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XML in .NET: The DOM Interface

In this article, Dale Michalk focuses on the Document Object Model (DOM) API for XML information processing. Most programmers have become accustomed to this model while using XML parsers such as MXSML.
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The .NET Framework brings about a new paradigm of rapid-application development and cross-platform network integration. XML is a key enabling technology in this endeavor, and the framework uses it to full effect: configuration management, object serialization, remoting, Web services, database access, and file storage. The framework provides several APIs to work with the XML data: an in-memory DOM compliant interface, a streaming interface, and the XML functionality built into the DataSet. This article concentrates on the Document Object Model (DOM) API for XML information processing that most programmers have become accustomed to using with XML parsers such as MXSML. Later articles will discuss the streaming and DataSet XML functionality provided by the framework.

The DOM models an XML document as a tree of nodes representing the information items of a document. A parser takes the serialized representation of the XML and creates an in-memory graph of nodes, as shown in the process illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1 XML document parsed into DOM nodes.

The Common Node

Each node in the document has a uniform interface to represent common functionality. The XmlNode takes on this responsibility in the .NET Framework by providing value, naming, navigation, and lifetime management of nodes in a document. The following list enumerates the base set of XmlNode properties for name and value acquisition.

  • Name

  • Value

  • NodeType

  • LocalName

  • Prefix

  • NamespaceURI

  • InnerXml

  • OuterXml

The OuterXml and InnerXml properties are Microsoft extensions that provide you with the capability to retrieve or set the XML content of a node or its child nodes, respectively, in a serialized form via a string parameter. They enable you to display node values easily or build complex document content quickly outside the node-construction methods discussed later in the article.

The NodeType property enables you to cast to the specific .NET class that a node represents. Table 1 shows how the different node types in the framework interact with the Name and Value properties.

Table 1 XmlNode Node Types

Node

Name Property

Value Property

Specific .NET Class

Attribute

Attribute name

Text value of attribute

XmlAttribute

CDATA

#cdata-section

Text of CDATA section

XmlCDataSection

Comment

#comment

Text of comment

XmlComment

Document

#document

null

XmlDocument

DocumentFragment

#document-fragment

null

XmlDocumentFragment

DocumentType

Document type name

null

XmlDocumentType

Element

Tag name

null

XmlElement

Entity

Entity name

null

XmlEntity

EntityReference

Name of entity referenced

null

XmlEntityReference

Notation

Notation name

null

XmlNotation

ProcessingInstruction

Name of PI

Entire content, excluding the target

XmlProcessingInstruction

Text

#text

Content of text node

XmlText

Whitespace

#whitespace

Whitespace text

XmlWhitespace

Significant Whitespace

#significant-whitespace

Whitespace text

XmlSignificantWhitespace

XmlDeclaration

#xml-declaration

Content between the ? chars in the declaration

XmlDeclaration


The xml declaration and whitespace node types are extensions by Microsoft to the DOM node types to provide whitespace handling for interested parties. The XmlDocument class generates them when its PreserveWhitespace property set to true before Load execution. The XmlWhitespace node represents the whitespace that is outside of element content in an element-only schema. The XmlSignificantWhitespace node shows up in documents having mixed content schema with whitespace interspersed between markup tags.

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