if exists XML Element

Question

from the below code
How do i find, if there EXISTS an xmlElemenent MiddleName(i am not asking for value) before i evaluate it
something like if exists(MiddleName) then.....
Sometimes in my xml the attribute(not the value) might not exists

public static string ProcessXMLdata(XElement xml)
{
try {

string processResult;
XNamespace ns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/BondData.Shared.DataModels.Peoplehouse";

if (xml.Element(ns + "FirstName").Value == null ||
xml.Element(ns + "LastName").Value == null ||
xml.Element(ns + "MiddleName").Value == null ||
xml.Element(ns + "ApplicantAddress").Value == null ||

Answer 1

According to documentation, if element does not exists, then xml.Element(ns + "MiddleName") will be null. Therefore, you can use a condition like ‘xml.Element(ns + "MiddleName") == null’.

If you want to check if the element does not exists or the value is null or empty, try

xml.Element(ns + "MiddleName")?.Value == null

or

string.IsNullOrWhitespace(xml.Element(ns + "MiddleName")?.Value)