XmlTextReader.Value Property (System.Xml)

.NET Framework Class Library

XmlTextReader..::.Value Property

Gets the text value of the current node.

Namespace: System.Xml
Assembly: System.Xml (in System.Xml.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Overrides ReadOnly Property Value As String

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As XmlTextReader
Dim value As String

value = instance.Value

public override string Value { get; }

Visual C++

public:
virtual property String^ Value {
    String^ get () override;
}

JScript

public override function get Value () : String

Property Value

Type: System..::.String
The value returned depends on the NodeType of the node. The following table lists node types that have a value to return. All other node types return String.Empty.

Node Type	Value
Attribute	The value of the attribute.
CDATA	The content of the CDATA section.
Comment	The content of the comment.
DocumentType	The internal subset.
ProcessingInstruction	The entire content, excluding the target.
SignificantWhitespace	The white space within an xml:space= 'preserve' scope.
Text	The content of the text node.
Whitespace	The white space between markup.
XmlDeclaration	The content of the declaration.

Remarks

Note:
In the .NET Framework version 2.0 release, the recommended practice is to create XmlReader instances using the XmlReader..::.Create method. This allows you to take full advantage of the new features introduced in this release. For more information, see Creating XML Readers.

Examples

The following example reads an XML file and displays each node.

Visual Basic

Option Strict
Option Explicit

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml

'Reads an XML document
Public Class Sample
    Private Const filename As String = "items.xml"

    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Dim reader As XmlTextReader = Nothing

        Try
            ' Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.         
            reader = New XmlTextReader(filename)
            reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None

            ' Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
            While reader.Read()
                Select Case reader.NodeType
                    Case XmlNodeType.Element
                        Console.Write("<{0}>", reader.Name)
                    Case XmlNodeType.Text
                        Console.Write(reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.CDATA
                        Console.Write("<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction
                        Console.Write("<?{0} {1}?>", reader.Name, reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.Comment
                        Console.Write("<!--{0}-->", reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.XmlDeclaration
                        Console.Write("<?xml version='1.0'?>")
                    Case XmlNodeType.Document
                    Case XmlNodeType.DocumentType
                        Console.Write("<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader.Name, reader.Value)
                    Case XmlNodeType.EntityReference
                        Console.Write(reader.Name)
                    Case XmlNodeType.EndElement
                        Console.Write("</{0}>", reader.Name)
                End Select
            End While

        Finally
            If Not (reader Is Nothing) Then
                reader.Close()
            End If
        End Try
    End Sub 'Main 
End Class 'Sample

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

public class Sample {

  private const String filename = "items.xml";

  public static void Main() {

     XmlTextReader reader = null;

     try {

        // Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.         
        reader = new XmlTextReader(filename);
        reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None;

        // Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
        while (reader.Read()) {
           switch (reader.NodeType) {
             case XmlNodeType.Element:
               Console.Write("<{0}>", reader.Name);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.Text:
               Console.Write(reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.CDATA:
               Console.Write("<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.ProcessingInstruction:
               Console.Write("<?{0} {1}?>", reader.Name, reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.Comment:
               Console.Write("<!--{0}-->", reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.XmlDeclaration:
               Console.Write("<?xml version='1.0'?>");
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.Document:
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.DocumentType:
               Console.Write("<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader.Name, reader.Value);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.EntityReference:
               Console.Write(reader.Name);
               break;
             case XmlNodeType.EndElement:
               Console.Write("</{0}>", reader.Name);
               break;
           }       
        }           
     }

     finally {
        if (reader!=null)
          reader.Close();
     }
  }
} // End class

Visual C++

#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Xml;
int main()
{
   XmlTextReader^ reader = nullptr;
   String^ filename = "items.xml";
   try
   {

      // Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.         
      reader = gcnew XmlTextReader( filename );
      reader->WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling::None;

      // Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
      while ( reader->Read() )
      {
         switch ( reader->NodeType )
         {
            case XmlNodeType::Element:
               Console::Write( "<{0}>", reader->Name );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::Text:
               Console::Write( reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::CDATA:
               Console::Write( "<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::ProcessingInstruction:
               Console::Write( "<?{0} {1}?>", reader->Name, reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::Comment:
               Console::Write( "<!--{0}-->", reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::XmlDeclaration:
               Console::Write( "<?xml version='1.0'?>" );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::Document:
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::DocumentType:
               Console::Write( "<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader->Name, reader->Value );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::EntityReference:
               Console::Write( reader->Name );
               break;

            case XmlNodeType::EndElement:
               Console::Write( "</{0}>", reader->Name );
               break;
         }
      }
   }
   finally
   {
      if ( reader != nullptr )
            reader->Close();
   }

}

CPP_OLD

#using <mscorlib.dll>
#using <System.Xml.dll>
using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Xml;

int main() {

   XmlTextReader* reader = 0;
   String* filename = S"items.xml";

   try {

      // Load the reader with the data file and ignore all white space nodes.         
      reader = new XmlTextReader(filename);
      reader->WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling::None;

      // Parse the file and display each of the nodes.
      while (reader->Read()) {
         switch (reader->NodeType) {
             case XmlNodeType::Element:
                Console::Write(S"<{0}>", reader->Name);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::Text:
                Console::Write(reader->Value);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::CDATA:
                Console::Write(S"<![CDATA[{0}]]>", reader->Value);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::ProcessingInstruction:
                Console::Write(S"<?{0} {1}?>", reader->Name, reader->Value);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::Comment:
                Console::Write(S"<!--{0}-->", reader->Value);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::XmlDeclaration:
                Console::Write(S"<?xml version='1.0'?>");
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::Document:
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::DocumentType:
                Console::Write(S"<!DOCTYPE {0} [{1}]", reader->Name, reader->Value);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::EntityReference:
                Console::Write(reader->Name);
                break;
             case XmlNodeType::EndElement:
                Console::Write(S"</{0}>", reader->Name);
                break;
         }       
      }           
   }

   __finally {
      if (reader!=0)
         reader->Close();
   }
}

The sample uses the file items.xml.

None

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- This is a sample XML document -->
<!DOCTYPE Items [<!ENTITY number "123">]>
<Items>
  <Item>Test with an entity: &number;</Item>
  <Item>test with a child element <more/> stuff</Item>
  <Item>test with a CDATA section <![CDATA[<456>]]> def</Item>
  <Item>Test with an char entity: &#65;</Item>
  <!-- Fourteen chars in this element.-->
  <Item>1234567890ABCD</Item>
</Items>

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0

Reference

XmlTextReader Class

XmlTextReader Members

System.Xml Namespace

Other Resources

Reading XML with the XmlReader