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C# XML - XPath Query Builder - Dynamically Create a Query

I am trying to build a XPath Query Builder in order to have a generic code as portable as possible.
So far, this is what I came up with :
private static string XpathQueryBuilder (string NodeName,string AttributeName = null, string AttributeValue = null)
{
string XpathAttr = "";
if (AttributeName != null)
if (AttributeValue != null)
XpathAttr = "[#" + AttributeName + "='" + AttributeValue + "']";
else
XpathAttr = "[#" + AttributeName + "='*']";
return "//" + NodeName + XpathAttr;
}
The problem I see with this method though is that if I have more than one attribute or node that I would like to look for, this function won't work. Is there a way to create an XPath Query dynamically that could theorically accept any number of attributes and/or Nodes.
My priority is on having a function that accepts more than one attribute and attribute value as this is the more likely case than more than one node.
Thank you for your time!

You can use Dictionary<string,string> to make the function capable of receiving multiple attributes parameter :
private static string XpathQueryBuilder(string nodeName, Dictionary<string,string> attributes = null)
{
string xpathAttr = "";
if (attributes != null)
{
xpathAttr =
"[" +
String.Join(" and ",
attributes.Select(o =>
{
var attrVal = o.Value ?? "*";
return "#" + o.Key + "='" + attrVal + "'";
})
) + "]";
}
return "//" + nodeName + xpathAttr;
}
example usage :
var node = "Root";
var attrs = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{"foo", "bar"},
{"baz", null},
};
var result = XpathQueryBuilder(node, attrs);
Console.WriteLine(result);
dotnetfiddle demo
output :
//Root[#foo='bar' and #baz='*']

You can use LINQ to XML.
It will allow you select any data that you want.
Also, if you need more generic solution, you can try to implement your own LINQ Provider for that.
The second way is more complicated than the first one, but as a result you will have more generic solution that will provide access to your xml file by LINQ chains and expressions (lambda etc).
A few links with examples for help:
http://weblogs.asp.net/mehfuzh/writing-custom-linq-provider
http://fairwaytech.com/2013/03/writing-a-custom-linq-provider-with-re-linq/
http://jacopretorius.net/2010/01/implementing-a-custom-linq-provider.html
https://aashishkoirala.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/linq-provider-1/

Have you tried using LINQ to XML?
using System.Linq;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;
String GUID = "something";
XElement profilesXel = XElement.Load("your xml file path");
XElement currProfile = (from el in profilesXel
where (String)el.Element("GUID") == GUID
select el).First();
....

How to Parse BlobColumn into Words, while removing spaces and carriage returns, in SSIS? [duplicate]

Struggling with a C# Component. What I am trying to do is take a column that is ntext in my input source which is delimited with pipes, and then write the array to a text file. When I run my component my output looks like this:
DealerID,StockNumber,Option
161552,P1427,Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.BlobColumn
Ive been working with the GetBlobData method and im struggling with it. Any help with be greatly appreciated! Here is the full script:
public override void Input0_ProcessInputRow(Input0Buffer Row)
{
string vehicleoptionsdelimited = Row.Options.ToString();
//string OptionBlob = Row.Options.GetBlobData(int ;
//string vehicleoptionsdelimited = System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(Row.Options.ColumnInfo.CodePage).GetChars(OptionBlob);
string[] option = vehicleoptionsdelimited.Split('|');
string path = #"C:\Users\User\Desktop\Local_DS_CSVs\";
string[] headerline =
{
"DealerID" + "," + "StockNumber" + "," + "Option"
};
System.IO.File.WriteAllLines(path + "OptionInput.txt", headerline);
using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(path + "OptionInput.txt", true))
{
foreach (string s in option)
{
file.WriteLine(Row.DealerID.ToString() + "," + Row.StockNumber.ToString() + "," + s);
}
}

Try using
BlobToString(Row.Options)
using this function:
private string BlobToString(BlobColumn blob)
{
string result = "";
try
{
if (blob != null)
{
result = System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetString(blob.GetBlobData(0, Convert.ToInt32(blob.Length)));
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
result = ex.Message;
}
return result;
}
Adapted from:
http://mscrmtech.com/201001257/converting-microsoftsqlserverdtspipelineblobcolumn-to-string-in-ssis-using-c

Another very easy solution to this problem, because it is a total PITA, is to route the error output to a derived column component and cast your blob data to a to a STR or WSTR as a new column.
Route the output of that to your script component and the data will come in as an additional column on the pipeline ready for you to parse.
This will probably only work if your data is less than 8000 characters long.

