Question

I have read many questions on SO about this topic but I can seem to related to what I am trying to do. Basically I am calling a web service to return information about a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). It returns an xml stream that looks like this:

<VINquery Version="1.0.0" Date="5/25/2003">
  <VIN Number="1HGES15501Lxxxxxx" Status="SUCCESS">
    <Vehicle VINquery_Vehicle_ID="23261" Model_Year="2001" Make="Honda" Model="Civic" Trim_Level="LX Sedan">
      <Item Key="VINquery Vehicle ID" Value="23261" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Model Year" Value="2001" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Make" Value="Honda" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Model" Value="Civic" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Trim Level" Value="LX Sedan" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Manufactured in" Value="UNITED STATES" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Production Seq. Number" Value="xxxxxx" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Body Style" Value="SEDAN 4-DR" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Engine Type" Value="1.7L L4 SOHC 16V" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Transmission-short" Value="5M OD" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Transmission-long" Value="5-Speed Manual Overdrive" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Driveline" Value="FWD" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Tank" Value="13.20" Unit="gallon"/>
      <Item Key="Fuel Economy-city" Value="30 - 32" Unit="miles/gallon"/>
      <Item Key="Fuel Economy-highway" Value="38 - 39" Unit="miles/gallon"/>
      <Item Key="Anti-Brake System" Value="Non-ABS" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Steering Type" Value="R&P" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Standard Seating" Value="5" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Optional Seating" Value="No data" Unit=""/>
      <Item Key="Length" Value="174.60" Unit="in."/>
      <Item Key="Width" Value="67.50" Unit="in."/>
      <Item Key="Height" Value="56.70" Unit="in."/>
    </Vehicle>
  </VIN>
</VINquery>

I want to take that data and parse it out for each key/value.
This is my code I am using the get the xml data:

private string baseURL = "http://ws.vinquery.com/restxml.aspx?accessCode=xxxxxx&vin=xxxxxxxxx";
private string reportType = "&reportType=2";

public XmlDocument ExplodeVIN(string strVIN)
{
   DataTable dt = new DataTable();

   string url = baseURL + strVIN + reportType;

   HttpWebRequest req = WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest;

   XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
   using (HttpWebResponse resp = req.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)
   {
     xmlDoc.Load(resp.GetResponseStream());
   }
   return xmlDoc;
}

After I get the xmlDoc I am not sure what to do next.

Thanks for your kind assistance.

Answer 1

You can parse xml to Dictionary<string, string> with Linq to Xml:

var xdoc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
var items = xdoc.Descendants("Item")
                .ToDictionary(i => (string)i.Attribute("Key"),
                              i => (string)i.Attribute("Value"));

Usage:

string driveline = items["Driveline"];

Or

foreach(var kvp in items)
    // use key value pair