如何比较XML模式中的节点深度？

Question

I am working with a xml schema file that contains complex types with nested choice and sequence tags. Those can be nested inside each other in any way. What I need to do is to execute different methods depending on the first sequence or choice tag. I have no trouble finding a sequence or a choice tag via the .Descendants()-method. But in this case I only get the tag I check for first.

I was thinking to determine the depths of the first sequence and choice tag after a given node and compare them. This way I could determine the highest tag. How can I do this? I can't find a way to determine the depth of a node. Or is there another way to figure out whether a node contains a sequence higher than a choice or the other way around?

Answer 1

You could write an extension method that gives you the depth of an element:

public static class ExtensionMethods {
    public static int GetDepth(this XElement element) {
        if (element.Parent == null)
            return 0;
        return element.Parent.GetDepth() + 1;
    }
}

Using this, you can sort the selected elements by their depth and take the one you're searching for.