Comment specific input XML file code , using WPF .

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

this is my  xml file  :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Sequence>
 <Inputs>
    <Input>readOF</Input>
    <Input>readReference</Input>
  </Inputs>
   </Steps>
</Sequence>

I want to comment this xmlfile line

<Input>readOF</Input>

using wpf/c# programmatically
My code is working only when I have one only Input :

System.Xml.XmlNode elementToComment = xmlDocument.SelectSingleNode("/Sequence/Inputs/Input");

but when I have more than one Input nothing works ,

I tried to identify my element value readOF but I coudnt find the right code format :

System.Xml.XmlNode elementToComment = xmlDocument.SelectSingleNode("/Sequence/Inputs/Input/readOF");

Desired output:

C#

<!--<Input>readOF</Input>-->

What I have tried:

My wpf code :

// Find the proper path to the XML file
              String xmlFilePath = "path\\xmfile.xml";

               // Create an XmlDocument
               System.Xml.XmlDocument xmlDocument = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();

               // Load the XML file in to the document
               xmlDocument.Load(xmlFilePath);

               // Get the target node using XPath
               System.Xml.XmlNode elementToComment = xmlDocument.SelectSingleNode("/Sequence/Inputs/Input");

               // Get the XML content of the target node
               String commentContents = elementToComment.OuterXml;

               // Create a new comment node
               // Its contents are the XML content of target node
               System.Xml.XmlComment commentNode = xmlDocument.CreateComment(commentContents);

               // Get a reference to the parent of the target node
               System.Xml.XmlNode parentNode = elementToComment.ParentNode;

               // Replace the target node with the comment
               parentNode.ReplaceChild(commentNode, elementToComment);

               xmlDocument.Save(xmlFilePath);
               MessageBox.Show("ok");

How can I define my element Input value in my code .
I wish this is clear for you , waiting for any help .

Posted 17-Oct-18 2:34am

EM_Y

Updated 18-Oct-18 3:28am

v8

Add a Solution

Comments

Richard MacCutchan 17-Oct-18 8:35am

What is the question?

EM_Y 17-Oct-18 9:44am

I want to comment and uncomment specific xml file code or line from wpf application using button action

Richard MacCutchan 17-Oct-18 9:50am

Yes, you already said that in your original post. So, what is your actual problem?

EM_Y 17-Oct-18 10:52am

here I found some solution , I updated my Problem , please check it , I'll appreciate any help .

Eric Lynch 17-Oct-18 18:29pm

First, the XML file in your question is not valid. It has a closing tag, for the Steps element, but no opening tag.

Next, its not entirely clear to me what problem you have encountered. Perhaps, after fixing the XML file in your question, you could (at a minimum) add your expected output. And, if you experienced a problem, your actual output. This would more clearly illustrate the difference between the two (expected and actual).

Finally, you may want to consider using LINQ to XML instead. Personally, I find this interface a little friendlier to use. Here is a link:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/concepts/linq/linq-to-xml-programming-overview

EM_Y 18-Oct-18 5:08am

I want to comment this line readOF using wpf/c# programmatically
My code is working only when I have one only Input but when I have more than one nothing works ,
I tried to identify my element value readOF but I couldn't find the right code format .

I Wish this is clear for you , Thank you for your attention .

Richard MacCutchan 18-Oct-18 7:41am

I am not an exert in XML, but I would guess from looking at your code that you need to write some sort of loop. You need to go through all nodes titled Inputs and all their subnodes titled Input checking for the value that you want to comment out.

3 solutions

Solution 1

I think you're going to have to parse the file as if it was just a text file. I would consider creating a class that loads the file one line at a time into a List<string> object, and then use linq to drill down into the list.

Your main problem is that you need to handle at least three element definition variants because users are unpredictable:

Everything on a single line:

XML

<mykey>value</mykey>

Multi-line elements:

XML

<mykey>
    value
</mykey>

Elements with an implicit closing tag:

XML

<mykey text="value" />

It would be an interesting programming exercise that could do that, and allow features such as adding/removing elements, moving elements in the file, commenting out elements, and merely adding comments.

