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How do I read an XML comment using C# 3.5

I need to read the 1st comment in an xml file with the following format:

<root>

<child1>blah</child2>
...
</root>

My XML is contained in an XDocument object in a C# 3.5 application.

I just need to do something like;

//does not work
string s = xDoc.xpathSelectElement("\root\following::comment()[0]");

Thanks

<root>
     <!--My comment-->
     <child1>blah</child2>
     ...
</root>
 
//does not work
string s = xDoc.xpathSelectElement("\root\following::comment()[0]");

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abel

itneresting. But it cannot compile either. Is that really your source code? Just asking, because I would try to prevent hunting down a bug that a compiler could catch...

abel

ah, it can compile. You are just unlucky with the words! \r is carriage return, \f is formfeed. Try this:

string s = xDoc.xpathSelectElement(@"\root\following::comment()[0]");

the @-prefix will make it unnecessary for you to have to escape the backslashes. Or you need to do this, instead:

string s = xDoc.xpathSelectElement("\\root\\following::comment()[0]");

but the,.... it is still not an XPath, so you won't get much. An XPath uses forward slashes. So, in the end, it becomes this:

string s = xDoc.xpathSelectElement("/root/following::comment()[0]");

trey_carroll

ASKER

The code was provided only as a guide. The syntax is from an MSXML 2.0 example that I found on the web - provides as a "works sort of like this" guide. I am looking for a new way since the way that I am trying does not work.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

abel

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abel

> The code was provided only as a guide.
ah, ok, thanks for telling ;-)

see above for a working example.

trey_carroll

ASKER

Thank you so much for such an excellent solution. You might post a followup pointing out that line4 will cause a NullPointer Exception when the comment is found. I'm not sure if I can do this - this is my 1st week using the service. Thanks again - this information is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to locate on the net due to the facts that every tech site includes a section about comments, there are so many articles on VS's new XML Comments in code - it makes it impossible to filter out the vast number of false positives. You have made my day!