XML  

Add Attribute to XML Using LINQ to XML

Introduction

Today, in this article let's play around with one of the interesting and most useful concepts in LINQ to XML.

Question: What is adding attribute to XML using LINQ to XML?

In simple terms "It provides flexibility to add a new XAttribute to XML with help of a LINQ query."

Step 1: Create an "ASP.NET Web Application", as in: 

Output1.jpg

Step 2:
The complete code of Employee.xml looks like this:

  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
  2. <Employees>  
  3.   <Employee>  
  4.     <Id>1</Id>  
  5.     <FirstName>Vijay</FirstName>  
  6.     <LastName>Prativadi</LastName>  
  7.     <Age>26</Age>  
  8.   </Employee>  
  9.   <Employee>  
  10.     <Id>2</Id>  
  11.     <FirstName>Sandeep</FirstName>  
  12.     <LastName>Reddy</LastName>  
  13.     <Age>28</Age>  
  14.   </Employee>  
  15. </Employees>
Step 3: The complete code of webform1.aspx looks like this:
  1. <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="WebForm1.aspx.cs" Inherits="LINQtoXMLAddAttributeApp.WebForm1" %>  
  2. <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">  
  3. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">  
  4. <head id="Head1" runat="server">  
  5.     <title></title>  
  6. </head>  
  7. <body>  
  8.     <form id="form1" runat="server">  
  9.     <center>  
  10.         <div>  
  11.             <table>  
  12.                 <tr>  
  13.                     <td colspan="2" align="center">  
  14.                         <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text="Create Attribute using LINQ-to-XML" Font-Bold="true"  
  15.                             Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" ForeColor="Maroon"></asp:Label>  
  16.                     </td>  
  17.                 </tr>  
  18.                 <tr>  
  19.                     <td>  
  20.                         <asp:Label ID="Label6" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Id" Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana"  
  21.                             Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>  
  22.                     </td>  
  23.                     <td>  
  24.                         <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox4" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>  
  25.                     </td>  
  26.                     <td>  
  27.                         <asp:Label ID="Label7" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Attribute Value" Font-Size="Large"  
  28.                             Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>  
  29.                     </td>  
  30.                     <td>  
  31.                         <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox5" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>  
  32.                     </td>  
  33.                 </tr>  
  34.                 <tr>  
  35.                     <td>  
  36.                         <asp:Label ID="Label2" runat="server" Text="Please Enter FirstName" Font-Size="Large"  
  37.                             Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>  
  38.                     </td>  
  39.                     <td>  
  40.                         <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>  
  41.                     </td>  
  42.                 </tr>  
  43.                 <tr>  
  44.                     <td>  
  45.                         <asp:Label ID="Label3" runat="server" Text="Please Enter LastName" Font-Size="Large"  
  46.                             Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>  
  47.                     </td>  
  48.                     <td>  
  49.                         <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox2" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>  
  50.                     </td>  
  51.                 </tr>  
  52.                 <tr>  
  53.                     <td>  
  54.                         <asp:Label ID="Label4" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Age" Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana"  
  55.                             Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>  
  56.                     </td>  
  57.                     <td>  
  58.                         <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox3" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>  
  59.                     </td>  
  60.                 </tr>  
  61.                 <tr>  
  62.                     <td colspan="2" align="center">  
  63.                         <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Create Data" Font-Names="Verdana" Width="213px"  
  64.                             BackColor="Orange" Font-Bold="True" OnClick="Button1_Click" />  
  65.                     </td>  
  66.                 </tr>  
  67.                 <tr>  
  68.                     <td colspan="2" align="center">  
  69.                         <asp:Label ID="Label5" runat="server" Font-Bold="true" Font-Names="Verdana"></asp:Label>  
  70.                     </td>  
  71.                 </tr>  
  72.             </table>  
  73.         </div>  
  74.     </center>  
  75.     </form>  
  76. </body>  
  77. </html> 
Step 4: The complete code of webform1.aspx.cs looks like this:
  1. using System;  
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;  
  3. using System.Linq;  
  4. using System.Web;  
  5. using System.Web.UI;  
  6. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;  
  7. using System.Xml.Linq;  
  8. namespace LINQtoXMLAddAttributeApp  
  9. {  
  10.     public partial class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page  
  11.     {  
  12.         protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  13.         {  
  14.         }  
  15.         protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  16.         {  
  17.             if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox4.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox2.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox3.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox5.Text))  
  18.             {  
  19.                 Label5.Text = "Please Enter Some Values";  
  20.                 Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;  
  21.             }  
  22.             else  
  23.             {  
  24.                 XDocument document = XDocument.Load(Server.MapPath("Employee.xml"));  
  25.                 document.Element("Employees").Add(new XElement("Employee"new XElement("Id"new XAttribute("Code", TextBox5.Text), TextBox4.Text), new XElement("FirstName", TextBox1.Text), new XElement("LastName", TextBox2.Text), new XElement("Age", TextBox3.Text)));  
  26.                 document.Save(Server.MapPath("Employee.xml"));  
  27.                 Label5.Text = "Data Created Successfully";  
  28.                 Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green; TextBox4.Text = string.Empty;  
  29.                 TextBox1.Text = string.Empty;  
  30.                 TextBox2.Text = string.Empty;  
  31.                 TextBox3.Text = string.Empty;  
  32.                 TextBox5.Text = string.Empty;  
  33.             }  
  34.         }  
  35.     }  
  36. }
Step 5: The output of the application looks like this:

create-attribute-using-linq-to-xml.jpg

Step 6: The data entering output of the application looks like this

attribute-using-linq-to-xml.jpg

Step 7: The attribute added to XML looks like this:

  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
  2. <Employees>  
  3.   <Employee>  
  4.     <Id>1</Id>  
  5.     <FirstName>Vijay</FirstName>  
  6.     <LastName>Prativadi</LastName>  
  7.     <Age>26</Age>  
  8.   </Employee>  
  9.   <Employee>  
  10.     <Id>2</Id>  
  11.     <FirstName>Sandeep</FirstName>  
  12.     <LastName>Reddy</LastName>  
  13.     <Age>28</Age>  
  14.   </Employee>  
  15.   <Employee>  
  16.     <Id Code="301">3</Id>  
  17.     <FirstName>Raj</FirstName>  
  18.     <LastName>Kumar</LastName>  
  19.     <Age>22</Age>  
  20.   </Employee>  
  21. </Employees>
I hope this article is useful for you.

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