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Retrieve processing instructions using XDocument

I have an XML document containing processing instructions. I know that, with the XmlDocument class, you can use
var node = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("processing-instruction('xml-stylesheet')") as XmlProcessingInstruction;
but I want to use XDocument. How can I do this?

This is how I access an XML file's nodes with the XDocument class.
However, you'll have to be more specific on what you want to do with it.
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("filepath");
var node = doc.Nodes().OfType<XElement>().SingleOrDefault(n => n.Name == "node name");
var node_value = node.Value;
var node_descendants = node.Descendants();
UPDATE:
As you may have noticed there's no SelectSingleNode in XDocument, in fact, to retrieve the node you want you'll have to fetch it from the corresponding ienumerable collection, or alternatively from the predefined FirstNode, NextNode, PreviousNode, LastNode, but you cannot apply any filters to those. Therefore the only ways to retrieve ProcessingInstruction nodes are
var pI_nodes = doc.Nodes().OfType<XProcessingInstruction>();
And
var pI_nodes = (from node in doc.Nodes()
where node.NodeType == System.Xml.XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction
select node);
If you expect to retrieve several ProcessingInstructions and need to filter these as well, the equivalent to the node name would the Target property
var filtered_pIs = pI_nodes_1.Where(pI => pI.Target == "xml-stylesheet");
And as a final reminder the value of the processing instruction is stored in the Data property.
string pI_value = filtered_pIs.First().Data

Here is one way:
var node = xDoc.Root.Nodes().OfType<XProcessingInstruction>().First();

Selecting a node if the attribute is equal to a predefined string

I'm currently using a loop which gives me a variable, which then needs to be fed into an Xpath method to get me any nodes with an attribute equal to my variable. So far, I've learned that Xpath allows you to select a node from the XML document using
root.SelectNodes("Element[#Attribute='SpecificValue']")
However, I'd like to know if there's a way I can insert a predefined variable where the specific value, so I can grab a different set of nodes with each iteration of my loop.
For example something like this:
string attribValue= "test"
root.SelectNodes("Element[#Attribute = attribValue]")

Use string formatting:
string attribValue = "test";
string expression = String.Format("Element[#Attribute = '{0}']", attribValue);
root.SelectNodes(expression);

Using XML Linq
XDocument doc = new XDocument();
XElement root = (XElement)doc.FirstNode;
string attribValue= "test";
var results = root.Descendants("Element").Where(x => x.Attribute("Attribute").Value == attribValue).ToList();​

Selecting a child node having specific value

I want to check that if the "< city>" node 'having a specific value (say Pathankot )' already exist in the xml file under the a particular "< user Id="any"> having a specific Id", before inserting a new city node into the xml.
< users>
< user Id="4/28/2015 11:29:44 PM">
<city>Fazilka</city>
<city>Pathankot </city>
<city>Jalandher</city>
<city>Amritsar</city>
</user>
</users>
In order to insert I am using the Following c# code
XDocument xmlDocument = XDocument.Load(#"C:\Users\Ajax\Documents\UserSelectedCity.xml");
string usrCookieId = Request.Cookies["CookieId"].Value;
xmlDocument.Element("Users")
.Elements("user")
.Single(x => (string)x.Attribute("Id") == usrCookieId)
//Incomplete because same named cities can be entered more that once
//need to make delete function
.Add(
new XElement("city", drpWhereToGo.SelectedValue));
My Questions:
How Can i check weather the < city> node having specific value say
Pathankot already exist in the xml file Before Inserting a new city
node.
I am Using absolute Path in" XDocument xmlDocument =
XDocument.Load(#"C:\Users\Ajax\Documents\Visual Studio
2012\WebSites\punjabtourism.com\UserSelectedCity.xml");" This
does not allow me to move the files to new folder without changing
the path which is not desirable. But if i use the relative path The
Error Occures "Access Denied";

I would use this simple approach:
var query =
xmlDocument
.Root
.Elements("user")
.Where(x => x.Attribute("Id").Value == usrCookieId)
.Where(x => !x.Elements("city").Any(y => y.Value == "Pathankot"));
foreach (var xe in query)
{
xe.Add(new XElement("city", drpWhereToGo.SelectedValue));
}
It's best to avoid using .Single(...) or .First(...) if possible. The description of your problem doesn't sound like you need to use these though.

Try this:-
First load the XML file into XDocument object by specifying the physical path where your XML file is present. Once you have the object just take the First node with matching condition (please note I am using First instead of Single cz you may have multiple nodes with same matching condition, Please see the Difference between Single & First)
XDocument xmlDocument = XDocument.Load(#"YourPhysicalPath");
xmlDocument.Descendants("user").First(x => (string)x.Attribute("Id") == "1"
&& x.Elements("city").Any(z => z.Value.Trim() == "Pathankot"))
.Add(new XElement("city", drpWhereToGo.SelectedValue));
xmlDocument.Save("YourPhysicalPath");
Finally add the required city to the node retrieved from the query and save the XDocument object.
Update:
If you want to check first if all the criteria fulfills then simply use Any like this:-
bool isCityPresent = xdoc.Descendants("user").Any(x => (string)x.Attribute("Id") == "1"
&& x.Elements("city").Any(z => z.Value.Trim() == "Pathankot"));

