How to: Use Annotations to Transform LINQ to XML Trees in an XSLT Style

Article
02/23/2011

Annotations can be used to facilitate transforms of an XML tree.

Some XML documents are "document centric with mixed content." With such documents, you don't necessarily know the shape of child nodes of an element. For instance, a node that contains text may look like this:

<text>A phrase with <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> text.</text>

For any given text node, there may be any number of child <b> and <i> elements. This approach extends to a number of other situations: i.e. pages that can contain a variety of child elements, such as regular paragraphs, bulleted paragraphs, and bitmaps. Cells in a table may contain text, drop down lists, or bitmaps. One of the primary characteristics of document centric XML is that you do not know which child element any particular element will have.

If you want to transform elements in a tree where you don't necessarily know much about the children of the elements that you want to transform, then this approach that uses annotations is an effective approach.

The summary of the approach is:

First, annotate elements in the tree with a replacement element.
Second, iterate through the entire tree, creating a new tree where you replace each element with its annotation. This example implements the iteration and creation of the new tree in a function named XForm.

In detail, the approach consists of:

Execute one or more LINQ to XML queries that return the set of elements that you want to transform from one shape to another. For each element in the query, add a new XElement object as an annotation to the element. This new element will replace the annotated element in the new, transformed tree. This is simple code to write, as demonstrated by the example.
The new element that is added as an annotation can contain new child nodes; it can form a sub-tree with any desired shape.
There is a special rule: If a child node of the new element is in a different namespace, a namespace that is made up for this purpose (in this example, the namespace is https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007), then that child element is not copied to the new tree. Instead, if the namespace is the above mentioned special namespace, and the local name of the element is ApplyTransforms, then the child nodes of the element in the source tree are iterated, and copied to the new tree (with the exception that annotated child elements are themselves transformed according to these rules).
This is somewhat analogous to the specification of transforms in XSL. The query that selects a set of nodes is analogous to the XPath expression for a template. The code to create the new XElement that is saved as an annotation is analogous to the sequence constructor in XSL, and the ApplyTransforms element is analogous in function to the xsl:apply-templates element in XSL.
One advantage to taking this approach - as you formulate queries, you are always writing queries on the unmodified source tree. You need not worry about how modifications to the tree affect the queries that you are writing.

Transforming a Tree

This first example renames all Paragraph nodes to para.

XNamespace xf = "https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007";
XName at = xf + "ApplyTransforms";

XElement root = XElement.Parse(@"
<Root>
    <Paragraph>This is a sentence with <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> text.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph>More text.</Paragraph>
</Root>");

// replace Paragraph with para
foreach (var el in root.Descendants("Paragraph"))
    el.AddAnnotation(
        new XElement("para",
            // same idea as xsl:apply-templates
            new XElement(xf + "ApplyTransforms")
        )
    );

// The XForm method, shown later in this topic, accomplishes the transform
XElement newRoot = XForm(root);

Console.WriteLine(newRoot);

Imports <xmlns:xf="https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007">

Module Module1
    Dim at As XName = GetXmlNamespace(xf) + "ApplyTransforms"

    Sub Main()
        Dim root As XElement = _
            <Root>
                <Paragraph>This is a sentence with <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> text.</Paragraph>
                <Paragraph>More text.</Paragraph>
            </Root>

        ' Replace Paragraph with p.
        For Each el In root...<Paragraph>
            ' same idea as xsl:apply-templates
            el.AddAnnotation( _
                <para>
                    <<%= at %>></>
                </para>)
        Next

        ' The XForm function, shown later in this topic, accomplishes the transform
        Dim newRoot As XElement = XForm(root)
        Console.WriteLine(newRoot)
    End Sub
End Module

This example produces the following output:

<Root>
  <para>This is a sentence with <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> text.</para>
  <para>More text.</para>
</Root>

A More Complicated Transform

The following example queries the tree and calculates the average and sum of the Data elements, and adds them as new elements to the tree.

