Parse single XML statement in string

Question

I ahve experience serializing/deserializing XML files but I have never had to parse just a single statement, so I'm not sure how to go about this.

I have a string that holds this:

<Vol Model_Type="Flat">102.14</Vol>

And, I want to extract just the 102.14.

Should I use XPath, or is there a simpler option?

Answer 1

If you're using .NET 3.5 or above, use LINQ to XML. For example:

string x = "<Vol Model_Type=\"Flat\">102.14</Vol>";
XElement element = XElement.Parse(x);
decimal value = (decimal) element;

XML handling doesn't get much simpler than that :)

Of course, that's assuming you don't care about the element name or the attribute. If you do, LINQ to XML will still make it easy for you.