CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlpowershell
WickedFan
WickedFan

Reputation: 356

Removing Element within many XML files

I have a folder with 40 xml files where I need to remove the <column ..../> element.

I want to do them all in one go. Here's an example of the files I need modified:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<hibernate-mapping xmlns="urn:nhibernate-mapping-2.2">
  <!-- generated using CMHInc.NHibernate.hbm.cst -->
  <class name="CMHInc.Lodge.Business.Core.ProductType, CMHInc.Lodge.Business.Core" table="ProductType" lazy="false" schema="CMHPos">
    <id name="Id" type="Guid" unsaved-value="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" >
      <column name="Id" sql-type="uniqueidentifier" not-null="true" unique="true" index="PK_ProductType"/>
      <generator class="guid.comb" />
    </id>
    <version name="RowId" column="RowId" generated="always" type="Byte[]"
      unsaved-value="null" access="field.camelcase-underscore"/>
    <property name="Type" type="String" access="field.camelcase-underscore" >
      <column name="Type" length="20" sql-type="varchar" not-null="true"/>
    </property>

I would like to remove every instance of

<column name="Type" length="20" sql-type="varchar" not-null="true"/>

Here's my PowerShell code:

Get-ChildItem c:\xml\*.xml | % { 
    $xml = [xml](Get-Content $_.FullName)
    $xml.catalog.book |
        where { $_.title -eq "property" } |
        foreach { $_.RemoveAttribute("column") }
    $xml.Save($_.FullName)
}

I'm having the following errors:

Exception calling "Save" with "1" argument(s): "Access to the path 'C:\xml\ActivityChargeCalculation.hbm.xml' is denied."

I looked up the security settings of the files and folder, but I am logged in as admin and just created those files.

Suggestions?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3408

Answers (2)

Ansgar Wiechers
Ansgar Wiechers

Reputation: 200303

Your sample XML is incomplete and does not match your code. Also, you want to remove nodes, not attributes. Try this:

Get-ChildItem C:\xml\*.xml | ForEach-Object {
  $xml = [xml](Get-Content $_.FullName)

  $xml.SelectNodes("//property/column") | Where-Object {
    $_.name -eq "Type" -and
    $_.length -eq "20" -and
    $_."sql-type" -eq "varchar" -and
    $_."not-null" -eq "true"
  } | ForEach-Object {
    $_.ParentNode.RemoveChildNode($_)
  }

  $xml.Save($_.FullName)
}

Note that you need to run the script with admin permissions if normal users don't have write permission to the files in C:\xml.

Upvotes: 1

WickedFan
WickedFan

Reputation: 356

The answer provided by Ansgar was relevant for a specific node of specific name, length (and other properties). My research have enlightened me a bit more onto powershell and the notable would be SelectNodes("//*column"). I ended up doing an itteration using .Net as I am more familiar with it.

Upvotes: 0

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