Create XML Nodes based on XPath?

Question

Does anyone know of an existing means of creating an XML hierarchy programatically from an XPath expression?

For example if I have an XML fragment such as:

Answer 1

I needed a XNode instead of a XmlNode implementation, and the RegEx was not working for me (because element names with . or - are not functioning)

So this what's what worked for me:

public static XNode createNodeFromXPath(XElement elem, string xpath)
{
    // Create a new Regex object
    Regex r = new Regex(@"/*([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-]+)(\[@([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-]+)='([^']*)'\])?|/@([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-]+)");

    xpath = xpath.Replace("\"", "'");
    // Find matches
    Match m = r.Match(xpath);

    XNode currentNode = elem;
    StringBuilder currentPath = new StringBuilder();

    while (m.Success)
    {
        String currentXPath = m.Groups[0].Value;    // "/configuration" or "/appSettings" or "/add"
        String elementName = m.Groups[1].Value;     // "configuration" or "appSettings" or "add"
        String filterName = m.Groups[3].Value;      // "" or "key"
        String filterValue = m.Groups[4].Value;     // "" or "name"
        String attributeName = m.Groups[5].Value;   // "" or "value"

        StringBuilder builder = currentPath.Append(currentXPath);
        String relativePath = builder.ToString();
        XNode newNode = (XNode)elem.XPathSelectElement(relativePath);

        if (newNode == null)
        {
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(attributeName))
            {
                ((XElement)currentNode).Attribute(attributeName).Value = "";
                newNode = (XNode)elem.XPathEvaluate(relativePath);
            }
            else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(elementName))
            {
                XElement newElem = new XElement(elementName);
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(filterName))
                {
                    newElem.Add(new XAttribute(filterName, filterValue));
                }

                ((XElement)currentNode).Add(newElem);
                newNode = newElem;
            }
            else
            {
                throw new FormatException("The given xPath is not supported " + relativePath);
            }
        }

        currentNode = newNode;
        m = m.NextMatch();
    }

    // Assure that the node is found or created
    if (elem.XPathEvaluate(xpath) == null)
    {
        throw new FormatException("The given xPath cannot be created " + xpath);
    }

    return currentNode;
}

Answer 2

I liked Chris' version because it handled attributes in xpaths and the other solutions didn't (though it doesn't handle "text()" in the path that well which I fixed). I unfortunately had to use this in a VB app, so here's the conversion for that:

        Private Sub SplitOnce(ByVal value As String, ByVal separator As String, ByRef part1 As String, ByRef part2 As String)
        If (value IsNot Nothing) Then
            Dim idx As Integer = value.IndexOf(separator)
            If (idx >= 0) Then
                part1 = value.Substring(0, idx)
                part2 = value.Substring(idx + separator.Length)
            Else
                part1 = value
                part2 = Nothing
            End If
        Else
            part1 = ""
            part2 = Nothing
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Function createXPath(ByVal doc As XmlDocument, ByVal xpath As String) As XmlNode
        Dim node As XmlNode = doc
        Dim part As String
        For Each part In xpath.Substring(1).Split("/")
            Dim nodes As XmlNodeList = node.SelectNodes(part)
            If (nodes.Count > 1) Then
                Throw New Exception("Xpath '" + xpath + "' was not found multiple times!")
            ElseIf (nodes.Count = 1) Then
                node = nodes(0)
                Continue For
            End If

            If (part.EndsWith("text()")) Then
                ' treat this the same as previous node since this is really innertext
                Exit For
            ElseIf (part.StartsWith("@")) Then
                Dim anode As XmlAttribute = doc.CreateAttribute(part.Substring(1))
                node.Attributes.Append(anode)
                node = anode
            Else
                Dim elName As String = Nothing
                Dim attrib As String = Nothing
                If (part.Contains("[")) Then
                    SplitOnce(part, "[", elName, attrib)
                    If (Not attrib.EndsWith("]")) Then
                        Throw New Exception("Unsupported XPath (missing ]): " + part)
                    End If
                    attrib = attrib.Substring(0, attrib.Length - 1)
                Else
                    elName = part
                End If
                Dim nextnode As XmlNode = doc.CreateElement(elName)
                node.AppendChild(nextnode)
                node = nextnode
                If (attrib IsNot Nothing) Then
                    If (Not attrib.StartsWith("@")) Then
                        Throw New Exception("Unsupported XPath attrib (missing @): " + part)
                    End If
                    Dim name As String = ""
                    Dim value As String = ""
                    SplitOnce(attrib.Substring(1), "='", name, value)
                    If (String.IsNullOrEmpty(value) Or Not value.EndsWith("'")) Then
                        Throw New Exception("Unsupported XPath attrib: " + part)
                    End If
                    value = value.Substring(0, value.Length - 1)
                    Dim anode As XmlAttribute = doc.CreateAttribute(name)
                    anode.Value = value
                    node.Attributes.Append(anode)
                End If
            End If
        Next
        Return node
    End Function

