How to read multiple sub row values from XML using XDocument and Dictionary VB.net 2008

Question

How do you parse repeating XML sub row values in VB.net (2008) using XDocument, and Dictionary. In the code below I am able to read everything down to first row of userGroup.. Hide Copy Code I get all the values for the FIRST row:

"XX1" "MAIN GROUP" "111" "NORMAL" "/AAA/XX1/NANA"

I don't know how to loop through the remaining userGroup rows to get the rest of the values. I need ALL of the values from ALL of the rows starting with userGroup.

<userGroup id="XX1" title="MAIN GROUP" orgCode="111" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/AAA/XX1/NANA"/>
<userGroup id="ABC" title="Test Group1" orgCode="ABC-123" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/ABC/"/>
<userGroup id="XX2" title="Test Group2" orgCode="QRX-567" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/AAA/XX2/"/>
<userGroup id="XX5" title="Test Group3" orgCode="BB1" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/AAA/XX5/BB1"/>

There could be 1 to many userGroup rows. My goals is to be able to read all values and store them into local variables.

Example: Reading all orgCode values from userGroup row(s) and storing them concatenated in a local string variable.

strLocal_VARIABLE_All_orgCodes = "111, ABC-123, QRX-567, BB1"

Sample Code:

Private Sub Button5_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button5.Click
    Dim result = ParseXML()
    For Each key1 In result.Keys
        Console.WriteLine(key1 & " --> " & result(key1))
    Next
End Sub

Function ParseXML() As Dictionary(Of String, String)

        Dim parseValues = New Dictionary(Of String, String)

        Dim doc As XDocument = <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
                               <sslms status="ok" time="0">
                                   <user username="123456" activated="true" userRole="END_USER" isCustomUser="false" selfReg="false" regDate="2015-01-17T20:08:30Z" siteLanguage="en-US" searchLanguage="en">
                                       <profileFieldValues>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_firstname">
                                               <value>John</value>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_lastname">
                                               <value>Doe</value>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_emailaddress">
                                               <value>JDoe@someplace.net</value>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_display_first_name">
                                               <value>John</value>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_display_last_name">
                                               <value>Doe</value>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_location">
                                               <value/>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="_sys_image_url">
                                               <value/>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                           <fieldValue id="ccnumber">
                                               <value>NO</value>
                                           </fieldValue>
                                       </profileFieldValues>
                                       <userGroup id="XX1" title="MAIN GROUP" orgCode="111" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/AAA/XX1/NANA"/>
                                       <userGroup id="ABC" title="Test Group1" orgCode="ABC-123" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/ABC/"/>
                                       <userGroup id="XX2" title="Test Group2" orgCode="QRX-567" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/AAA/XX2/"/>
                                       <userGroup id="XX5" title="Test Group3" orgCode="BB1" type="NORMAL" fullPath="/AAA/XX5/BB1"/>
                                   </user>
                               </sslms>

        For Each attr In doc.Element("sslms").Attributes()
            parseValues.Add("sslms_" & attr.Name.ToString, attr.Value)
        Next

        For Each attr In doc.Element("sslms").Element("user").Attributes()
            parseValues.Add("user_" & attr.Name.ToString, attr.Value)
        Next

        For Each ele In doc.Element("sslms").Element("user").Element("profileFieldValues").Elements("fieldValue")
            parseValues.Add(ele.Attributes.First.Value.ToString, ele.Element("value").Value)
        Next

        For Each attr In doc.Element("sslms").Element("user").Element("userGroup").Attributes()
            parseValues.Add("userGroup_" & attr.Name.ToString, attr.Value)
        Next

        Return parseValues

    End Function

Thanks

Answer 1

You can try using GroupBy() and String.Join() to get concatenated value of all attributes with the same name :

For Each attr In doc.Element("sslms").
                     Element("user").
                     Elements("userGroup").
                     Attributes().
                     GroupBy(Function(x) x.Name.ToString())
    parseValues.Add("userGroup_" & attr.Key, String.Join(",", attr.Select(Function(x) x.Value)))
Next

Relevant part of the output :

userGroup_id --> XX1,ABC,XX2,XX5
userGroup_title --> MAIN GROUP,Test Group1,Test Group2,Test Group3
userGroup_orgCode --> 111,ABC-123,QRX-567,BB1
userGroup_type --> NORMAL,NORMAL,NORMAL,NORMAL
userGroup_fullPath --> /AAA/XX1/NANA,/ABC/,/AAA/XX2/,/AAA/XX5/BB1