XNamespace xf = "https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007";
XName at = xf + "ApplyTransforms";

XElement data = new XElement("Root",
    new XElement("Data", 20),
    new XElement("Data", 10),
    new XElement("Data", 3)
);

// while adding annotations, you can query the source tree all you want,
// as the tree is not mutated while annotating.
data.AddAnnotation(
    new XElement("Root",
        new XElement(xf + "ApplyTransforms"),
        new XElement("Average",
            String.Format("{0:F4}",
                data
                .Elements("Data")
                .Select(z => (Decimal)z)
                .Average()
            )
        ),
        new XElement("Sum",
            data
            .Elements("Data")
            .Select(z => (int)z)
            .Sum()
        )
    )
);

Console.WriteLine("Before Transform");
Console.WriteLine("----------------");
Console.WriteLine(data);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine();

// The XForm method, shown later in this topic, accomplishes the transform
XElement newData = XForm(data);

Console.WriteLine("After Transform");
Console.WriteLine("----------------");
Console.WriteLine(newData);

Imports <xmlns:xf="https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007">

Module Module1
    Dim at As XName = GetXmlNamespace(xf) + "ApplyTransforms"

    Sub Main()
        Dim data As XElement = _
            <Root>
                <Data>20</Data>
                <Data>10</Data>
                <Data>3</Data>
            </Root>

        ' While adding annotations, you can query the source tree all you want,
        ' as the tree is not mutated while annotating.
        data.AddAnnotation( _
            <Root>
                <<%= at %>/>
                <Average>
                    <%= _
                        String.Format("{0:F4}", _
                        data.Elements("Data") _
                        .Select(Function(z) CDec(z)).Average()) _
                    %>
                </Average>
                <Sum>
                    <%= _
                        data.Elements("Data").Select(Function(z) CInt(z)).Sum() _
                    %>
                </Sum>
            </Root> _
        )

        Console.WriteLine("Before Transform")
        Console.WriteLine("----------------")
        Console.WriteLine(data)
        Console.WriteLine(vbNewLine)

        ' The XForm function, shown later in this topic, accomplishes the transform
        Dim newData As XElement = XForm(data)

        Console.WriteLine("After Transform")
        Console.WriteLine("----------------")
        Console.WriteLine(newData)
    End Sub
End Module

This example produces the following output:

Before Transform
----------------
<Root>
  <Data>20</Data>
  <Data>10</Data>
  <Data>3</Data>
</Root>


After Transform
----------------
<Root>
  <Data>20</Data>
  <Data>10</Data>
  <Data>3</Data>
  <Average>11.0000</Average>
  <Sum>33</Sum>
</Root>

Effecting the Transform

A small function, XForm, creates a new transformed tree from the original, annotated tree.

The pseudo code for the function is quite simple:

The function takes an XElement as an argument and returns an XElement. 
If an element has an XElement annotation, then
    Return a new XElement
        The name of the new XElement is the annotation element's name.
        All attributes are copied from the annotation to the new node.
        All child nodes are copied from the annotation, with the
            exception that the special node xf:ApplyTransforms is
            recognized, and the source element's child nodes are
            iterated. If the source child node is not an XElement, it
            is copied to the new tree. If the source child is an
            XElement, then it is transformed by calling this function
            recursively.
If an element is not annotated
    Return a new XElement
        The name of the new XElement is the source element's name
        All attributes are copied from the source element to the
            destination's element.
        All child nodes are copied from the source element.
        If the source child node is not an XElement, it is copied to
            the new tree. If the source child is an XElement, then it
            is transformed by calling this function recursively.