Answer 3

Here is a enhanced RegEx based on Mark Miller's code

/([\w]+)(?:(?:[\[])(@|)([\w]+)(?:([!=<>]+)(?:(?:(?:')([^']+)(?:'))|([^']+))|)(?:[]])|)|([.]+))

Group 1: Node name
Group 2: @ (or Empty, for non attributes)
Group 3: Attribute Key
Group 4: Attribute Value (if string)
Group 5: Attribute Value (if number)
Group 6: .. (dots, one or more)

Answer 4

This is an improved version of Christian Peeters' solution that supports namespaces in the xpath expression.

public static XNode CreateNodeFromXPath(XElement elem, string xpath)
{
    // Create a new Regex object
    Regex r = new Regex(@"/*([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-\:]+)(\[@([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-]+)='([^']*)'\])?|/@([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-]+)");

    xpath = xpath.Replace("\"", "'");
    // Find matches
    Match m = r.Match(xpath);

    XNode currentNode = elem;
    StringBuilder currentPath = new StringBuilder();
    XPathNavigator XNav = elem.CreateNavigator();

    while (m.Success)
    {
        String currentXPath = m.Groups[0].Value;    // "/ns:configuration" or "/appSettings" or "/add"
        String NamespaceAndElementName = m.Groups[1].Value;     // "ns:configuration" or "appSettings" or "add"
        String filterName = m.Groups[3].Value;      // "" or "key"
        String filterValue = m.Groups[4].Value;     // "" or "name"
        String attributeName = m.Groups[5].Value;   // "" or "value"

        XNamespace nspace = "";
        string elementName;
        int p = NamespaceAndElementName.IndexOf(':');
        if (p >= 0)
        {
            string ns = NamespaceAndElementName.Substring(0, p);
            elementName = NamespaceAndElementName.Substring(p + 1);
            nspace = XNav.GetNamespace(ns);
        }
        else
            elementName = NamespaceAndElementName;


        StringBuilder builder = currentPath.Append(currentXPath);
        String relativePath = builder.ToString();
        XNode newNode = (XNode)elem.XPathSelectElement(relativePath, XNav);

        if (newNode == null)
        {
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(attributeName))
            {
                ((XElement)currentNode).Attribute(attributeName).Value = "";
                newNode = (XNode)elem.XPathEvaluate(relativePath, XNav);
            }
            else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(elementName))
            {
                XElement newElem = new XElement(nspace + elementName);
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(filterName))
                {
                    newElem.Add(new XAttribute(filterName, filterValue));
                }

                ((XElement)currentNode).Add(newElem);
                newNode = newElem;
            }
            else
            {
                throw new FormatException("The given xPath is not supported " + relativePath);
            }
        }

        currentNode = newNode;
        m = m.NextMatch();
    }

    // Assure that the node is found or created
    if (elem.XPathEvaluate(xpath, XNav) == null)
    {
        throw new FormatException("The given xPath cannot be created " + xpath);
    }

    return currentNode;
}

Answer 5

Here's my quick hack that can also create attributes as long as you use a format like /configuration/appSettings/add[@key='name']/@value.

