XPathNavigator Class

    Visual Basic Example
    Navigate an XMLDocument Using an XPathNavigator object.

  
  
    Private Sub NavigateXMLDocumentUsingXPathNavigator(ByVal peopleXmlFilePath As String)

        ' Declare a variable named peopleXmlDocument of type XmlDocument.
        Dim peopleXmlDocument As XmlDocument

        ' Instantiate a new XmlDocument object assigning it to the 'peopleXmlDocument variable.
        peopleXmlDocument = New XmlDocument

        ' Call the peopleXmlDocument object's Load method
        ' passing it the file path to a .xml file that defines persons.
        ' (see sample people XML file provided with this example)
        peopleXmlDocument.Load(peopleXmlFilePath)

        ' Declare a variable named theXPathNavigator of type XPathNavigator.
        Dim theXPathNavigator As XPathNavigator

        ' Call the peopleXmlDocument object's CreateNavigator method
        ' assigning the resulting XPathNavigator object to the 'theXPathNavigator' variable.
        theXPathNavigator = peopleXmlDocument.CreateNavigator

        ' Declare a variable named theXPathExpression of type XPathExpression.
        Dim theXPathExpression As XPathExpression
        ' Call theXPathNavigator object's Compile method passing it a query string;
        ' assign the resulting XPathPression object to the 'theXPathExpression' variable.
        theXPathExpression = theXPathNavigator.Compile("//person")

        ' Declare a variable named nodes of type XPathNodeIterator.
        Dim nodes As XPathNodeIterator
        ' Call theXPathNavigator's Select method passing it theXPathExpression;
        ' assign the resulting XPathNodeIterator object to the 'nodes' variable.
        nodes = theXPathNavigator.Select(theXPathExpression)

        ' Iterate through the person nodes writing out each person's name,
        ' address type, and street address.
        While nodes.MoveNext
            ' Navigate to person's name element.
            nodes.Current.MoveToChild("name", "")
            Console.Write("Name: " & nodes.Current.Value.ToString & Environment.NewLine)
            ' Move back to person element.
            nodes.Current.MoveToParent()
            ' Navigate to person's address element.
            nodes.Current.MoveToChild("address", "")
            Console.Write("Address Type: " & nodes.Current.GetAttribute("addressType", "") & Environment.NewLine)
            ' Navigate to address element's street element.
            nodes.Current.MoveToChild("street", "")
            Console.Write("Street Address: " & nodes.Current.Value & Environment.NewLine & "-------------" & Environment.NewLine)
            ' Move back to person's address element.
            nodes.Current.MoveToParent()
            ' Move back to the person.
            nodes.Current.MoveToParent()
        End While
    End Sub

Data for Example - Place the XML below in a file named 'Persons.xml'

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<people>
 <person >
  <id>1</id>
  <name>James Wentnet</name>
  <address addressType="mail">
   <street>123 Elm Avenue</street>
   <city>San Francisco</city>
   <postal_code>95466</postal_code>
  </address>
 </person>
 <person >
  <id>1</id>
  <name>Robert Gotnet</name>
  <address addressType="delivery">
   <street>123 Elm Avenue</street>
   <city>San Francisco</city>
   <postal_code>95466</postal_code>
  </address>
 </person>
</people>