Following is the implementation of this function:

// Build a transformed XML tree per the annotations
static XElement XForm(XElement source)
{
    XNamespace xf = "https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007";
    XName at = xf + "ApplyTransforms";

    if (source.Annotation<XElement>() != null)
    {
        XElement anno = source.Annotation<XElement>();
        return new XElement(anno.Name,
            anno.Attributes(),
            anno
            .Nodes()
            .Select(
                (XNode n) =>
                {
                    XElement annoEl = n as XElement;
                    if (annoEl != null)
                    {
                        if (annoEl.Name == at)
                            return (object)(
                                source.Nodes()
                                .Select(
                                    (XNode n2) =>
                                    {
                                        XElement e2 = n2 as XElement;
                                        if (e2 == null)
                                            return n2;
                                        else
                                            return XForm(e2);
                                    }
                                )
                            );
                        else
                            return n;
                    }
                    else
                        return n;
                }
            )
        );
    }
    else
    {
        return new XElement(source.Name,
            source.Attributes(),
            source
                .Nodes()
                .Select(n =>
                {
                    XElement el = n as XElement;
                    if (el == null)
                        return n;
                    else
                        return XForm(el);
                }
                )
        );
    }
}

' Build a transformed XML tree per the annotations.
Function XForm(ByVal source As XElement) As XElement
    If source.Annotation(Of XElement)() IsNot Nothing Then
        Dim anno As XElement = source.Annotation(Of XElement)()
        Return _
            <<%= anno.Name.ToString() %>>
                <%= anno.Attributes() %>
                <%= anno.Nodes().Select(Function(n As XNode) _
                    GetSubNodes(n, source)) %>
            </>
    Else
        Return _
            <<%= source.Name %>>
                <%= source.Attributes() %>
                <%= source.Nodes().Select(Function(n) GetExpandedNodes(n)) %>
            </>
    End If
End Function

Private Function GetSubNodes(ByVal n As XNode, ByVal s As XElement) As Object
    Dim annoEl As XElement = TryCast(n, XElement)
    If annoEl IsNot Nothing Then
        If annoEl.Name = at Then
            Return s.Nodes().Select(Function(n2 As XNode) GetExpandedNodes(n2))
        End If
    End If
    Return n
End Function

Private Function GetExpandedNodes(ByVal n2 As XNode) As XNode
    Dim e2 As XElement = TryCast(n2, XElement)
    If e2 Is Nothing Then
        Return n2
    Else
        Return XForm(e2)
    End If
End Function

Complete Example

The following code is a complete example that includes the XForm function. It includes a few of the typical uses of this type of transform:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;

class Program
{
    static XNamespace xf = "https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007";
    static XName at = xf + "ApplyTransforms";

    // Build a transformed XML tree per the annotations
    static XElement XForm(XElement source)
    {
        if (source.Annotation<XElement>() != null)
        {
            XElement anno = source.Annotation<XElement>();
            return new XElement(anno.Name,
                anno.Attributes(),
                anno
                .Nodes()
                .Select(
                    (XNode n) =>
                    {
                        XElement annoEl = n as XElement;
                        if (annoEl != null)
                        {
                            if (annoEl.Name == at)
                                return (object)(
                                    source.Nodes()
                                    .Select(
                                        (XNode n2) =>
                                        {
                                            XElement e2 = n2 as XElement;
                                            if (e2 == null)
                                                return n2;
                                            else
                                                return XForm(e2);
                                        }
                                    )
                                );
                            else
                                return n;
                        }
                        else
                            return n;
                    }
                )
            );
        }
        else
        {
            return new XElement(source.Name,
                source.Attributes(),
                source
                    .Nodes()
                    .Select(n =>
                    {
                        XElement el = n as XElement;
                        if (el == null)
                            return n;
                        else
                            return XForm(el);
                    }
                    )
            );
        }
    }

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        XElement root = new XElement("Root",
            new XComment("A comment"),
            new XAttribute("Att1", 123),
            new XElement("Child", 1),
            new XElement("Child", 2),
            new XElement("Other",
                new XElement("GC", 3),
                new XElement("GC", 4)
            ),
            XElement.Parse(
              "<SomeMixedContent>This is <i>an</i> element that " +
              "<b>has</b> some mixed content</SomeMixedContent>"),
            new XElement("AnUnchangedElement", 42)
        );

        // each of the following serves the same semantic purpose as
        // XSLT templates and sequence constructors

