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c#xmllinq-to-xmlxnamespace

Parse XDocument without having to keep specifying the default namespace

I have some XML data (similar to the sample below) and I want to read the values in code.

Why am I forced to specify the default namespace to access each element? I would have expected the default namespace to be used for all elements.

Is there a more logical way to achieve my goal?

Sample XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ReceiptsBatch xmlns="http://www.secretsonline.gov.uk/secrets">
    <MessageHeader>
        <MessageID>00000173</MessageID>
        <Timestamp>2009-10-28T16:50:01</Timestamp>
        <MessageCheck>BX4f+RmNCVCsT5g</MessageCheck>
    </MessageHeader>
    <Receipts>
        <Receipt>
            <Status>OK</Status>
        </Receipt>
    </Receipts>
</ReceiptsBatch>

Code to read xml elements I'm after:

XDocument xDoc = XDocument.Load( FileInPath );

XNamespace ns = "http://www.secretsonline.gov.uk/secrets";

XElement MessageCheck = xDoc.Element(ns+ "MessageHeader").Element(ns+"MessageCheck");
XElement MessageBody = xDoc.Element("Receipts");
Solution

  • The theory is that the meaning of the document is not affected by the user's choice of namespace prefixes. So long as the data is in the namespace http://www.secretsonline.gov.uk/secrets, it doesn't matter whether the author chooses to use the prefix "s", "secrets", "_x.cafe.babe", or the "null" prefix (that is, making it the default namespace). Your application shouldn't care: it's only the URI that matters. That's why your application has to specify the URI.