c# Xdocument and descendants with the same name not working

Question

Hi have the following XML with the same Transaction name (can't change it because this is how it comes from the origin):

<StoreCenter Operation="update" xmlns="http://something.com/rdc.xsd">
 <Transaction>
  <Transaction>
   <StoreID>30</StoreID>
   <TransactionID>2</TransactionID>
   <RegisterTransNumber>2</RegisterTransNumber>
    ....
  </Transaction>
  <Transaction>
   <StoreID>30</StoreID>
   <TransactionID>3</TransactionID>
   <RegisterTransNumber>2</RegisterTransNumber>
   ....
  <Transaction>
 <Transaction>
<StoreCenter>

I have the following code and I'm new in LINQ, I'm trying to retrive the StoreID for each Transaction Child:

XDocument Doc = XDocument.Load(filename);
       XNamespace ns = "http://something.com/rdc.xsd";
        foreach (var StoreCenter in Doc.Descendants(ns + "StoreCenter"))
        {
            foreach (var Transaction in StoreCenter.Descendants("Transaction"))
            {
                 foreach (var TransactionCh in Transaction.Descendants("Transaction"))
                 {
                    Console.WriteLine(Transaction.Element("StoreID").Value);
                 }

            }
        }

But I'm getting nothing, what am I doing wrong?, is this a good approach to retrieve these values?, please your advice will be appreciated

Answer 1

If your XML is correctly closed (i assume that the Transaction and StoreCenter nodes from the example XML are closed), then - yes, your approach using LINQ2XML is correct.

You could enhance the code using the XElement.GetDefaultNamespace() method to retrieve the default namespace easily (easier than typing). A solution could look like this:

    var xml = @"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""UTF-8""?>
<StoreCenter Operation=""update"" xmlns=""http://something.com/rdc.xsd"">
    <Transaction>
        <Transaction>
            <StoreID>30</StoreID>
            <TransactionID>2</TransactionID>
            <RegisterTransNumber>2</RegisterTransNumber>
        </Transaction>
        <Transaction>
            <StoreID>30</StoreID>
            <TransactionID>3</TransactionID>
            <RegisterTransNumber>2</RegisterTransNumber>
        </Transaction>
    </Transaction>
</StoreCenter>";

var xmlDocument = XDocument.Parse(xml); // or XDocument.Load(xml);
var ns = xmlDocument.Root.GetDefaultNamespace();
var transactions = xmlDocument
                    .Root                           // the StoreCenter root node
                    .Element(ns + "Transaction")    // the enclosing Transaction node
                    .Elements(ns + "Transaction")   // only Transaction subnodes
                    .ToList();
foreach (var transaction in transactions)
{
    var storeId = transaction.Element(ns + "StoreID").Value;
    Console.WriteLine(storeId);
} 

And the output is:

30
30

Answer 2

Remove the curly brace from here:

Doc.Descendants("{" + ns + "StoreCenter")
                ^^^

And you should specify the namespace with child elements as well.Like: StoreCenter.Descendants(ns + "Transaction") and Transaction.Descendants(ns + "Transaction")

if you just want to get Transaction elements you can just to : Doc.Descendants(ns + "Transaction") or Doc.Root.Element(ns + "Transaction").Elements(ns + "Transaction"); (assuming StoreCenter is the root element)