XElement namespaces (How to?)

Edward83 picture Edward83 · Feb 13, 2011 · Viewed 60.1k times · Source

How to create xml document with node prefix like:

<sphinx:docset>
  <sphinx:schema>
    <sphinx:field name="subject"/>
    <sphinx:field name="content"/>
    <sphinx:attr name="published" type="timestamp"/>
 </sphinx:schema>

When I try to run something like new XElement("sphinx:docset") i getting exception

Unhandled Exception: System.Xml.XmlException: The ':' character, hexadecimal val ue 0x3A, cannot be included in a name.
at System.Xml.XmlConvert.VerifyNCName(String name, ExceptionType exceptionTyp e)
at System.Xml.Linq.XName..ctor(XNamespace ns, String localName)
at System.Xml.Linq.XNamespace.GetName(String localName)
at System.Xml.Linq.XName.Get(String expandedName)

Answer

Jon Skeet picture Jon Skeet · Feb 13, 2011

It's really easy in LINQ to XML:

XNamespace ns = "sphinx";
XElement element = new XElement(ns + "docset");

Or to make the "alias" work properly to make it look like your examples, something like this:

XNamespace ns = "http://url/for/sphinx";
XElement element = new XElement("container",
    new XAttribute(XNamespace.Xmlns + "sphinx", ns),
    new XElement(ns + "docset",
        new XElement(ns + "schema"),
            new XElement(ns + "field", new XAttribute("name", "subject")),
            new XElement(ns + "field", new XAttribute("name", "content")),
            new XElement(ns + "attr", 
                         new XAttribute("name", "published"),
                         new XAttribute("type", "timestamp"))));

That produces:

<container xmlns:sphinx="http://url/for/sphinx">
  <sphinx:docset>
    <sphinx:schema />
    <sphinx:field name="subject" />
    <sphinx:field name="content" />
    <sphinx:attr name="published" type="timestamp" />
  </sphinx:docset>
</container>