XmlDocument - How to get all values from multiple nodes

Question

Here is my sample XML file:

<Main>
    <Person>
        <Name>Božena</Name>
        <Surname>Němcová</Surname>
        <Gender>Female</Gender>
        <OrderNum>18</OrderNum>
        <BirthDate>04.02.1820</BirthDate>
    </Person>
    <Person>
        <Name>Jan</Name>
        <Surname>Žižka</Surname>
        <Gender>Male</Gender>
        <OrderNum>7</OrderNum>
        <BirthDate>19.09.1360</BirthDate>
    </Person>
    <Person>
        <Name>Che</Name>
        <Surname>Guevara</Surname>
        <Gender>Male</Gender>
        <OrderNum>27</OrderNum>
        <BirthDate>14.06.1928</BirthDate>
    </Person>
    <Person>
        <Name>Antonie</Name>
        <Surname>de Saint-Exupéry</Surname>
        <Gender>Male</Gender>
        <OrderNum>15</OrderNum>
        <BirthDate>29.06.1900</BirthDate>
    </Person>
</Main>

Here is a code which I want to use to get a list of all values of Name element:

        XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
        xmlDoc.Load("PersonWrite.xml");
        XmlNodeList data = xmlDoc.SelectNodes("Main/Person/Name");

The problem is that I'm only getting a value from the first Person element.

Answer 1

I like using deserialisation, it's a lot easier to work with.

using System;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using System.IO;

public class Main
{
    [XmlElement("Person")]
    public Person[] People { get; set; }
}

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public string Surname { get; set; }

    public string Gender { get; set; }

    public int OrderNum { get; set; }

    public string BirthDate { get; set; }
}

public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        var xmlString = @"<Main>
                        <Person>
                            <Name>Božena</Name>
                            <Surname>Němcová</Surname>
                            <Gender>Female</Gender>
                            <OrderNum>18</OrderNum>
                            <BirthDate>04.02.1820</BirthDate>
                        </Person>
                        <Person>
                            <Name>Jan</Name>
                            <Surname>Žižka</Surname>
                            <Gender>Male</Gender>
                            <OrderNum>7</OrderNum>
                            <BirthDate>19.09.1360</BirthDate>
                        </Person>
                        <Person>
                            <Name>Che</Name>
                            <Surname>Guevara</Surname>
                            <Gender>Male</Gender>
                            <OrderNum>27</OrderNum>
                            <BirthDate>14.06.1928</BirthDate>
                        </Person>
                        <Person>
                            <Name>Antonie</Name>
                            <Surname>de Saint-Exupéry</Surname>
                            <Gender>Male</Gender>
                            <OrderNum>15</OrderNum>
                            <BirthDate>29.06.1900</BirthDate>
                        </Person>
                    </Main>";

        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof (Main));
        Main main = null;

        using (var reader = new StringReader(xmlString))
        {
            main = (Main)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
        }

        if (main == null)
        {
            return; 
        }

        Console.WriteLine(main.People.Length);
    }
}

Output:

4