move to the text 
                                                                inner.Read();
                                                                thisInvoice.location.Add(inner.Value);
                                                            }
                                                        }

                                                        if (innerTagName == "Fund")
                                                        {
                                                            inner.MoveToContent();// move to the text 
                                                            inner.Read();
                                                            thisInvoice.fund.Add(inner.Value);
                                                        }

                                                        if (innerTagName == "Organization")
                                                        {
                                                            inner.MoveToContent();// move to the text 
                                                            inner.Read();
                                                            thisInvoice.org.Add(inner.Value);
                                                        }

                                                        if (innerTagName == "Program")
                                                        {
                                                            inner.MoveToContent();// move to the text 
                                                            inner.Read();
                                                            thisInvoice.prog.Add(inner.Value);
                                                        }

                                                       break;



                                                }//end switch
                                                break;//brake the outside case.
                                            case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
                                                if (inner.Name == "CustomFieldValueSet" || inner.Value == "CustomFieldValueSet")
                                                {
                                                    distributionSwitch = true;
                                                    Console.WriteLine(reader.Value);
                                                    Console.WriteLine(reader.Name);
                                                }
                                                if (inner.Name == "Codes")
                                                {
                                                    distributionSwitch = false;
                                                    distType = null;
                                                    inner.Close();
                                                }

                                                break;
                                        }//end switch
                                    }//end while
                                }//end the if;

In the case of the tag distributionType i need to make the list length as long as the list for account so in other words once i have it on a variable i need to use it as a filler to make the distribution type list as big as the account list. I cant imagine that there is not an easier way to do this I keep looking at linq to xml but it does not make much sense. I would love to hear how some of you experts would tackle this one. I'm trying to put together an elegant solution with a little less code. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You can use Linq to XML for this.

using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;

static void Main(string[] args) {

// This txt file contains your xml.
var xml_sample = File.ReadAllText("xml_sample.txt");
var doc = XDocument.Parse(xml_sample);

// Get all <CustomFieldValueSet> that have the label attribute `Account`
var accounts = from item in doc.Descendants("Codes").Descendants("CustomFieldValueSet")
               where (item.HasAttributes) && 
                     (item.Attribute("label").Value == "Account")
               select item;

// Create an anonymous type containing the value of the 
// distributionValue attribute and the <Value> node.
var accountValue = from el in accounts.Descendants("CustomFieldValue")
                   let distAttribute = el.Attribute("distributionValue")
                   select new
                   {
                       distValue = distAttribute != null ? distAttribute.Value : "0",
                       value = el.Descendants("Value").First().Value,
                   };

// Display stuff here just to make sure we got it right.
accounts.ToList().ForEach(el => 
    Console.WriteLine(el.Name + " " + el.Attribute("distributionType").Value));

accountValue.ToList().ForEach(el => 
    Console.WriteLine(el.distValue + ":"+ el.value));
}

You should be able to use these ideas to parse your XML file as needed.

Answer 2

As specified in the comments section, an alternative to Mihai 's solution of using LINQ to XML , you can also use a pre-defined class structure to deserialize your XML into typed classes and properties.

The benefit of this is that you will then have an object that is a representation of your XML (well hopefully) and allow you to more easily work with the data that was inside the XML

With the supplied XML sample and using the Edit -> Paste Special -> Paste XML as Classes menu option in Visual Studio, you will get a class structure similar to the one below (this one has been refined a bit for easier reading)

using System.Xml.Serialization;

[XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true)]
[XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public partial class Codes
{
  [XmlElementAttribute("CustomFieldValueSet")]
  public List<CodesCustomFieldValueSet> CustomFieldValueSet { get; set; }
}

[XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true)]
public partial class CodesCustomFieldValueSet
{
  [XmlElementAttribute("CustomFieldValue")]
  public List<CodesCustomFieldValueSetCustomFieldValue> CustomFieldValue { get; set; }

  [XmlAttributeAttribute(AttributeName="name")]
  public string Name { get; set; }

  [XmlAttributeAttribute(AttributeName = "label")]
  public string Label { get; set; }

  [XmlAttributeAttribute(AttributeName = "distributionType")]
  public string DistributionType { get; set; }
}

[XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true)]
public partial class CodesCustomFieldValueSetCustomFieldValue
{
  public string Value { get; set; }

  public string Description { get; set; }

  [XmlAttributeAttribute(AttributeName = "distributionValue")]
  public decimal DistributionValue { get; set; }

  [XmlAttributeAttribute(AttributeName = "splitindex")]
  public byte SplitIndex { get; set; }
}

With this class structure, you are then able to deserialize your XML with the below lines
(where txtInput.Text is a TextBox I used to hold the sample XML data)

XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Codes));
Codes codesInput = serializer.Deserialize(new StringReader(txtInput.Text)) as Codes;

if (codesInput != null)
{
  // Do something with the data
}

NOTE:
From your desired output and the structure of the sample XML you supplied, there will be a requirement for you to transform the information in the deserialized object into what/how you want it, for that I would recommend creating an additional class structure, combined with a List<T> , to hold all the information as shown in your desired output.

Even better would be if you controlled the XML's structure and could structure it in a better way as to make it more self explanatory than what it currently is, as it seems that the links between each CustomFieldValueSet is the splitindex , which is an attribute of the child nodes, which complicates it a lot.

Further reading on XML Serialization:
MSDN: Introducing XML Serialization
The XmlSerializer Class