Scope of Default Namespaces in C#

Default namespaces as represented in the XML tree are not in scope for queries. If you have XML that is in a default namespace, you still must declare an XNamespace variable, and combine it with the local name to make a qualified name to be used in the query.

One of the most common problems when querying XML trees is that if the XML tree has a default namespace, the developer sometimes writes the query as though the XML were not in a namespace.

The first set of examples in this topic shows a typical way that XML in a default namespace is loaded, but is queried improperly.

The second set of examples show the necessary corrections so that you can query XML in a namespace.

For more information, see Working with XML Namespaces.

Example

This example shows the creation of XML in a namespace, and a query that returns an empty result set.

Code

XElement root = XElement.Parse(
@"<Root xmlns='https://www.adventure-works.com'>
    <Child>1</Child>
    <Child>2</Child>
    <Child>3</Child>
    <AnotherChild>4</AnotherChild>
    <AnotherChild>5</AnotherChild>
    <AnotherChild>6</AnotherChild>
</Root>");
IEnumerable<XElement> c1 =
    from el in root.Elements("Child")
    select el;
Console.WriteLine("Result set follows:");
foreach (XElement el in c1)
    Console.WriteLine((int)el);
Console.WriteLine("End of result set");

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Dim root As XElement = _
            <Root xmlns='https://www.adventure-works.com'>
                <Child>1</Child>
                <Child>2</Child>
                <Child>3</Child>
                <AnotherChild>4</AnotherChild>
                <AnotherChild>5</AnotherChild>
                <AnotherChild>6</AnotherChild>
            </Root>
        Dim c1 As IEnumerable(Of XElement) = _
                From el In root.<Child> _
                Select el
        Console.WriteLine("Result set follows:")
        For Each el As XElement In c1
            Console.WriteLine(CInt(el))
        Next
        Console.WriteLine("End of result set")
    End Sub
End Module

Comments

This example produces the following result:

Result set follows:
End of result set

Example

This example shows the creation of XML in a namespace, and a query that is coded properly.

In contrast to the incorrectly coded example above, the correct approach when using C# is to declare and initialize an XNamespace object, and to use it when specifying XName objects. In this case, the argument to the Elements method is an XName object.

The correct approach when using Visual Basic is to declare and initialize a global default namespace. This places all XML properties in the default namespace. No other modifications are required to the example to make it work properly.

Code

XElement root = XElement.Parse(
@"<Root xmlns='https://www.adventure-works.com'>
    <Child>1</Child>
    <Child>2</Child>
    <Child>3</Child>
    <AnotherChild>4</AnotherChild>
    <AnotherChild>5</AnotherChild>
    <AnotherChild>6</AnotherChild>
</Root>");
XNamespace aw = "https://www.adventure-works.com";
IEnumerable<XElement> c1 =
    from el in root.Elements(aw + "Child")
    select el;
Console.WriteLine("Result set follows:");
foreach (XElement el in c1)
    Console.WriteLine((int)el);
Console.WriteLine("End of result set");

Imports <xmlns="https://www.adventure-works.com">

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Dim root As XElement = _
            <Root xmlns='https://www.adventure-works.com'>
                <Child>1</Child>
                <Child>2</Child>
                <Child>3</Child>
                <AnotherChild>4</AnotherChild>
                <AnotherChild>5</AnotherChild>
                <AnotherChild>6</AnotherChild>
            </Root>
        Dim c1 As IEnumerable(Of XElement) = _
                From el In root.<Child> _
                Select el
        Console.WriteLine("Result set follows:")
        For Each el As XElement In c1
            Console.WriteLine(el.Value)
        Next
        Console.WriteLine("End of result set")
    End Sub
End Module

Comments

This example produces the following result:

Result set follows:
1
2
3
End of result set

See Also

Concepts

Namespaces in C# (LINQ to XML)