Question

I have a xml file which I modify with the following code:

 XmlDocument xlDoc = new XmlDocument();
            string[] files = Directory.GetFiles("C:\\Program Files (x86)", "Product.config", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
            string sfile = files[0];
            xlDoc.Load(sfile);
            XmlNodeList list = xlDoc.SelectNodes("//dependancy");
  XmlNode foundNode = xlDoc.SelectSingleNode("//dependancies//dependancy[@name='Microsoft Windows NT']");
int found = list.Count;

  if (foundNode == null)
  {
      foundNode = xmlElement;
      list[found - 1].AppendChild(foundNode);
      xlDoc.Save(sfile);
      ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection(sfile);
  }

  foreach (XmlNode node in list)
  {
      xlDoc.Load(sfile);
      try
      {//use inserted node}
      ...

Now before the foreach is executed , I want to reload the XML document, so that the value is in the document. The problem I am experiencing is that the changes are only loaded if the application is restarted. How can I reload the file before moving on to the foreach segment?

Answer 1

That’s some pretty confusing code; I assume xmlElement is a <dependancy name='Microsoft Windows NT'/> element you have created elsewhere.

// in XPath expressions search all elements, so //dependancies//dependancy[@name='Microsoft Windows NT'] is the same as //dependancy[@name='Microsoft Windows NT']. Assuming there is already at least one <dependancy .../> element, then

list[found - 1].AppendChild(foundNode);

Will insert your xmlElement as a child inside the last existing <dependancy .../> element; like this:

<dependancies>
    <dependancy>
        <dependancy name="Microsoft Windows NT" />
    </dependancy>
</dependancies>

That must be what you have, otherwise list[found - 1] will crash.

The problem I am experiencing is that the changes are only loaded if the application is restarted.

That is not correct. You already have the change in list[found - 1]. The real problem is that is not what you are searching:

foreach (XmlNode node in list)

That searches all children of list, not children of list[found - 1]. I am guessing that what you want is:

<dependancies>
  <dependancy />
  <dependancy name="Microsoft Windows NT" />
</dependancies>

To get that, replace XmlNodeList list = xlDoc.SelectNodes("//dependancy"); with:

XmlNode dependancies = xlDoc.SelectSingleNode("//dependancies");

Replace list[found - 1].AppendChild(foundNode) with:

dependancies.AppendChild(foundNode)

And foreach (XmlNode node in list) with:

foreach (XmlNode in dependancies.ChildNodes)

If that is not what you want, please clarify.

The reason you are getting your new xmlElement when you run the program again is because xlDoc.SelectNodes("//dependancy") searches all nodes, including those in <dependancy .../>.

Also, what does “dependancy” mean? Do you mean “dependency”? Misspellings are very, very confusing.