static XmlNode createXPath(XmlDocument doc, string xpath)
{
  XmlNode node=doc;
  foreach (string part in xpath.Substring(1).Split('/'))
  {
    XmlNodeList nodes=node.SelectNodes(part);
    if (nodes.Count>1) throw new ComponentException("Xpath '"+xpath+"' was not found multiple times!");
    else if (nodes.Count==1) { node=nodes[0]; continue; }

    if (part.StartsWith("@"))
    {
      var anode=doc.CreateAttribute(part.Substring(1));
      node.Attributes.Append(anode);
      node=anode;
    }
    else
    {
      string elName, attrib=null;
      if (part.Contains("["))
      {
        part.SplitOnce("[", out elName, out attrib);
        if (!attrib.EndsWith("]")) throw new ComponentException("Unsupported XPath (missing ]): "+part);
        attrib=attrib.Substring(0, attrib.Length-1);
      }
      else elName=part;

      XmlNode next=doc.CreateElement(elName);
      node.AppendChild(next);
      node=next;

      if (attrib!=null)
      {
        if (!attrib.StartsWith("@")) throw new ComponentException("Unsupported XPath attrib (missing @): "+part);
        string name, value;
        attrib.Substring(1).SplitOnce("='", out name, out value);
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value) || !value.EndsWith("'")) throw new ComponentException("Unsupported XPath attrib: "+part);
        value=value.Substring(0, value.Length-1);
        var anode=doc.CreateAttribute(name);
        anode.Value=value;
        node.Attributes.Append(anode);
      }
    }
  }
  return node;
}

SplitOnce is an extension method:

public static void SplitOnce(this string value, string separator, out string part1, out string part2)
{
  if (value!=null)
  {
    int idx=value.IndexOf(separator);
    if (idx>=0)
    {
      part1=value.Substring(0, idx);
      part2=value.Substring(idx+separator.Length);
    }
    else
    {
      part1=value;
      part2=null;
    }
  }
  else
  {
    part1="";
    part2=null;
  }
}

Sample:

public static void Set(XmlDocument doc, string xpath, string value)
{
  if (doc==null) throw new ArgumentNullException("doc");
  if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xpath)) throw new ArgumentNullException("xpath");

  XmlNodeList nodes=doc.SelectNodes(xpath);
  if (nodes.Count>1) throw new ComponentException("Xpath '"+xpath+"' was not found multiple times!");
  else if (nodes.Count==0) createXPath(doc, xpath).InnerText=value;
  else nodes[0].InnerText=value;
}

e.g.

Set(doc, "/configuration/appSettings/add[@key='Server']/@value", "foobar");

Answer 6

• For XDocument
• Supports attribute creation

Use

var xDoc = new XDocument(new XElement("root",
                        new XElement("child1"),
                        new XElement("child2")));

CreateElement(xDoc, "/root/child3");
CreateElement(xDoc, "/root/child4[@year=32][@month=44]");
CreateElement(xDoc, "/root/child4[@year=32][@month=44]/subchild1");
CreateElement(xDoc, "/root/child4[@year=32][@month=44]/subchild1/subchild[@name='jon']");
CreateElement(xDoc, "/root/child1");

define

public static XDocument CreateElement(XDocument document, string xpath)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xpath))
        throw new InvalidOperationException("Xpath must not be empty");

    var xNodes = Regex.Matches(xpath, @"\/[^\/]+").Cast<Match>().Select(it => it.Value).ToList();
    if (!xNodes.Any())
        throw new InvalidOperationException("Invalid xPath");

    var parent = document.Root;
    var currentNodeXPath = "";
    foreach (var xNode in xNodes)
    {
        currentNodeXPath += xNode;
        var nodeName = Regex.Match(xNode, @"(?<=\/)[^\[]+").Value;
        var existingNode = parent.XPathSelectElement(currentNodeXPath);
        if (existingNode != null)
        {
            parent = existingNode;
            continue;
        }

        var attributeNames =
          Regex.Matches(xNode, @"(?<=@)([^=]+)\=([^]]+)")
                .Cast<Match>()
                .Select(it =>
                {
                    var groups = it.Groups.Cast<Group>().ToList();
                    return new { AttributeName = groups[1].Value, AttributeValue = groups[2].Value };
                });

        parent.Add(new XElement(nodeName, attributeNames.Select(it => new XAttribute(it.AttributeName, it.AttributeValue)).ToArray()));
        parent = parent.Descendants().Last();
    }
    return document;
}