There are two ways to create XML trees in Visual Basic. You can declare an XML literal directly in code, or you can use the LINQ APIs to create the tree. Both processes enable the code to reflect the final structure of the XML tree. For example, the following code example creates an XML element:

Dim contact1 As XElement = _
    <contact>
      <name>Patrick Hines</name>
      <phone type="home">206-555-0144</phone>
      <phone type="work">425-555-0145</phone>
    </contact>

Console.WriteLine(contact1)

For more information, see Creating XML in Visual Basic.

Visual Basic provides XML axis properties for accessing and navigating XML structures. These properties enable you to access XML elements and attributes by specifying the XML child element names. Alternatively, you can explicitly call the LINQ methods for navigating and locating elements and attributes. For example, the following code example uses XML axis properties to refer to the attributes and child elements of an XML element. The code example uses a LINQ query to retrieve child elements and output them as XML elements, effectively performing a transform.

' Place Imports statements at the top of your program.  
Imports <xmlns:ns="http://SomeNamespace">

Module Sample1

    Sub SampleTransform()

        ' Create test by using a global XML namespace prefix. 

        Dim contact = _
            <ns:contact>
                <ns:name>Patrick Hines</ns:name>
                <ns:phone ns:type="home">206-555-0144</ns:phone>
                <ns:phone ns:type="work">425-555-0145</ns:phone>
            </ns:contact>

        Dim phoneTypes = _
          <phoneTypes>
              <%= From phone In contact.<ns:phone> _
                  Select <type><%= phone.@ns:type %></type> _
              %>
          </phoneTypes>

        Console.WriteLine(phoneTypes)
    End Sub

End Module

For more information, see Accessing XML in Visual Basic.

Visual Basic enables you to specify an alias to a global XML namespace by using the Imports statement. The following example shows how to use the Imports statement to import an XML namespace:

Imports <xmlns:ns="http://someNamespace">

You can use an XML namespace alias when you access XML axis properties and declare XML literals for XML documents and elements.

You can retrieve an XNamespace object for a particular namespace prefix by using the GetXmlNamespace Operator.

For more information, see Imports Statement (XML Namespace).

Using XML Namespaces in XML Literals

Dim contact1 As XElement = _
    <ns:contact>
        <ns:name>Patrick Hines</ns:name>
        <ns:phone type="home">206-555-0144</ns:phone>
        <ns:phone type="work">425-555-0145</ns:phone>
    </ns:contact>

Console.WriteLine(contact1)

Dim contact2 As XElement = _
    <ns1:contact xmlns:ns1="http://someNamespace">
        <ns1:name>Patrick Hines</ns1:name>
        <ns1:phone type="home">206-555-0144</ns1:phone>
        <ns1:phone type="work">425-555-0145</ns1:phone>
    </ns1:contact>

Console.WriteLine(contact2)

Using XML Namespaces in XML Axis Properties

Console.WriteLine("Contact name is: " & contact1.<ns:name>.Value)

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