Changing text in a .txt file using c#

Basically im trying to save a new password and avatar for my twitter type website.
Any help would be appreciated
My coding is:
string newPasswordString = Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt";
string[] newPasswordArray = File.ReadAllLines(newPasswordString);
string newString = Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt";
newString = File.ReadAllText(newString);
string[] newArray = newString.Split(' ');
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < 3; i++)
{
newArray[1] = newPasswordTextBox.Text;
newArray[2] = avatarDropDownList.SelectedValue;
newPasswordArray.Replace(" " + Session["Username"].ToString() + " " + Session["UserPassword"].ToString() + " " + Session["UserAvatarID"].ToString() + " ", " " + Session["Username"].ToString() + " " + newPasswordArray[1] + " " + newPasswordArray[2]);
}
}
string newPasswordString = string.Join(Environment.NewLine, newPasswordArray);
File.WriteAllText(Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt", newPasswordString);

If I understand your problem correctly you need to move the
File.WriteAllText(Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt", newPasswordArray);
outside the loop, otherwise you rewrite the file at each loop, but this is not enough, you need also to rebuild the Whole text file
string fileToWrite = string.Join(Environment.NewLine, newPasswordArray);
File.WriteAllText(Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt", fileToWrite);
EDIT: After the code update and the comment below
The looping is totally wrong as well the rebuilding of the array
string userDataFile = Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt";
string[] userDataArray = File.ReadAllLines(userDataFile);
for(int x = 0; x < userDataArray.Length; x++)
{
string[] info = userData[x].Split(' ');
if(Session["Username"].ToString() == info[0])
{
userData[x] = string.Join(" ", Session["UserName"].ToString(),
newPasswordTextBox.Text,
avatarDropDownList.SelectedValue.ToString());
break;
}
}
string fileToWrite = string.Join(Environment.NewLine, userDataArray);
File.WriteAllText(Server.MapPath("~") + "/App_Data/tuitterUsers.txt", fileToWrite);
Keep in mind that this works for a limited number of users.
If you are lucky and you site becomes the new Twitter, you cannot think to use a solution where you read in memory the names of all your users.

Firstly, what you're doing is A Bad Idea™. Given that a web server can have multiple threads in operation, you can't be certain that two threads aren't going to be writing different data at the same time. The more users you have the larger your user file will be, which means it takes longer to read and write the data, which makes it more likely that two threads will come into conflict.
This is why we use databases for things like this. Instead of operating on the whole file every time you want to read or write, you operate on a single record. There are plenty of other reasons to do it to.
That said, if you insist on using a text file...
If you treat each line in the file as a record - a single user's details in this case - then it makes sense to build a class to handle the content of those records, and make that class able to read and write the line format.
Something like this:
class UserRecord
{
public string Name;
public string Password;
public string Avatar;
public UserRecord(string name, string password, string avatar)
{
Name = name;
Password = password;
Avatar = avatar;
}
// static factory method
public static UserRecord Parse(string source)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(source))
return null;
string[] parts = source.Split(',');
if (parts.Length < 3)
return null;
return new UserRecord(parts[0], parts[1], parts[2]);
}
// convert to string
public string ToString()
{
return (new string[] { Name, Password, Avatar }).Join(",");
}
}
Adjust the Parse method to handle whatever format you're using for the data in the line, and change the ToString method to produce that format.
Once you have that working, use it to parse the contents of your file like this:
// Somewhere to put the data - a Dictionary is my first choice here
Dictionary<string, UserRecord> users = new Dictionary<string, UserRecord>();
// Don't forget to use 'using' where appropriate
using (TextReader userfile = File.OpenText(userDataFile))
{
string srcline;
while ((srcline = userfile.ReadLine()) != null)
{
UserRecord user = UserRecord.Parse(line);
if (user != null)
users[user.Name] = user;
}
}
Then you can access the user's data by username, manipulate it as required, and save it back out whenever you like.
Writing the data back out from a Dictionary of users is as simple as:
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder;
foreach (UserRecord user in users.Values)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}\n", user);
}
File.WriteAllText(userDataFile, sb.ToString());
Meanwhile, you have a users collection that you can save for future checks and manipulations.
I still think you should use a database though. They're not hard to learn and they are far better for this sort of thing.

