Question

My XML comes in like this:

<Document type="ContentPage">
<Fields>
    <Field name="FaqCategory" type="dropdown" title="Select Category:" index="FaqCategory" list="\Lists\FaqCategory" required="true">
        Online Experience
    </Field>
    <Field name="FaqSubCategory" type="dropdown" title="Select Sub Category" list="\Lists\FaqSubCategory" required="true">
        Using the site
    </Field>
    <Field name="FaqQuestion" type="text" title="Enter FAQ Question:" required="true">
        How do I find articles on the site?
    </Field>
    <Field name="FaqAnswer" type="richtext" title="Enter FAQ Answer:" editorProfile="Advanced" required="true">
        Answer to: How do I find articles on the site?
    </Field>
</Fields>
<Placeholders />
<Indexes />

These are all in an array of XML objects, I need to sort through the array and set up (obviously) a FAQ section for this site. The problem I am having is that since this is not 1 xml document but a collection of xml documents, I am having a hard time sorting/separating by Main category > Sub category.

Here is where I am so far with the getting of the main categories:

    Protected Sub getFaqData(ByVal DocArray() As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord)
    Dim mainFaqCategoryItem As String = ""
    Dim mainCategoryList As New List(Of String)
    For Each Doc As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord In DocArray
        xml.LoadXml(Doc.Xml)
        Try
            mainFaqCategoryItem = CType(xml.SelectSingleNode("//Fields/Field[@name='FaqCategory']").InnerText, String)
            If Not mainCategoryList.Contains(mainFaqCategoryItem) Then
                mainCategoryList.Add(mainFaqCategoryItem)
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception
            Response.Write("ERROR getting the main category")
        End Try
    Next

    For Each item In mainCategoryList
        outputsubs(item, DocArray)
    Next
End Sub

Here is the start of getting the sub categories and where I am stuck:

    Protected Sub outputsubs(ByVal item As String, ByVal DocArray() As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord)
    Dim subFaqCategoryItem As String = ""
    Dim subcategoryList As New List(Of String)
    'Add the main Category to the HTML output:
    lblFaq.Text = lblFaq.Text & "<h1>" & item & "</h1>"

    For Each Doc As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord In DocArray
        xml.LoadXml(Doc.Xml)
        Try
            'If xml.SelectSingleNode("//Fields/Field[@name='FaqCategory']").InnerText = item Then
            subFaqCategoryItem = CType(xml.SelectSingleNode("//Fields/Field[@name='FaqCategory']").InnerText, String)
            If Not subcategoryList.Contains(subFaqCategoryItem) Then
                subcategoryList.Add(subFaqCategoryItem)
            End If
            'End If

        Catch ex As Exception
            Response.Write("ERROR getting the main category")
        End Try
    Next
    For Each subItem In subcategoryList
        lblFaq.Text += "<h2><a name=""subCategory"" style=""text-decoration:none;""><span class=""FAQPlusMinus""> + </span>" & subItem & "</a></h2>"
    Next
End Sub

My thinking is that I will need to set up for-each loops nested to about 3 levels to get this to work, but I can’t get my brain around it. Especially since it isn’t a single XML document.
Which works to display the main categories

Answer 1

I found the solution with trial and error, not sure if anyone else will be dealing with a similar situation but here is how I got it to work:

Protected Sub outputFaqData(ByVal DocArray() As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord)

    Dim mainFaqCategoryItem As String = ""
    Dim mainCategoryList As New List(Of String)
    Dim xmlDocText As New StringBuilder()
    xmlDocText.Append("<Documents>")
    For Each cmsDoc As CMSWS.CMSDocumentRecord In DocArray
        xmlDocText.Append(cmsDoc.Xml)
    Next
    xmlDocText.Append("</Documents>")
    Dim doc As New XmlDocument()
    doc.LoadXml(xmlDocText.ToString())
    Dim nav As XPathNavigator = doc.CreateNavigator()
    Dim exp As XPathExpression = nav.Compile("//Documents/Document/Fields")
    exp.AddSort("Field[@name='FaqCategory']", XmlSortOrder.Ascending, XmlCaseOrder.None, "", XmlDataType.Text)
    exp.AddSort("Field[@name='FaqSubCategory']", XmlSortOrder.Ascending, XmlCaseOrder.None, "", XmlDataType.Text)
    Dim leftNavHTML As New StringBuilder()
    Dim faqHTML As New StringBuilder()
    Dim currentCategoryName As String = ""
    Dim currentFaqSubCategory As String = ""
    Dim isFirstPass As Boolean = True
    For Each item As XPathNavigator In nav.Select(exp)
        Dim FaqCategory As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[@name='FaqCategory']").InnerXml
        Dim FaqSubCategory As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[@name='FaqSubCategory']").InnerXml
        Dim FaqQuestion As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[@name='FaqQuestion']").InnerXml
        Dim FaqAnswer As String = item.SelectSingleNode("Field[@name='FaqAnswer']").InnerXml
        Dim isNewFaqCategory As Boolean = False
        Dim isNewFaqSubCategory As Boolean = False
        If Not currentCategoryName.Equals(FaqCategory) Then
            isNewFaqCategory = True
        End If
        If Not currentFaqSubCategory.Equals(FaqSubCategory) Then
            isNewFaqSubCategory = True
        End If
        If Not isFirstPass And (isNewFaqSubCategory Or isNewFaqCategory) Then
            faqHTML.Append("</div>")
        End If
        If isNewFaqCategory Then
            currentCategoryName = FaqCategory
            If Not isFirstPass Then
                faqHTML.Append("</div><div id=""alp_rightcolumn"">")
            End If
            leftNavHTML.Append("<h4 class='FaqCategory'>" & FaqCategory & "</h4>")
            faqHTML.Append("<h1 class='FaqCategory'>" & FaqCategory & "</h1>")
        End If
        If Not isFirstPass And (isNewFaqSubCategory Or isNewFaqCategory) Then
            faqHTML.Append("</div>")
        End If
        If isNewFaqSubCategory Then
            faqHTML.Append("<div class='FaqSubCategoryDiv'>")
        End If
        Dim QAID As String = Guid.NewGuid().ToString
        If isNewFaqSubCategory Then
            currentFaqSubCategory = FaqSubCategory
            leftNavHTML.Append("<div class='FaqSubCategory'><a href='#" & QAID & "'>" & FaqSubCategory & "</a></div>")
            'faqHTML.Append("<br/>:FIN")
            faqHTML.Append("<h2 class='FaqSubCategory'><a name='" & QAID & "'><span class='FAQPlusMinus'> + </span> " & FaqSubCategory & "</a></h2>")
        End If
        If isNewFaqSubCategory Then
            faqHTML.Append("<div class='QuestionsBox'>")
        End If
        faqHTML.Append("<a class='FAQQuestion' href='#' onClick=""showAnswer('" & QAID & "');return false;"">" & FaqQuestion & "<img src='/images/FAQ_Arrow.gif'/> </a>")
        faqHTML.Append("<div class='FAQAnswer " & QAID & "'>" & FaqAnswer & "</div>")
        isFirstPass = False
    Next
    faqHTML.Append("</div>")
    faqHTML.Append("</div>")
    litFAQLeftColumn.Text = leftNavHTML.ToString
    litFAQ.Text = faqHTML.ToString

End Sub