Insert XML Data using XPathNavigator
The XPathNavigator class provides a set of methods used to insert sibling, child, and attribute nodes in an XML document. In order to use these methods, the XPathNavigator object must be editable, that is, its CanEdit property must be true.
XPathNavigator objects that can edit an XML document are created by the CreateNavigator method of the XmlDocument class. XPathNavigator objects created by the XPathDocument class are read-only and any attempt to use the editing methods of an XPathNavigator object created by an XPathDocument object results in a NotSupportedException.
For more information about creating editable XPathNavigator objects, see Reading XML Data using XPathDocument and XmlDocument.
Inserting Nodes
The XPathNavigator class provides methods to insert sibling, child, and attribute nodes in an XML document. These methods allow you to insert nodes and attributes in different locations in relation to the current position of an XPathNavigator object and are described in the following sections.
Inserting Sibling Nodes
The XPathNavigator class provides the following methods to insert sibling nodes.
These methods insert sibling nodes before and after the node an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on.
The InsertAfter and InsertBefore methods are overloaded and accept a string, XmlReader object, or XPathNavigator object containing the sibling node to add as parameters. Both methods also return an XmlWriter object used to insert sibling nodes.
The InsertElementAfter and InsertElementBefore methods insert a single sibling node before and after the node an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on using the namespace prefix, local name, namespace URI, and value specified as parameters.
In the following example a new pages element is inserted before the price child element of the first book element in the contosoBooks.xml file.
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml")
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.InsertBefore("<pages>100</pages>")
navigator.MoveToParent()
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml)
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.InsertBefore("<pages>100</pages>");
navigator.MoveToParent();
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml);
XmlDocument^ document = gcnew XmlDocument();
document->Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator^ navigator = document->CreateNavigator();
navigator->MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->InsertBefore("<pages>100</pages>");
navigator->MoveToParent();
Console::WriteLine(navigator->OuterXml);
The example takes the contosoBooks.xml file as an input.
<bookstore xmlns="https://www.contoso.com/books">
<book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981-03-22" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
<title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
<author>
<first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
<last-name>Franklin</last-name>
</author>
<price>8.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967-11-17" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
<title>The Confidence Man</title>
<author>
<first-name>Herman</first-name>
<last-name>Melville</last-name>
</author>
<price>11.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991-02-15" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
<title>The Gorgias</title>
<author>
<name>Plato</name>
</author>
<price>9.99</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
For more information about the InsertAfter, InsertBefore, InsertElementAfter and InsertElementBefore methods, see the XPathNavigator class reference documentation.
Inserting Child Nodes
The XPathNavigator class provides the following methods to insert child nodes.
These methods append and prepend child nodes to the end of and the beginning of the list of child nodes of the node an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on.
Like the methods in the "Inserting Sibling Nodes" section, the AppendChild and PrependChild methods accept a string, XmlReader object, or XPathNavigator object containing the child node to add as parameters. Both methods also return an XmlWriter object used to insert child nodes.
Also like the methods in the "Inserting Sibling Nodes" section, the AppendChildElement and PrependChildElement methods insert a single child node to the end of and the beginning of the list of child nodes of the node an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on using the namespace prefix, local name, namespace URI, and value specified as parameters.
In the following example, a new pages child element is appended to the list of child elements of the first book element in the contosoBooks.xml file.
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml")
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.AppendChild("<pages>100</pages>")
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml)
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.AppendChild("<pages>100</pages>");
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml);
XmlDocument^ document = gcnew XmlDocument();
document->Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator^ navigator = document->CreateNavigator();
navigator->MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->AppendChild("<pages>100</pages>");
Console::WriteLine(navigator->OuterXml);
The example takes the contosoBooks.xml file as an input.
<bookstore xmlns="https://www.contoso.com/books">
<book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981-03-22" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
<title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
<author>
<first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
<last-name>Franklin</last-name>
</author>
<price>8.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967-11-17" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
<title>The Confidence Man</title>
<author>
<first-name>Herman</first-name>
<last-name>Melville</last-name>
</author>
<price>11.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991-02-15" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
<title>The Gorgias</title>
<author>
<name>Plato</name>
</author>
<price>9.99</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
For more information about the AppendChild, PrependChild, AppendChildElement and PrependChildElement methods, see the XPathNavigator class reference documentation.
Inserting Attribute Nodes
The XPathNavigator class provides the following methods to insert attribute nodes.
These methods insert attribute nodes on the element node an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on. The CreateAttribute method creates an attribute node on the element node an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on using the namespace prefix, local name, namespace URI, and value specified as parameters. The CreateAttributes method returns an XmlWriter object used to insert attribute nodes.