c# service renaming files!

I have a windows service , that takes files with metadata(FIDEF) and corresponding video file and , translates the XML(FIDEF) using XSLT .
I get the file directory listing for FIDEF's and if a video file of the same name exists it translates it. That works ok , but it is on a timer to search every minute. I am trying to handle situations where the same file name enters the input directory but is already in the output directory. I just have it changing the output name to (copy) thus if another file enters i should get (copy)(copy).mov but the service won't start with filenames of the same directory already in the output , it works once and then does not seem to pick up any new files.
Any Help would be great as I have tried a few things with no good results. I believe its the renaming methods, but I've put most of the code up in case its a clean up issue or something else.
(forgive some of the names just trying different things).
private void getFileList()
{
//Get FILE LIST FROM Directory
try
{
// Process Each String/File In Directory
string result;
//string filename;
filepaths = null;
filepaths = Directory.GetFiles(path, Filetype);
foreach (string s in filepaths)
{
for (int i = 0; i < filepaths.Length; i++)
{
//Result Returns Video Name
result = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(filepaths[i]);
FileInfo f = new FileInfo(filepaths[i]);
PreformTranslation(f, outputPath + result , result);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
EventLog.WriteEntry("Error " + e);
}
}
private void MoveVideoFiles(String Input, String Output)
{
File.Move(Input, Output);
}
private string GetUniqueName(string name)
{
//Original Filename
String ValidName = name;
//remove FIDEF from filename
String Justname1 = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(name);
//get .mov extension
String Extension2 = Path.GetExtension(Justname1);
//get filename with NO extensions
String Justname = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(Justname1);
//get .Fidef
String Extension = Path.GetExtension(name);
int cnt = 0;
//string[] FileName = Justname.Split('(');
//string Name = FileName[0];
while (File.Exists(ValidName)==true)
{
ValidName = outputPath + Justname + "(Copy)" + Extension2 + Extension;
cnt++;
}
return ValidName;
}
private string getMovFile(string name)
{
String ValidName = name;
String Ext = Path.GetExtension(name);
String JustName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(name);
while(File.Exists(ValidName))
{
ValidName = outputPath + JustName + "(Copy)" + Ext;
}
return ValidName;
}
//Preforms the translation requires XSL & FIDEF name.
private void PreformTranslation(FileInfo FileName, String OutputFileName , String result)
{
string FidefName = OutputFileName + ".FIDEF";
String CopyName;
String copyVidName = outputPath + result;
XslCompiledTransform myXslTransform;
myXslTransform = new XslCompiledTransform();
try
{
myXslTransform.Load(XSLname);
}
catch
{
EventLog.WriteEntry("Error in loading XSL");
}
try
{ //only process FIDEF's with corresponding Video file
if (AllFidef == "no")
{
//Check if video exists if yes,
if (File.Exists(path + result))
{
//Check for FIDEF File Already Existing in the Output Directory.
if (File.Exists(FidefName))
{
//Get unique name
CopyName = GetUniqueName(FidefName);
copyVidName= getMovFile(copyVidName);
//Translate and create new FIDEF.
//double checking the file is here
if (File.Exists(outputPath + result))
{
myXslTransform.Transform(FileName.ToString(), CopyName);
File.Delete(FileName.ToString());
MoveVideoFiles(path + result, copyVidName);
}
////Move Video file with Corresponding Name.
}
else
{ //If no duplicate file exsists in Directory just move.
myXslTransform.Transform(FileName.ToString(), OutputFileName + ".FIDEF");
MoveVideoFiles(path + result, outputPath + result);
}
}
}
else
{
//Must have FIDEF extension
//Processes All FIDEFS and moves any video files if found.
myXslTransform.Transform(FileName.ToString(), OutputFileName + ".FIDEF");
if (File.Exists(path + result))
{
MoveVideoFiles(path + result, outputPath + result);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
EventLog.WriteEntry("Error Transforming " + "FILENAME = " + FileName.ToString()
+ " OUTPUT_FILENAME = " + OutputFileName + "\r\n" +"\r\n"+ e);
}
}

