C# XPath Soap, how to navigate to embedded node

Question

In C#, Asp.Net, I am trying to return the Error node inside of BISearchResponse: I am able to get the GetWireResult node returned in an XMLNode. How do I get to the Error node?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
- <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
-     <soap:Body>
-          <GetWireResponse xmlns="http://OpenSolutions.com/">
                <GetWireResult><?xml version="1.0"?> 
                      <BISearchResponse xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> 
                            <Error xmlns="https://bixg.choicepoint.com/webservices/3.0"> 
                                   <Message>BI System: Failed to Login</Message> 
                                   <Code>536870917</Code>
                             </Error>
                      </BISearchResponse>  
                </GetWireResult> 
            </GetWireResponse>
       </soap:Body>
  </soap:Envelope>

My code: XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

            xmlDoc.LoadXml(result);

            XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(xmlDoc.NameTable);
            nsmgr.AddNamespace("soap", "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/");
            nsmgr.AddNamespace("ab", "http://OpenSolutions.com/");
            nsmgr.AddNamespace("bg", " https://bixg.choicepoint.com/webservices/3.0");
            nsmgr.AddNamespace("xsd", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema");
            nsmgr.AddNamespace("xsi", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance");

            XmlNode xmlnode = xmlDoc.DocumentElement.SelectSingleNode("/soap:Envelope/soap:Body/ab:GetWireResponse", nsmgr);

This works to here. . I am adding the xml here, but it is only visible in edit mode.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
- <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
- <soap:Body>
- <GetWireResponse xmlns="http://OpenSolutions.com/">
  <GetWireResult><?xml version="1.0"?> <BISearchResponse xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <Error xmlns="https://bixg.choicepoint.com/webservices/3.0"> <Message>BI System: Failed to Login</Message> <Code>536870917</Code> </Error> </BISearchResponse></GetWireResult> 
  </GetWireResponse>
  </soap:Body>
  </soap:Envelope>

I put your XML sample into a {code} section. Please do this next time, or the XML doesn't show up (properly). — LarsH
In edit mode, paste in your XML, then select it and press the "{}" button. You'll see the code show up in the preview. Then save. The code will now display correctly outside of edit mode. — LarsH
It would help too if you would indent it so that the hierarchical structure is easy to see. — LarsH
I think, content inside SOAP body <GetWireResult> is encoded XML, so it isn't part of XML. — Kirill Polishchuk
since that is encoded xml, would one approach be to unencode it, load it into an xmlDocument object and continue parsing? — user825374

Kirill Polishchuk Kirill Polishchuk · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-02T11:53:18

In debug mode, when you copy this XML, try choose another debug visualizer, e.g. "Text visualizer". You can select it clicking the magnifying glass icon in datatip.

I think your XML looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <soap:Body>
    <GetWireResponse xmlns="http://OpenSolutions.com/">
      <GetWireResult>
        &lt;?xml version="1.0"?&gt;
        &lt;BISearchResponse xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
        &lt;Error xmlns="https://bixg.choicepoint.com/webservices/3.0">
        &lt;Message>BI System: Failed to Login&lt;/Message&gt;
        &lt;Code>536870917&lt;/Code&gt;
        &lt;/Error&gt;
        &lt;/BISearchResponse&gt;
      </GetWireResult>
    </GetWireResponse>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

or

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <soap:Body>
    <GetWireResponse xmlns="http://OpenSolutions.com/">
      <GetWireResult>
        <![CDATA[
        <?xml version="1.0"?>
        <BISearchResponse xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
          <Error xmlns="https://bixg.choicepoint.com/webservices/3.0">
            <Message>BI System: Failed to Login</Message>
            <Code>536870917</Code>
          </Error>
        </BISearchResponse>
        ]]>
      </GetWireResult>
    </GetWireResponse>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

No matter. So you can select GetWireResult using following XPath:

/soap:Envelope/soap:Body/ab:GetWireResponse/ab:GetWireResult

and then load it content in new XML document and get desired response.

C# XPath Soap, how to navigate to embedded node

2 Answers