CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#xml
HashName
HashName

Reputation: 663

Best method to check the empty child nodes in XML?

I have a xml which is max 3 levels deep. Now by using C# or Xpath what the best method to check the whether all the child nodes under a parent node are empty.

Thanks in Advance.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 6648

Answers (2)

C. K. Young
C. K. Young

Reputation: 223073

Given a sample document of:

<foo>
  <bar>
    <baz/>
    <baz>Hello, world!</baz>
    <baz><qux/></baz>
  </bar>
</foo>

This expression tells you which children of foo/bar have any child elements:

foo/bar/*[count(*)>0]

This expression tells you which children of foo/bar have any child text nodes:

foo/bar/*[text()]

So to ensure that all children are empty (no child elements or text nodes), ensure that this expression returns true:

not(foo/bar/*[count(*)>0 or text()])

Upvotes: 6

David Hall
David Hall

Reputation: 33153

This LINQ to XML query should get close to what you are after:


XElement xml = new XElement("contacts",
  new XElement("contact",
    new XAttribute("contactId", ""),
    new XElement("firstName", ""),
    new XElement("lastName", ""),
    new XElement("Address",
        new XElement("Street", ""))
    ),



new XElement("contact",
  new XAttribute("contactId", ""),
  new XElement("firstName", ""),
  new XElement("lastName", "")
   )
 );



var query = from c in xml.Elements()
  where c.Value != ""
  select c;



Console.WriteLine(xml);
Console.WriteLine(query.Count());

When the count of the query == 0 you have no elements with content.

Depending on what you are after and if you have no other uses for LINQ style manipulation, the xPath solution posted may well be a better fit.

Upvotes: 0

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