XmlReader.ReadToNextSibling not working

Question

I'm trying to read an xml document but the XmlReader.ReadToNextSibling does not work as advertised on this MSDN Documentation

Here is a console example:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.IO;

namespace ConsoleTestApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string xmlText = "<xmlRoot><group><item>Item 1</item><item>Item 2</item></group><group><item>Item 3</item><item>Item 4</item></group></xmlRoot>";

            using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xmlText)))
            {
                reader.ReadToFollowing("item");
                do
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Item: {0}", reader.ReadInnerXml());
                } while (reader.ReadToNextSibling("item"));
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue...");
            Console.Read();
        }
    }
}

This only outputs one item:

Item: Item 1

Anyone know how i can get this to work?

Please do not suggest using DOM model (XmlDocument). I cannot because these xml files are from different sources and can have many different namespaces and is a huge hassle. I need to get this working.

Answer 1

This is because ReadInnerXml also advances the reader. So when you get to your first ReadToNextSibling, you are positioned on Item 2, and there is no next sibling.

This code will read both your items:

string xmlText = "<xmlRoot><group><item>Item 1</item><item>Item 2</item></group><group><item>Item 3</item><item>Item 4</item></group></xmlRoot>";

using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xmlText)))
{
    reader.ReadToFollowing("item");
    do
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Item: {0}", reader.ReadInnerXml());
    } while (reader.Name == "item");
}