Convert inline XML node to nested nodes in asp.net using c#

Question

I've an XML file such as below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<LayoutControl ID="rootlyt" Type="LayoutControl">
  <LayoutGroup ID="lgp8" Header="PersonalInfo" IsCollapsed="False" IsLocked="False" Orientation="Vertical" View="GroupBox" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="380" Height="295" Type="GroupItem" Properties="IsCollapsible=False,IsCollapsed=False,IsLocked=False,">
    <Element ID="layout2" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="300" Height="25" Label="Name" Background="#00FFFFFF" ContentName="txt2" Type="TextEdit" />
  </LayoutGroup>
</LayoutControl>  

For some reasons , I need to create child and nested nodes from the Element node attributes.
The output that I want is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<LayoutControl ID="rootlyt" Type="LayoutControl">
  <LayoutGroup ID="lgp8" Header="PersonalInfo" IsCollapsed="False" IsLocked="False" Orientation="Vertical" View="GroupBox" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="380" Height="295" Type="GroupItem" Properties="IsCollapsible=False,IsCollapsed=False,IsLocked=False,">
    <Element >
      <ID>layout2</ID>
      <HorizontalAlignment>Left</HorizontalAlignment>
      <VerticalAlignment>Top</VerticalAlignment>
      <Width>300</Width>
      <Height>25</Height>
      <Label>Name</Label>
      <Background>#00FFFFFF</Background>
      <ContentName>txt2</ContentName>
      <Type>TextEdit</Type>
    </Element>
  </LayoutGroup>
</LayoutControl>  

How can i do it?
Or any idea , reference ,article ...

Thanks.

Answer 1

This is one possible way; for each <Element>'s attribute add a corresponding child element, and then remove all the attributes afterwards :

var raw = @"<LayoutControl ID='rootlyt' Type='LayoutControl'>
  <LayoutGroup ID='lgp8' Header='PersonalInfo' IsCollapsed='False' IsLocked='False' Orientation='Vertical' View='GroupBox' HorizontalAlignment='Left' VerticalAlignment='Top' Width='380' Height='295' Type='GroupItem' Properties='IsCollapsible=False,IsCollapsed=False,IsLocked=False,'>
    <Element ID='layout2' HorizontalAlignment='Left' VerticalAlignment='Top' Width='300' Height='25' Label='Name' Background='#00FFFFFF' ContentName='txt2' Type='TextEdit' />
  </LayoutGroup>
</LayoutControl>";

var doc = XDocument.Parse(raw);
foreach(var element in doc.Descendants("Element"))
{
    //add a series of child elements according to existing attributes
    element.Add(
        element.Attributes()
               .Select(attribute => new XElement(attribute.Name.LocalName, attribute.Value))
    );

    //remove the attributes
    element.Attributes().Remove();
}

Console.WriteLine(doc.ToString());

dotnetfiddle demo

For more complex transformations of XML, look into XSLT.

Answer 2

Here is an XSL Style Sheet Coded for your exact file. Hopefully this is what you need.

You can use an online XSL Transfrom tool like this one or use a script.

Here is the XSL:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<LayoutControl ID="rootlyt" Type="LayoutControl">
    <LayoutGroup ID="lgp8" Header="PersonalInfo" IsCollapsed="False" IsLocked="False" Orientation="Vertical" View="GroupBox" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="380" Height="295" Type="GroupItem" Properties="IsCollapsible=False,IsCollapsed=False,IsLocked=False,">
      <xsl:for-each select="/LayoutControl/LayoutGroup/Element">
        <Element>
            <ID><xsl:value-of select="@ID"/></ID>
            <HorizontalAlignment><xsl:value-of select="@HorizontalAlignment"/></HorizontalAlignment>
            <VerticalAlignment><xsl:value-of select="@VerticalAlignment"/></VerticalAlignment>
            <Width><xsl:value-of select="@Width"/></Width>
            <Height><xsl:value-of select="@Height"/></Height>
            <Label><xsl:value-of select="@Label"/></Label>
            <Background><xsl:value-of select="@Background"/></Background>
            <ContentName><xsl:value-of select="@ContentName"/></ContentName>
            <Type><xsl:value-of select="@Type"/></Type>
        </Element>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </LayoutGroup>
</LayoutControl>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>