XML utility methods for C#

It’s tough to work on a project that doesn’t involve XML.  XML is everywhere and I kept needing to do the same things again and again from project to project.  I took my C# XML utility methods, converted them to extension methods, and then put them into a class that I could drop in to my projects as needed. 

Here’s a link to download these methods in a C# class file (*.cs). 

public static class XmlUtilityExtensionMethods
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Returns a list of elements that match a desired
    /// name while ignoring any namespace management
    /// issues.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name=”parent”>Node to start searching from.</param>
    /// <param name=”name”>Node name that you want to retrieve.</param>
    /// <returns>List of matching XElement objects.</returns>
    public static IEnumerable<XElement> ElementsByLocalName(
        this XElement parent, string name)
    {
        if (parent == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        else
        {
            var result = (from temp in parent.Elements()
                            where temp.Name.LocalName == name
                            select temp);

            return result;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns the first of element that matches
    /// a desired name while ignoring any
    /// namespace management issues.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name=”parent”>Node to start searching from.</param>
    /// <param name=”name”>Node name that you want to retrieve.</param>
    /// <returns>The first matching XElement object.</returns>
    public static XElement ElementByLocalName(
        this XElement parent, string name)
    {
        if (parent == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        else
        {
            var result = (from temp in parent.Elements()
                            where temp.Name.LocalName == name
                            select temp).FirstOrDefault();

            return result;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Find the first matching child element by element name
    /// that has a particular attribute and attribute value.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name=”parent”>Node to start searching from.</param>
    /// <param name=”name”>Node name that you want to retrieve.</param>
    /// <param name=”attributeName”>Attribute to search for.</param>
    /// <param name=”attributeValue”>Desired attribute value for the search.</param>
    /// <returns>The first matching XElement object.</returns>
    public static XElement ElementByLocalNameAndAttributeValue(
        this XElement parent,
        string elementName,
        string attributeName,
        string attributeValue)
    {
        var matchingElementsByName = parent.ElementsByLocalName(elementName);

        var match = (from temp in matchingElementsByName
                        where
                        temp.HasAttributes == true &&
                        temp.AttributeValue(attributeName) == attributeValue
                        select temp).FirstOrDefault();

        return match;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Finds a child element starting from parent and returns the inner text value.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name=”parent”></param>
    /// <param name=”childElement”></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static string ElementValue(
        this XElement parent, string childElement)
    {
        var child = parent.ElementByLocalName(childElement);

        if (child == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        else
        {
            return child.Value;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the value of an attribute on an XElement
    /// without having to worry about null reference
    /// problems. 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name=”parent”>Node to start searching from</param>
    /// <param name=”attributeName”>Attribute name.</param>
    /// <returns>The attribute value on the element or
    /// String.Empty if the attribute does not exist.</returns>
    public static string AttributeValue(
        this XElement parent, string attributeName)
    {
        if (parent == null)
        {
            return String.Empty;
        }
        else if (parent.HasAttributes == false)
        {
            return String.Empty;
        }
        else if (parent.Attribute(attributeName) == null)
        {
            return String.Empty;
        }
        else
        {
            return parent.Attribute(attributeName).Value;
        }
    }
}

I hope that you find this useful.

-Ben