There is a lot wrong with your code. getFileList has the unneeded inner for loop for starters. Get rid of it. Your foreach loop has s, which can replace filepaths[i] from your for loop. Also, don't do outputPath + result to make file paths. Use Path.Combine(outputPath, result) instead, since Path.Combine handles directory characters for you. Also, you need to come up with a better name for getFileList, since that is not what the method does at all. Do not make your method names liars.
I would simply get rid of MoveVideoFiles. The compiler just might too.
GetUniqueName only works if your file name is of the form name.mov.fidef, which I'm assuming it is. You really need better variable names though, otherwise it will be a maintenance nightware later on. I would get rid of the == true in the while loop condition, but that is optional. The assignment inside the while is why your files get overwritten. You always generate the same name (something(Copy).mov.fidef), and as far as I can see, if the file exists, I think you blow the stack looping forever. You need to fix that loop to generate a new name (and don't forget Path.Combine). Maybe something like this (note this is untested):
int copyCount = 0;
while (File.Exists(ValidName))
{
const string CopyName = "(Copy)";
string copyString = copyCount == 0 ? CopyName : (CopyName + "(" + copyCount + ")");
string tempName = Justname + copyString + Extension2 + Extension;
ValidName = Path.Combine(outputPath, tempName);
copyCount++;
}
This generates something(Copy).mov.fidef for the first copy, something(Copy)(2).mov.fidef for the second, and so on. Maybe not what you want, but you can make adjustments.
At this point you have a lot to do. getMovFile looks as though it could use work in the same manner as GetUniqueName. You'll figure it out. Good luck.

Adding double quotes to # string

As far as i understood, a string with an # in required a set of double quotes to insert the quote in to the string?
I have tried that principle and to no avail. The following line works, but if i were to replace those strings with parameter values then i cant seem to get the correct compilation value
var node = doc.SelectSingleNode(#"//node[#label = ""Chemist Name""]/node[#label = ""John,Smith""]");
my attempt (of which i have tried several versions and ended up here, where i have now givn up !)
var node = doc.SelectSingleNode(#"//node[#label = " + ""+parentID+"" + "]/node[#label = " + ""+ name +"" + "]");
can anyone help me please?

Use single quotes:
var node = doc.SelectSingleNode
(#"//node[#label = 'Chemist Name']/node[#label = 'John,Smith']");
var node = doc.SelectSingleNode(
string.format(#"//node[#label = '{0}']/node[#label = '{1}']"
, parentID, name));

You are missing another double quote to close the string being appended and also # before each string containing "".
Try this:
var node =
doc.SelectSingleNode(#"//node[#label = """ + parentID + #"""]/node[#label = """ + name + #"""]");

var node = doc.SelectSingleNode(string.format(#"//node[#label = ""{0}""]/node[#label = ""{1}""]", parentId, name));

Write an extension method to extend string:
public static string Quote(this string input)
{
return string.Format(#"""{0}""", input);
}
And then use it as follows:
var node = doc.SelectSingleNode(#"//node[#label = " + parentID.Quote() + "]/node[#label = " + name.Quote() + "]");
Or simply:
var node = doc.SelectSingleNode(string.Format(#"//node[#label = {0}"]/node[#label = {1}"]",parentID.Quote(), name.Quote());