Modify XML existing content in C#

Question

Purpose: I plan to Create a XML file with XmlTextWriter and Modify/Update some Existing Content with XmlNode SelectSingleNode(), node.ChildNode[?].InnerText = someting, etc.

After I created the XML file with XmlTextWriter as below.

XmlTextWriter textWriter = new XmlTextWriter("D:\\learning\\cs\\myTest.xml", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);

I practiced the code below. But failed to save my XML file.

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load("D:\\learning\\cs\\myTest.xml");

XmlNode root = doc.DocumentElement;
XmlNode myNode;

myNode= root.SelectSingleNode("descendant::books");

....

textWriter.Close();

doc.Save("D:\\learning\\cs\\myTest.xml");  

I found it is not good to produce like my way. Is there any suggestion about it? I am not clear about the concepts and usage of both XmlTextWriter and XmlNode in the same project. Thank you for reading and replies.

Answer 1

Well, If you want to update a node in XML, the XmlDocument is fine - you needn't use XmlTextWriter.

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load("D:\\build.xml");
XmlNode root = doc.DocumentElement;
XmlNode myNode = root.SelectSingleNode("descendant::books");
myNode.Value = "blabla";
doc.Save("D:\\build.xml");

Answer 2

Using LINQ to xml if you are using framework 3.5

using System.Xml.Linq;

XDocument xmlFile = XDocument.Load("books.xml"); 
var query = from c in xmlFile.Elements("catalog").Elements("book")    
            select c; 
foreach (XElement book in query) 
{
    book.Attribute("attr1").Value = "MyNewValue";
}
xmlFile.Save("books.xml");

Answer 3

Forming a XML file

XmlTextWriter xmlw = new XmlTextWriter(@"C:\WINDOWS\Temp\exm.xml",System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
xmlw.WriteStartDocument();            
xmlw.WriteStartElement("examtimes");
xmlw.WriteStartElement("Starttime");
xmlw.WriteString(DateTime.Now.AddHours(0).ToString());
xmlw.WriteEndElement();
xmlw.WriteStartElement("Changetime");
xmlw.WriteString(DateTime.Now.AddHours(0).ToString());
xmlw.WriteEndElement();
xmlw.WriteStartElement("Endtime");
xmlw.WriteString(DateTime.Now.AddHours(1).ToString());
xmlw.WriteEndElement();
xmlw.WriteEndElement();
xmlw.WriteEndDocument();  
xmlw.Close();           

To edit the Xml nodes use the below code

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); 
doc.Load(@"C:\WINDOWS\Temp\exm.xml"); 
XmlNode root = doc.DocumentElement["Starttime"]; 
root.FirstChild.InnerText = "First"; 
XmlNode root1 = doc.DocumentElement["Changetime"]; 
root1.FirstChild.InnerText = "Second"; 
doc.Save(@"C:\WINDOWS\Temp\exm.xml"); 

Try this. It's C# code.

Answer 4

The XmlTextWriter is usually used for generating (not updating) XML content. When you load the xml file into an XmlDocument, you don't need a separate writer.

Just update the node you have selected and .Save() that XmlDocument.