In the following example, new discount and currency attributes are created on the price child element of the first book element in the contosoBooks.xml file using the XmlWriter object returned from the CreateAttributes method.
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml")
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
Dim attributes As XmlWriter = navigator.CreateAttributes()
attributes.WriteAttributeString("discount", "1.00")
attributes.WriteAttributeString("currency", "USD")
attributes.Close()
navigator.MoveToParent()
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml)
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
XmlWriter attributes = navigator.CreateAttributes();
attributes.WriteAttributeString("discount", "1.00");
attributes.WriteAttributeString("currency", "USD");
attributes.Close();
navigator.MoveToParent();
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml);
XmlDocument^ document = gcnew XmlDocument();
document->Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator^ navigator = document->CreateNavigator();
navigator->MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator->MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
XmlWriter^ attributes = navigator->CreateAttributes();
attributes->WriteAttributeString("discount", "1.00");
attributes->WriteAttributeString("currency", "USD");
attributes->Close();
navigator->MoveToParent();
Console::WriteLine(navigator->OuterXml);
The example takes the contosoBooks.xml file as an input.
<bookstore xmlns="https://www.contoso.com/books">
<book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981-03-22" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
<title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
<author>
<first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
<last-name>Franklin</last-name>
</author>
<price>8.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967-11-17" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
<title>The Confidence Man</title>
<author>
<first-name>Herman</first-name>
<last-name>Melville</last-name>
</author>
<price>11.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991-02-15" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
<title>The Gorgias</title>
<author>
<name>Plato</name>
</author>
<price>9.99</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
For more information about the CreateAttribute and CreateAttributes methods, see the XPathNavigator class reference documentation.
Copying Nodes
In certain cases you may want to populate an XML document with the contents from another XML document. Both the XPathNavigator class and the XmlWriter class can copy nodes to an XmlDocument object from an existing XmlReader object or XPathNavigator object.
The AppendChild, PrependChild, InsertBefore and InsertAfter methods of the XPathNavigator class all have overloads that can accept an XPathNavigator object or an XmlReader object as a parameter.
The WriteNode method of the XmlWriter class has overloads that can accept an XmlNode, XmlReader, or XPathNavigator object.
The following example copies all the book elements from one document to another.
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
document.Load("books.xml")
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", String.Empty)
Dim newBooks As XPathDocument = New XPathDocument("newBooks.xml")
Dim newBooksNavigator As XPathNavigator = newBooks.CreateNavigator()
Dim nav As XPathNavigator
For Each nav in newBooksNavigator.SelectDescendants("book", "", false)
navigator.AppendChild(nav)
Next
document.Save("newBooks.xml");
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("books.xml");
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", String.Empty);
XPathDocument newBooks = new XPathDocument("newBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator newBooksNavigator = newBooks.CreateNavigator();
foreach (XPathNavigator nav in newBooksNavigator.SelectDescendants("book", "", false))
{
navigator.AppendChild(nav);
}
document.Save("newBooks.xml");
Inserting Values
The XPathNavigator class provides the SetValue and SetTypedValue methods to insert values for a node into an XmlDocument object.
Inserting Untyped Values
The SetValue method simply inserts the untyped string value passed as a parameter as the value of the node the XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on. The value is inserted without any type or without verifying that the new value is valid according to the type of the node if schema information is available.
In the following example, the SetValue method is used to update all price elements in the contosoBooks.xml file.
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml")
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
Dim manager As XmlNamespaceManager = New XmlNamespaceManager(navigator.NameTable)
manager.AddNamespace("bk", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
For Each nav As XPathNavigator In navigator.Select("//bk:price", manager)
If nav.Value = "11.99" Then
nav.SetValue("12.99")
End If
Next
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml)
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
XmlNamespaceManager manager = new XmlNamespaceManager(navigator.NameTable);
manager.AddNamespace("bk", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
foreach (XPathNavigator nav in navigator.Select("//bk:price", manager))
{
if (nav.Value == "11.99")
{
nav.SetValue("12.99");
}
}
Console.WriteLine(navigator.OuterXml);
XmlDocument^ document = gcnew XmlDocument();
document->Load("contosoBooks.xml");
XPathNavigator^ navigator = document->CreateNavigator();
XmlNamespaceManager^ manager = gcnew XmlNamespaceManager(navigator->NameTable);
manager->AddNamespace("bk", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
for each (XPathNavigator^ nav in navigator->Select("//bk:price", manager))
{
if(nav->Value == "11.99")
{
nav->SetValue("12.99");
}
}
Console::WriteLine(navigator->OuterXml);
The example takes the contosoBooks.xml file as an input.
