If you’re looking to easily parse some XML w/ .net and finding the normal XObject (Linq) isn’t cutting it, using HtmlAgilityPack could be your answer.

Below I’ll layout the simple steps for parsing a XML file w/ HtmlAgilityPack. The XML file I’m using to test is the WordPress export XML format. It uses lots of XML features so seemed like a good test. Let’s start. I’m using Visual Studio and in my example I’m assuming you have a project already open (I’m using a simple Console app).

1. Install HtmlAgilityPack. In the “Package Manager Console” in Visual Studio, run this to install the newest HtmlAgilityPack release.

    Install-Package HtmlAgilityPack

   If it went well, you’ll see “Successfully added ‘HtmlAgilityPack x.x.x‘ to [your project]”

2. Now in your code, add

   using HtmlAgilityPack;

   to the top of your code document.

3. In a method (I’m in Main), add the below to create a new doc and load your XML file.

    HHtmlDocument someDoc = new HtmlDocument();
    someDoc.Load(@"C:\path\yourfile.xml");

4. Below is some code that loops through the nodes and pulls some content.

   foreach (HtmlNode nodeRss in someDoc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("rss"))
               {
                   //get attribute of a node:
                   Console.WriteLine(nodeRss.Attributes["version"].Value);
   
                   //get more nodes:
                   foreach (HtmlNode aNode2 in nodeRss.SelectNodes("channel"))
                   {
                       //get count of child nodes
                       Console.WriteLine(aNode2.ChildNodes.Count());
   
                       //get deeper nodes
                       foreach (HtmlNode aNode3 in aNode2.SelectNodes("item"))
                       {
                           //get the content of a node:
                           Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode("title").InnerText);
   
                           //get the content of a node w/ a URL:
                           Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode("link").NextSibling.InnerText);
   
                           //get content of a node w/ ":"
                           Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode(".//*[name()='wp:status']").InnerText);
   
                           //some html content:
                           Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode(".//*[name()='content:encoded']").InnerHtml.Replace("![CDATA[", "").Replace("]]", ""));
                       }
                   }
               }
   

Below is the entire sample:

using HtmlAgilityPack;
using System;
using System.Linq;

namespace htmlAgilityPack_XML_Parsing
{
    internal class Program
    {
        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            HtmlDocument someDoc = new HtmlDocument();
            someDoc.Load(@"C:\path\yourfile.xml");

            foreach (HtmlNode nodeRss in someDoc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("rss"))
            {
                //get attribute of a node:
                Console.WriteLine(nodeRss.Attributes["version"].Value);

                //get more nodes:
                foreach (HtmlNode aNode2 in nodeRss.SelectNodes("channel"))
                {
                    //get count of child nodes
                    Console.WriteLine(aNode2.ChildNodes.Count());

                    //get deeper nodes
                    foreach (HtmlNode aNode3 in aNode2.SelectNodes("item"))
                    {
                        //get the content of a node:
                        Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode("title").InnerText);

                        //get the content of a node w/ a URL:
                        Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode("link").NextSibling.InnerText);

                        //get content of a node w/ ":"
                        Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode(".//*[name()='wp:status']").InnerText);

                        //some html content:
                        Console.WriteLine(aNode3.SelectSingleNode(".//*[name()='content:encoded']").InnerHtml.Replace("![CDATA[", "").Replace("]]", ""));
                    }
                }
            }

            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}