Question

I have an XML file with the following structure:

<Definitions>
  <Definition Execution="Firstkey" Name="Somevalue"></Definition>
  <Definition Execution="Secondkey" Name="Someothervalue"></Definition>
</Definitions>

How can I get the values of the keys (Firstkey, Secondkey) and write them down using C# in my .NET application?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Using Linq to XML this is straightforward.

To just get the keys:

var keys = doc.Descendants("Definition")
              .Select(x => x.Attribute("Execution").Value);
foreach (string key in keys)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Key = {0}", key);
}

To get all values:

XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("test.xml");
var definitions = doc.Descendants("Definition")
                     .Select(x => new { Execution = x.Attribute("Execution").Value,
                                        Name = x.Attribute("Name").Value });
foreach (var def in definitions)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Execution = {0}, Value = {1}", def.Execution, def.Name);
}

Edit in response to comment:

I think what you really want is a dictionary, that maps from a key (“Execution”) to a value (“Name”):

XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("test.xml");
Dictionary<string, string> dict = doc.Descendants("Definition")
                                     .ToDictionary(x => x.Attribute("Execution").Value, 
                                                   x => x.Attribute("Name").Value);
string firstKeyValue = dict["Firstkey"]; //Somevalue