<bookstore xmlns="https://www.contoso.com/books">
<book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981-03-22" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
<title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
<author>
<first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
<last-name>Franklin</last-name>
</author>
<price>8.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967-11-17" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
<title>The Confidence Man</title>
<author>
<first-name>Herman</first-name>
<last-name>Melville</last-name>
</author>
<price>11.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991-02-15" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
<title>The Gorgias</title>
<author>
<name>Plato</name>
</author>
<price>9.99</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
Inserting Typed Values
When the type of a node is a W3C XML Schema simple type, the new value inserted by the SetTypedValue method is checked against the facets of the simple type before the value is set. If the new value is not valid according to the type of the node (for example, setting a value of -1 on an element whose type is xs:positiveInteger), it results in an exception.
The following example attempts to change the value of the price element of the first book element in the contosoBooks.xml file to a DateTime value. Because the XML Schema type of the price element is defined as xs:decimal in the contosoBooks.xsd files, this results in an exception.
Dim settings As XmlReaderSettings = New XmlReaderSettings()
settings.Schemas.Add("https://www.contoso.com/books", "contosoBooks.xsd")
settings.ValidationType = ValidationType.Schema
Dim reader As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("contosoBooks.xml", settings)
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
document.Load(reader)
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books")
navigator.SetTypedValue(DateTime.Now)
XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
settings.Schemas.Add("https://www.contoso.com/books", "contosoBooks.xsd");
settings.ValidationType = ValidationType.Schema;
XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("contosoBooks.xml", settings);
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
document.Load(reader);
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
navigator.MoveToChild("bookstore", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("book", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.MoveToChild("price", "https://www.contoso.com/books");
navigator.SetTypedValue(DateTime.Now);
The example takes the contosoBooks.xml file as an input.
<bookstore xmlns="https://www.contoso.com/books">
<book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981-03-22" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
<title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
<author>
<first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
<last-name>Franklin</last-name>
</author>
<price>8.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967-11-17" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
<title>The Confidence Man</title>
<author>
<first-name>Herman</first-name>
<last-name>Melville</last-name>
</author>
<price>11.99</price>
</book>
<book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991-02-15" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
<title>The Gorgias</title>
<author>
<name>Plato</name>
</author>
<price>9.99</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
The example also takes the contosoBooks.xsd as an input.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xs:schema attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="https://www.contoso.com/books" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:element name="bookstore">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="book">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="title" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name="author">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element minOccurs="0" name="name" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element minOccurs="0" name="first-name" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element minOccurs="0" name="last-name" type="xs:string" />
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="price" type="xs:decimal" />
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name="genre" type="xs:string" use="required" />
<xs:attribute name="publicationdate" type="xs:date" use="required" />
<xs:attribute name="ISBN" type="xs:string" use="required" />
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>
The InnerXml and OuterXml Properties
The InnerXml and OuterXml properties of the XPathNavigator class change the XML markup of the nodes an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on.
The InnerXml property changes the XML markup of the child nodes an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on with the parsed contents of the given XML string. Similarly, the OuterXml property changes the XML markup of the child nodes an XPathNavigator object is currently positioned on as well as the current node itself.
In addition to the methods described in this topic, the InnerXml and OuterXml properties can be used to insert nodes and values in an XML document. For more information about using the InnerXml and OuterXml properties to insert nodes and values, see the Modify XML Data using XPathNavigator topic.
Namespace and xml:lang Conflicts
Certain conflicts related to the scope of namespace and xml:lang declarations can occur when inserting XML data using the InsertBefore, InsertAfter, AppendChild and PrependChild methods of the XPathNavigator class that take XmlReader objects as parameters.
The following are the possible namespace conflicts.
If there is a namespace in-scope within the XmlReader object's context, where the prefix to namespace URI mapping is not in the XPathNavigator object's context, a new namespace declaration is added to the newly inserted node.
If the same namespace URI is in-scope within both the XmlReader object's context and the XPathNavigator object's context, but has a different prefix mapped to it in both contexts, a new namespace declaration is added to the newly inserted node, with the prefix and namespace URI taken from the XmlReader object.
If the same namespace prefix is in-scope within both the XmlReader object's context and the XPathNavigator object's context, but has a different namespace URI mapped to it in both contexts, a new namespace declaration is added to the newly inserted node which re-declares that prefix with the namespace URI taken from XmlReader object.
If the prefix as well as the namespace URI in both the XmlReader object's context and the XPathNavigator object's context is the same, no new namespace declaration is added to the newly inserted node.
Note
The description above also applies to namespace declarations with the empty string as a prefix (for example, the default namespace declaration).
The following are the possible xml:lang conflicts.