I'd create an extension to clean it up a bit, and use XPath for the search.
public static class MyXDocumentExtensions
{
public static bool CityExists(this XDocument doc, string cityName)
{
//Contains
//var matchingElements = doc.XPathSelectElements(string.Format("//city[contains(text(), '{0}')]", cityName));
//Equals
var matchingElements = doc.XPathSelectElements(string.Format("//city[text() = '{0}']", cityName));
return matchingElements.Count() > 0;
}
}
And call it like that:
XDocument xmlDocument = XDocument.Load("xml.txt");
var exists = xmlDocument.CityExists("Amritsar");
Expanding on your question in the comment, you can then use it as:
if(!xmlDocument.CityExists("Amritsar"))
{
//insert city
}
If you would like to match regardless of the trailing whitespace in the XML, you can wrap the text() call in XPath with a normalize-space:
var matchingElements = doc.XPathSelectElements(string.Format("//city[normalize-space(text()) = '{0}']", cityName.Trim()));

xPath to get sibling value for element with specific value

Given this XML:
<InitResponse>
<LottoToken>908ec70b308adf10d04db1478ef9b01b</LottoToken>
<GameInfoList>
<GameInfo>
<Draw>
<gameId>L649</gameId>
<draw>3035</draw>
</Draw>
</GameInfo>
<GameInfo>
<Draw>
<gameId>BC49</gameId>
<draw>2199</draw>
</Draw>
</GameInfo>
</GameInfoList>
</InitResponse>
I need to get the draw number based on a specific gameId. For example if I specify gameID L649 I need to get 3035.
The following works in several online evaluators, but not in C#. It says it cannot find it. Suggestions?
/InitResponse/GameInfoList/GameInfo/Draw/draw[preceding-sibling::gameId='L649']
C# Code I've tried:
XmlNode node = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("/InitResponse/GameInfoList/GameInfo/Draw/draw[preceding-sibling::gameId='L649']");
... where xmlDoc is an xmlDocument object loaded with the xml. the node variable ends up with a null value which seems to indicate there was no match found.

Here is xpath (with Linq)
var xdoc = XDocument.Load(path_to_xml);
string xpath = "/InitResponse/GameInfoList/GameInfo/Draw[gameId='L649']/draw";
var draw = xdoc.XPathSelectElement(xpath);
if (draw != null) // check if draw with gameId found in xml
value = (int)draw;
Also you can use pure Linq to Xml (but in this case xpath looks more compact):
var draw = xdoc.Descendants("GameInfo")
.SelectMany(g => g.Elements("Draw"))
.SingleOrDefault(d => (string)d.Element("gameId") == "L649");
if (draw != null)
value = (int)draw.Element("draw");

Using XmlDocument
I didn't saw something wrong in your XPath statement, look on the following:
(So i guess there is something else that is wrong)
XmlDocument myDoc = new XmlDocument();
String str = #"<InitResponse>
<LottoToken>908ec70b308adf10d04db1478ef9b01b</LottoToken>
<GameInfoList>
<GameInfo>
<Draw>
<gameId>L649</gameId>
<draw>3035</draw>
/Draw>
</GameInfo>
<GameInfo>
<Draw>
<gameId>BC49</gameId>
<draw>2199</draw>
</Draw>
</GameInfo>
</GameInfoList>
</InitResponse>";
myDoc.LoadXml(str);
XmlNode node =
myDoc.SelectSingleNode("/InitResponse/GameInfoList/GameInfo/Draw/draw[preceding-sibling::gameId='L649']");
The node which returns from the result is: 3035
Note: your first note have to be <InitResponse> otherwise it will returns null

Noob LINQ - reading, filtering XML with XDocument

I'm just learning XDocument and LINQ queries. Here's some simple XML (which doesn't look formatted exactly right in this forum in my browser, but you get the idea . . .)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<quiz
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.example.com/name XMLFile2.xsd"
title="MyQuiz1">
<q_a>
<q_a_num>1</q_a_num>
<q_>Here is question 1</q_>
<_a>Here is the answer to 1</_a>
</q_a>
<q_a>
<q_a_num>2</q_a_num>
<q_>Here is question 2</q_>
<_a>Here is the answer to 2</_a>
</q_a>
</quiz>
I can iterate across all elements in my XML file and display their Name, Value, and NodeType in a ListBox like this, no problem:
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(sPath);
IEnumerable<XElement> elems = doc.Descendants();
IEnumerable<XElement> elem_list = from elem in elems
select elem;
foreach (XElement element in elem_list)
{
String str0 = "Name = " + element.Name.ToString() +
", Value = " + element.Value.ToString() +
", Nodetype = " + element.NodeType.ToString();
System.Windows.Controls.Label strLabel = new System.Windows.Controls.Label();
strLabel.Content = str0;
listBox1.Items.Add(strLabel);
}
...but now I want to add a "where" clause to my query so that I only select elements with a certain name (e.g., "qa") but my element list comes up empty. I tried . . .
IEnumerable<XElement> elem_list = from elem in elems
where elem.Name.ToString() == "qa"
select elem;
Could someone please explain what I'm doing wrong? (and in general are there some good tips for debugging Queries?) Thanks in advance!

The problem is that the Name property is not a string, it's an XName. When you ToString it, you get a lot more than you think.
While it's possible to write the query in the way you're attempting to, also consider these possibilites:
//from nodes immediately below this one
IEnumerable<XElement> elem_list = doc.Elements("qa");
//from nodes of all levels below this node.
IEnumerable<XElement> elem_list = doc.Descendants("qa");

I would perhaps change your query to something that looks more like this
var query = from q_a in document.Descendants("q_a")
select new
{
Number = (int)q_a.Element("q_a_num"),
Question = (string)q_a.Element("q_"),
Answer = (string)q_a.Element("_a")
};
With this, you'll pull from each of your q_a descendants the inner elements into an IEnumerable<[Anonymous Type]>, each object containing the number, question, and answer.
However, if you just want to extract the XElements where the name is q_a, you could do this using a where clause.
IEnumerable<XElement> elem_list = elems.Where(elem => elem.Name.LocalName == "q_a");
Of course, as David B showed, the where clause is not necessary here.
IEnumerable<XElement> elem_list = elems.Elements("q_a");