Reputation: 361
Problem in parsing XML?
I am making a simple RSS reader application in C#. This is the first time I am working with XML and need some help in parsing the different styles used in the various rss feeds.
E.g
Following is the type of feed I am expecting and getting correct results with:
<item>
<title>Cometh the hour, cometh the man</title>
<link>http://www.espnstar.com/rss-feed/detail/item612327</link>
<description>Real Madrid have finally won their first trophy since 2008. Unsurprisingly, it has coincided with the arrival of one man.</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:11:42 GMT</pubDate>
</item>
But feeds like:
<item><title>NBA: San Antonio Spurs rally to level up with Memphis Grizzlies</title>
<link>http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/c/33039/f/533921/s/1455e7bf/l/0Ltimesofindia0Bindiatimes0N0Csports0Cnba0Ctop0Estories0CNBA0ESan0EAntonio0ESpurs0Erally0Eto0Elevel0Eup0Ewith0EMemphis0EGrizzlies0Carticleshow0C80A443210Bcms/story01.htm</link>
<description>The San Antonio Spurs, trailed by three points at half-time, rallied to level their first round playoff series with the Memphis Grizzlies at 1-1 with a 93-87 victory.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/c/33039/f/533921/s/1455e7bf/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=NBA%3A+San+Antonio+Spurs+rally+to+level+up+with+Memphis+Grizzlies&link=http%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Fsports%2Fnba%2Ftop-stories%2FNBA-San-Antonio-Spurs-rally-to-level-up-with-Memphis-Grizzlies%2Farticleshow%2F8044321.cms" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=NBA%3A+San+Antonio+Spurs+rally+to+level+up+with+Memphis+Grizzlies&link=http%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Fsports%2Fnba%2Ftop-stories%2FNBA-San-Antonio-Spurs-rally-to-level-up-with-Memphis-Grizzlies%2Farticleshow%2F8044321.cms" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/100752217265/u/242/f/533921/c/33039/s/1455e7bf/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/100752217265/u/242/f/533921/c/33039/s/1455e7bf/a2.img" border="0"/></a></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:33:44 GMT</pubDate>
</item>
How do I extract the main description text from the description node and not the other stuff like the hrefs.
How to handle cdata in feeds like:
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Japan declares no-go zone around nuclear plant ]]></title>
<author><![CDATA[AP]]></author>
<category><![CDATA[International]]></category>
<link>http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1714401.ece</link>
<description><![CDATA[
Japan declared a 20 km evacuation zone around its tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant a no-go zone on Thursday, urging residents to abide by the order for the sake of their own safety. Chi...
]]>
</description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:15:48 +0530]]></pubDate>
</item>
<item>
Upvotes: 0
Views: 455
Answers (2)
Reputation: 3720
Well, you could use a regex to get rid of everything you don't need.
XElement d = XElement.Parse(feed); // load the feed in an XElement
// get the title, link and description
string title = d.Elements("title").FirstOrDefault().Value;
string link = d.Elements("link").FirstOrDefault().Value;
string description = d.Elements("description").FirstOrDefault().Value;
// remove everything that's between '<>'
Regex r = new Regex(@"<.*>");
description = r.Replace(description, "");
For the second feed, the result will be: The San Antonio Spurs, trailed by three points at half-time, rallied to level their first round playoff series with the Memphis Grizzlies at 1-1 with a 93-87 victory. The first feed will come out unchanged, and the third feed will have all the CDATA stuff ignored automatically.
Upvotes: 2