If there is an xml:lang attribute in-scope within the XmlReader object's context but not in the XPathNavigator object's context, an xml:lang attribute whose value is taken from the XmlReader object is added to the newly inserted node.
If there is an xml:lang attribute in-scope within both the XmlReader object's context and the XPathNavigator object's context, but each has a different value, an xml:lang attribute whose value is taken from the XmlReader object is added to the newly inserted node.
If there is an xml:lang attribute in-scope within both the XmlReader object's context and the XPathNavigator object's context, but each with the same value, no new xml:lang attribute is added on the newly inserted node.
If there is an xml:lang attribute in-scope within the XPathNavigator object's context, but none existing in the XmlReader object's context, no xml:lang attribute is added to the newly inserted node.
Inserting Nodes with XmlWriter
The methods used to insert sibling, child and attribute nodes described in the "Inserting Nodes and Values" section are overloaded. The InsertAfter, InsertBefore, AppendChild, PrependChild and CreateAttributes methods of the XPathNavigator class return an XmlWriter object used to insert nodes.
Unsupported XmlWriter Methods
Not all of the methods used for writing information to an XML document using the XmlWriter class are supported by the XPathNavigator class due to difference between the XPath data model and the Document Object Model (DOM).
The following table describes the XmlWriter class methods not supported by the XPathNavigator class.
Method |
Description |
|---|---|
Throws a NotSupportedException exception. |
|
Ignored at the root level and throws a NotSupportedException exception if called at any other level in the XML document. |
|
Treated as a call to the WriteString method for the equivalent character or characters. |
|
Treated as a call to the WriteString method for the equivalent character or characters. |
|
Treated as a call to the WriteString method for the equivalent character or characters. |
For more information about the XmlWriter class, see the XmlWriter class reference documentation.
Multiple XmlWriter Objects
It is possible to have multiple XPathNavigator objects pointing to different parts of an XML document with one or more open XmlWriter objects. Multiple XmlWriter objects are allowed and supported in single-threaded scenarios.
The following are important notes to consider when using multiple XmlWriter objects.
XML fragments written by XmlWriter objects are added to the XML document when the Close method of each XmlWriter object is called. Until that point, the XmlWriter object is writing a disconnected fragment. If an operation is performed on the XML document, any fragments being written by an XmlWriter object, before the Close has been called, are not affected.
If there is an open XmlWriter object on a particular XML subtree and that subtree is deleted, the XmlWriter object may still add to the sub-tree. The subtree simply becomes a deleted fragment.
If multiple XmlWriter objects are opened at the same point in the XML document, they are added to the XML document in the order in which the XmlWriter objects are closed, not in the order in which they were opened.
The following example creates an XmlDocument object, creates an XPathNavigator object, and then uses the XmlWriter object returned by the PrependChild method to create the structure of the first book in the books.xml file. The example then saves it as the book.xml file.
Dim document As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
Dim navigator As XPathNavigator = document.CreateNavigator()
Using writer As XmlWriter = navigator.PrependChild()
writer.WriteStartElement("bookstore")
writer.WriteStartElement("book")
writer.WriteAttributeString("genre", "autobiography")
writer.WriteAttributeString("publicationdate", "1981-03-22")
writer.WriteAttributeString("ISBN", "1-861003-11-0")
writer.WriteElementString("title", "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin")
writer.WriteStartElement("author")
writer.WriteElementString("first-name", "Benjamin")
writer.WriteElementString("last-name", "Franklin")
writer.WriteElementString("price", "8.99")
writer.WriteEndElement()
writer.WriteEndElement()
writer.WriteEndElement()
End Using
document.Save("book.xml")
XmlDocument document = new XmlDocument();
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
using (XmlWriter writer = navigator.PrependChild())
{
writer.WriteStartElement("bookstore");
writer.WriteStartElement("book");
writer.WriteAttributeString("genre", "autobiography");
writer.WriteAttributeString("publicationdate", "1981-03-22");
writer.WriteAttributeString("ISBN", "1-861003-11-0");
writer.WriteElementString("title", "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin");
writer.WriteStartElement("author");
writer.WriteElementString("first-name", "Benjamin");
writer.WriteElementString("last-name", "Franklin");
writer.WriteElementString("price", "8.99");
writer.WriteEndElement();
writer.WriteEndElement();
writer.WriteEndElement();
}
document.Save("book.xml");
Saving an XML Document
Saving changes made to an XmlDocument object as the result of the methods described in this topic is performed using the methods of the XmlDocument class. For more information about saving changes made to an XmlDocument object, see Saving and Writing a Document.
See Also
Concepts
Process XML Data Using the XPath Data Model
Modify XML Data using XPathNavigator
Remove XML Data using XPathNavigator