XmlTextReader.IsEmptyElement Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml

Assembly:

System.Xml.ReaderWriter.dll

Source:

XmlTextReader.cs

Gets a value indicating whether the current node is an empty element (for example, <MyElement/>).

public:
 virtual property bool IsEmptyElement { bool get(); };

public override bool IsEmptyElement { get; }

member this.IsEmptyElement : bool

Public Overrides ReadOnly Property IsEmptyElement As Boolean

Property Value

Boolean

true if the current node is an element (NodeType equals XmlNodeType.Element) that ends with />; otherwise, false.

Examples

The following example displays the text content of each element.

#using <System.Xml.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Xml;
int main()
{
   XmlTextReader^ reader = nullptr;
   try
   {
      
      //Load the reader with the XML file.
      reader = gcnew XmlTextReader( "elems.xml" );
      
      //Parse the XML and display the text content of each of the elements.
      while ( reader->Read() )
      {
         if ( reader->IsStartElement() )
         {
            if ( reader->IsEmptyElement )
                        Console::WriteLine( "<{0}/>", reader->Name );
            else
            {
               Console::Write( "<{0}> ", reader->Name );
               reader->Read(); //Read the start tag.
               if ( reader->IsStartElement() )
                              
               //Handle nested elements.
               Console::Write( "\r\n<{0}>", reader->Name );
               Console::WriteLine( reader->ReadString() ); //Read the text content of the element.
            }
         }
      }
   }
   finally
   {
      if ( reader != nullptr )
            reader->Close();
   }

}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

public class Sample
{
  public static void Main()
  {
    XmlTextReader reader = null;

    try
    {
       //Load the reader with the XML file.
       reader = new XmlTextReader("elems.xml");

       //Parse the XML and display the text content of each of the elements.
       while (reader.Read()){
         if (reader.IsStartElement()){
           if (reader.IsEmptyElement)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("<{0}/>", reader.Name);
                    }
                    else
                    {
               Console.Write("<{0}> ", reader.Name);
               reader.Read(); //Read the start tag.
               if (reader.IsStartElement())  //Handle nested elements.
                 Console.Write("\r\n<{0}>", reader.Name);
               Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadString());  //Read the text content of the element.
           }
         }
       }
     }

     finally
     {
        if (reader != null)
          reader.Close();
      }
  }
} // End class

Option Strict
Option Explicit

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml

Public Class Sample
    
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Dim reader As XmlTextReader = Nothing
        
        Try
            'Load the reader with the XML file.
            reader = New XmlTextReader("elems.xml")
            
            'Parse the XML and display the text content of each of the elements.
            While reader.Read()
                If reader.IsStartElement() Then
                    If reader.IsEmptyElement Then
                        Console.WriteLine("<{0}/>", reader.Name)
                    Else
                        Console.Write("<{0}>" + " ", reader.Name)
                        reader.Read() 'Read the start tag.
                        If (reader.IsStartElement())  'Handle nested elements.
                          Console.WriteLine()
                          Console.Write("<{0}>", reader.Name)
                        End If
                        Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadString()) 'Read the text content of the element.
                    End If
                End If
            End While
        
        
        Finally
            If Not (reader Is Nothing) Then
                reader.Close()
            End If
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

The example uses the file, elems.xml, as input.

<book>
  <title>Pride And Prejudice</title>
  <price>19.95</price>
  <misc/>
</book>

Remarks

Note

Starting with the .NET Framework 2.0, we recommend that you create XmlReader instances by using the XmlReader.Create method to take advantage of new functionality.

This property enables you to determine the difference between the following:

<item num="123"/> (IsEmptyElement is true).

<item num="123"> (IsEmptyElement is false, although element content is empty).

A corresponding EndElement node is not generated for empty elements.

IsEmptyElement simply reports whether or not the element in the source document had an end element tag.

See also

• XmlReader