"The ':' character, hexadecimal value 0x3A, cannot be included in a name"

Question

I have a code which will read some xml file(s). I tried different ways to solve this problem, but couldn't. Also I tried to code like this:

Namespace my = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2011-01-11T08:31:30";                
XElement myEgitimBilgileri = XDocument.Load(@"C:\25036077.xml").Element("my:"+ "Egitim_Bilgileri"); 

But all the time the same mistake. Here is the original:

private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{                               
    XElement myEgitimBilgileri =    
    XDocument.Load(@"C:\25036077.xml").Element("my:Egitim_Bilgileri");

    if (myEgitimBilgileri != null)
    {
        foreach (XElement element in myEgitimBilgileri.Elements())
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}\tValue: {1}", element.Name, element.Value.Trim());
        }
    }

    Console.Read();
}

Here is a path of my xml file:

<my:Egitim_Bilgileri>
        <my:egitimler_sap>
            <my:sap_eduname></my:sap_eduname>
            <my:sap_edufaculty></my:sap_edufaculty>
            <my:sap_eduprofession></my:sap_eduprofession>
            <my:sap_diplomno></my:sap_diplomno>
            <my:sap_edulevel></my:sap_edulevel>
            <my:sap_edustartdate xsi:nil="true"></my:sap_edustartdate>
            <my:sap_eduenddate xsi:nil="true"></my:sap_eduenddate>
        </my:egitimler_sap>
    </my:Egitim_Bilgileri>

and this is the path of my namespace in XML

xmlns:my="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2011-01-11T08:31:30"

xmlns:my="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2008-01-23T00:43:17"

Answer 1

The code Element("my:" + "Egitim_Bilgileri") is the same as Element("my:Egitim_Bilgileri") which is taken to mean the element named "my:Egitim_Bilgileri" in the default namespace (there is an implicit conversion from string to XName).

However, : is invalid in an element name (outside of the namespace separation) and thus will result in a run-time exception.

Instead, the code should be Element(my + "Egitim_Bilgileri") where my is an XNamespace object. The XNamespace object's + operator, when given a string as the second operand, results in an XName object that can then be used with the Element(XName) method.

For instance:

XNamespace my = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2011-01-11T08:31:30";
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(@"C:\25036077.xml");
// The following variable/assignment can be omitted,
// it is to show the + operator of XNamespace and how it results in XName
XName nodeName = my + "Egitim_Bilgileri";
XElement myEgitimBilgileri = doc.Element(nodeName);

Happy coding... and condolences for having to deal with InfoPath :)

---

I prefer to use XPath in most cases. Among other things it allows easily selecting nested nodes and avoids having to "check for null" each level as may be required with node.Element(x).Element(y) constructs.

using System.Xml.XPath; // for XPathSelectElement extension method
XmlNamespaceManager ns = new XmlNamespaceManager(new NameTable());
ns.AddNamespace("my", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2011-01-11T08:31:30")
// Note that there is no XName object. Instead the XPath string is parsed
// and namespace resolution happens via the XmlNamespaceManager
XElement myEgitimBilgileri = doc.XPathSelectElement("/my:myFields/my:Egitim_Bilgileri", ns);