Read xml file/string in a generic way without knowing the structure

Question

I want to read a XML hierarchy into a tree of in-memory objects. The XML tree could have n-levels of children. I do not know the exact number. My in-memory objects have a ch

Answer 1

I believe it is possible to achieve what you want to achieve. I'd do it something like this:

class GenericNode
{
  private List _Nodes = new List();
  private List _Attributes = new List();
  public GenericNode(XElement Element)
  {
     this.Name = Element.Name;
     this._Nodes.AddRange(Element.Elements()
                                 .Select(e => New GenericNode(e));
     this._Attributes.AddRange(
                Element.Attributes()
                       .Select(a => New GenericKeyValue(a.Key, a.Value))
  }

  public string Name { get; private set; }
  public IEnumerable Nodes
  {
    get
    {
       return this._Nodes;
    }       
  }
  public IEnumerable Attributes
  {
    get
    {
       return this._Attributes;
    }
  }
}

class GenericKeyValue
{
  public GenericKeyValue(string Key, string Value)
  {
     this.Key = Key;
     this.Value = Value;
  }
  public string Key { get; set; }
  public string Value { get; set; }
}

Then you simply:

XElement rootElement = XElement.Parse(StringOfXml); // or
XElement rootElement = XElement.Load(FileOfXml);

GenericNode rootNode = new GenericRode(rootElement);