CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellpowershell-4.0
Simon Elms
Simon Elms

Reputation: 19628

Parsing XML with PowerShell: Getting the value of an element with an attribute

I have an XML file which has elements with attributes. I want to be able to read both the attribute value and the element value. While I can get the attribute value, when I try to read the element value it just returns the tag name, not the value.

XML file C:\Temp\books2.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<catalog>
   <book id="bk101">
      <author>Gambardella, Matthew</author>
      <title>XML Developer's Guide</title>
      <genre>Computer</genre>
      <price>44.95</price>
      <publish_date inprint="false">2000-10-01</publish_date>
      <description>An in-depth look at creating applications 
      with XML.</description>
   </book>
   <book id="bk102">
      <author>Ralls, Kim</author>
      <title>Midnight Rain</title>
      <genre>Fantasy</genre>
      <price>5.95</price>
      <publish_date inprint="true">2000-12-16</publish_date>
      <description>A former architect battles corporate zombies, 
      an evil sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen 
      of the world.</description>
   </book>
   <book id="bk103">
      <author>Corets, Eva</author>
      <title>Maeve Ascendant</title>
      <genre>Fantasy</genre>
      <price>5.95</price>
      <publish_date inprint="false">2000-11-17</publish_date>
      <description>After the collapse of a nanotechnology 
      society in England, the young survivors lay the 
      foundation for a new society.</description>
   </book>
</catalog>

What I've tried:

$xmlDoc = new-object -TypeName xml
$filePath = "C:\Temp\Books2.xml"
$xmlDoc.Load($filePath)
$xmlDoc.catalog.book | select author, title, publish_date, `
    {$_.publish_date}, {$_.publish_date.inprint}

Result:

author                  : Gambardella, Matthew
title                   : XML Developer's Guide
publish_date            : publish_date
$_.publish_date         : publish_date
$_.publish_date.inprint : false

author                  : Ralls, Kim
title                   : Midnight Rain
publish_date            : publish_date
$_.publish_date         : publish_date
$_.publish_date.inprint : true

author                  : Corets, Eva
title                   : Maeve Ascendant
publish_date            : publish_date
$_.publish_date         : publish_date
$_.publish_date.inprint : false

How can I read the value of the element that also contains an attribute (in this case publish_date)? I want to read the date value for the publish_date, not the tag name.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3702

Answers (2)

Simon Elms
Simon Elms

Reputation: 19628

I checked the data type of the objects returned by PowerShell: ($xmlDoc.catalog).gettype().fullname . It turns out the objects representing the nodes have data type System.Xml.XmlElement. So I tried using the XmlElement.InnerText property, and that worked:

$xmlDoc.catalog.book | select author, title, publish_date, `
{$_.publish_date.innertext}, {$_.publish_date.inprint} | format-list

Result:

author                    : Gambardella, Matthew
title                     : XML Developer's Guide
publish_date              : publish_date
$_.publish_date.innertext : 2000-10-01
$_.publish_date.inprint   : false

author                    : Ralls, Kim
title                     : Midnight Rain
publish_date              : publish_date
$_.publish_date.innertext : 2000-12-16
$_.publish_date.inprint   : true

author                    : Corets, Eva
title                     : Maeve Ascendant
publish_date              : publish_date
$_.publish_date.innertext : 2000-11-17
$_.publish_date.inprint   : false

Upvotes: 0

Chris
Chris

Reputation: 1009

You are trying to access the text content of the publish_date XML element. To do this, use the following syntax:

$xmlDoc.catalog.book | select author, title, publish_date, `
    {$_.publish_date.'#text'}, {$_.publish_date.inprint}

Upvotes: 3

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