Create XML Nodes based on XPath?

Question

Does anyone know of an existing means of creating an XML hierarchy programatically from an XPath expression?

For example if I have an XML fragment such as:

Answer 1

The C# version of Mark Miller's Java solution

    /// 

    /// Makes the X path. Use a format like //configuration/appSettings/add[@key='name']/@value
    /// 
    /// The doc.
    /// The xpath.
    /// 
    public static XmlNode createNodeFromXPath(XmlDocument doc, string xpath)
    {
        // Create a new Regex object
        Regex r = new Regex(@"/+([\w]+)(\[@([\w]+)='([^']*)'\])?|/@([\w]+)");

        // Find matches
        Match m = r.Match(xpath);

        XmlNode currentNode = doc.FirstChild;
        StringBuilder currentPath = new StringBuilder();

        while (m.Success)
        {
            String currentXPath = m.Groups[0].Value;    // "/configuration" or "/appSettings" or "/add"
            String elementName = m.Groups[1].Value;     // "configuration" or "appSettings" or "add"
            String filterName = m.Groups[3].Value;      // "" or "key"
            String filterValue = m.Groups[4].Value;     // "" or "name"
            String attributeName = m.Groups[5].Value;   // "" or "value"

            StringBuilder builder = currentPath.Append(currentXPath);
            String relativePath = builder.ToString();
            XmlNode newNode = doc.SelectSingleNode(relativePath);

            if (newNode == null)
            {
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(attributeName))
                {
                    ((XmlElement)currentNode).SetAttribute(attributeName, "");
                    newNode = doc.SelectSingleNode(relativePath);
                }
                else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(elementName))
                {
                    XmlElement element = doc.CreateElement(elementName);
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(filterName))
                    {
                        element.SetAttribute(filterName, filterValue);
                    }

                    currentNode.AppendChild(element);
                    newNode = element;
                }
                else
                {
                    throw new FormatException("The given xPath is not supported " + relativePath);
                }
            }

            currentNode = newNode;

            m = m.NextMatch();
        }

        // Assure that the node is found or created
        if (doc.SelectSingleNode(xpath) == null)
        {
            throw new FormatException("The given xPath cannot be created " + xpath);
        }

        return currentNode;
    }