Posted 18-Oct-18 1:46am

#realJSOP

Updated 18-Oct-18 1:49am

v3

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Eric Lynch · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-18T03:10:00

Solution 2

Using LINQ to XML, you'd want to do the following.

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Xml.XPath;

namespace DemoApp
{
   public class Program
   {
     public static void Main(string[] args)
     {
       string text = @"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-8"" ?>
<Sequence>
  <Inputs>
    <Input>readOF</Input>
    <Input>readReference</Input>
  </Inputs>
</Sequence>";

       XDocument document = XDocument.Parse(text);
       IEnumerable<XElement> elements = document.XPathSelectElements("/Sequence/Inputs/Input[.='readOF']");

       foreach (var element in elements)
         element.ReplaceWith(new XComment(element.ToString()));

       Console.WriteLine(document.ToString());
    }
  }
}

For comparison, here is the old-style version...

var document2 = new XmlDocument();
document2.LoadXml(text);

XmlNodeList nodes = document2.SelectNodes("/Sequence/Inputs/Input[.='readOF']");
foreach (XmlNode node in nodes)
  node.ParentNode.ReplaceChild(document2.CreateComment(node.OuterXml), node);

For information on XPATH, the syntax used within XPathSelectElements / SelectNodes, see:

XPath Syntax[^]

Posted 18-Oct-18 3:10am

Eric Lynch

Updated 18-Oct-18 3:29am

v4

Comments

EM_Y 18-Oct-18 9:42am

Your awesome , thank you ^^ , I found solution but the code I found is changing the comment order to up .
your code comment it and save to same order ,Thank you for help and attention :)

EM_Y 18-Oct-18 9:46am

Can you please explain to me the difference between your code and mine (My answer bellow) and why my code change the comment Order and remote It on the rest inputs ?

Thank you ^^

Eric Lynch 18-Oct-18 9:48am

You're code is reversing the order. You march through the children in the order they appear, but then you pre-pend (add to the beginning). I think the AppendChild method would have resulted in the correct order.

Though, pretending humility here, I think my code is prettier :)

Richard MacCutchan 18-Oct-18 10:01am

Why be humble? That is a cool piece of code.

Eric Lynch 18-Oct-18 10:06am

Nah, I was only joking, truth is credit goes to MS on this one. They made it easy. I often vent about them, but I think they did a nice job with the XML APIs in C#.

Richard MacCutchan 18-Oct-18 10:26am

That's as maybe, but it still takes some work to understand it enough to write the sort of code that uses it efficiently. It took me quite a while to get my head round the XMLLite library. Although I did have a head start having written a DOM parser in my previous existence.

Eric Lynch 18-Oct-18 9:46am

No problem, happy to help. Also, congrats on getting closer to a solution on your own.

If you're going to continue playing with C# and XML, I highly recommend learning LINQ to XML. To answer this question, its only slightly more concise. However, for other problems, it saves a lot of code and time. Happy coding!

EM_Y 18-Oct-18 10:17am

In my code solution ,I replaced this 2 lines
inputs.RemoveChild(child);
inputs.PrependChild(commentNode);

with
child.ParentNode.ReplaceChild(commentNode, child);
=>Order respected .

Thank you @Eric for your help :) I appreciate you attention .

EM_Y · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-18T03:29:00

System.Xml.XmlNode inputs = xmlDocument.SelectSingleNode("/Sequence/Inputs");
    foreach (System.Xml.XmlNode child in inputs.ChildNodes)
    {
        if (child.InnerText == "readOF")
        {
            String commentContents = child.OuterXml;
            System.Xml.XmlComment commentNode = xmlDocument.CreateComment(commentContents);
           // inputs.RemoveChild(child);
      //  inputs.PrependChild(commentNode); 
child.ParentNode.ReplaceChild(commentNode, child);              
            break;
        }
    }