Reading XML to a Dictionary

c# xml dictionary readxml
MasterMastic picture MasterMastic · Jul 5, 2011 · Viewed 13k times · Source

I need to read an XML file to a dictionary.

I read few guides and I only got confused from weird words that I don't understand (such as nodes, XML validation etc.). So, could you please walk me through?

I have an XML file which is written in this format:

<database>
    <def number="1" name="one"/>
    <def number="2" name="two"/>
</database>

As mentioned, I want to store it in a dictionary. How would I go about that?

Answer

Marc Gravell picture Marc Gravell · Jul 5, 2011 
var data = XElement.Parse(xml)
    .Elements("def")
    .ToDictionary(
        el => (int)el.Attribute("number"),
        el => (string)el.Attribute("name")
    );

This:

  • parses the xml into an XElement (starting at <database>)
  • iterates over the <def ...> elements
  • forms a dictionary, using @number as the key (interpreting as an int), and @name as the value (as a string)
  • assigns this dictionary to data, which is implicitly typed as Dictionary<int,string>

Related questions

Reading keyvalue pairs into dictionary from app.config configSection

I currently have an app.config in an application of mine set up like so: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <configuration> <configSections> <sectionGroup name="DeviceSettings"> <section name="MajorCommands" type="System.Configuration.DictionarySectionHandler"/&…

Read More
How to map XML file content to C# object(s)

I am new to C# and I am trying to read an XML file and transfer its contents to C# object(s). e.g. An example XML file could be: <people> <person> <name>Person 1&…

Read More
Why doesn't XmlSerializer support Dictionary?

Just curious as to why Dictionary is not supported by XmlSerializer? You can get around it easily enough by using DataContractSerializer and writing the object to a XmlTextWriter, but what are the characteristics of a Dictionary that makes it difficult …

Read More