        // replace Child with NewChild
        foreach (var el in root.Elements("Child"))
            el.AddAnnotation(new XElement("NewChild", (string)el));

        // replace first GC with GrandChild, add an attribute
        foreach (var el in root.Descendants("GC").Take(1))
            el.AddAnnotation(
                new XElement("GrandChild",
                    new XAttribute("ANewAttribute", 999),
                    (string)el
                )
            );

        // replace Other with NewOther, add new child elements around original content
        foreach (var el in root.Elements("Other"))
            el.AddAnnotation(
                new XElement("NewOther",
                    new XElement("MyNewChild", 1),
                    // same idea as xsl:apply-templates
                    new XElement(xf + "ApplyTransforms"),
                    new XElement("ChildThatComesAfter")
                )
            );

        // change name of element that has mixed content
        root.Descendants("SomeMixedContent").First().AddAnnotation(
            new XElement("MixedContent",
                new XElement(xf + "ApplyTransforms")
            )
        );

        // replace <b> with <Bold>
        foreach (var el in root.Descendants("b"))
            el.AddAnnotation(
                new XElement("Bold",
                    new XElement(xf + "ApplyTransforms")
                )
            );

        // replace <i> with <Italic>
        foreach (var el in root.Descendants("i"))
            el.AddAnnotation(
                new XElement("Italic",
                    new XElement(xf + "ApplyTransforms")
                )
            );

        Console.WriteLine("Before Transform");
        Console.WriteLine("----------------");
        Console.WriteLine(root);
        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.WriteLine();
        XElement newRoot = XForm(root);

        Console.WriteLine("After Transform");
        Console.WriteLine("----------------");
        Console.WriteLine(newRoot);
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Xml.Linq

Imports <xmlns:xf="https://www.microsoft.com/LinqToXmlTransform/2007">

Module Module1
    Dim at As XName = GetXmlNamespace(xf) + "ApplyTransforms"

    ' Build a transformed XML tree per the annotations.
    Function XForm(ByVal source As XElement) As XElement
        If source.Annotation(Of XElement)() IsNot Nothing Then
            Dim anno As XElement = source.Annotation(Of XElement)()
            Return _
                <<%= anno.Name.ToString() %>>
                    <%= anno.Attributes() %>
                    <%= anno.Nodes().Select(Function(n As XNode) _
                        GetSubNodes(n, source)) %>
                </>
        Else
            Return _
                <<%= source.Name %>>
                    <%= source.Attributes() %>
                    <%= source.Nodes().Select(Function(n) GetExpandedNodes(n)) %>
                </>
        End If
    End Function

    Private Function GetSubNodes(ByVal n As XNode, ByVal s As XElement) As Object
        Dim annoEl As XElement = TryCast(n, XElement)
        If annoEl IsNot Nothing Then
            If annoEl.Name = at Then
                Return s.Nodes().Select(Function(n2 As XNode) GetExpandedNodes(n2))
            End If
        End If
        Return n
    End Function

    Private Function GetExpandedNodes(ByVal n2 As XNode) As XNode
        Dim e2 As XElement = TryCast(n2, XElement)
        If e2 Is Nothing Then
            Return n2
        Else
            Return XForm(e2)
        End If
    End Function


    Sub Main()
        Dim root As XElement = _
<Root Att1='123'>
    <!--A comment-->
    <Child>1</Child>
    <Child>2</Child>
    <Other>
        <GC>3</GC>
        <GC>4</GC>
    </Other>
    <SomeMixedContent>This is <i>an</i> element that <b>has</b> some mixed content</SomeMixedContent>
    <AnUnchangedElement>42</AnUnchangedElement>
</Root>

        ' Each of the following serves the same semantic purpose as
        ' XSLT templates and sequence constructors.

        ' Replace Child with NewChild.
        For Each el In root.<Child>
            el.AddAnnotation(<NewChild><%= CStr(el) %></NewChild>)
        Next

        ' Replace first GC with GrandChild, add an attribute.
        For Each el In root...<GC>.Take(1)
            el.AddAnnotation(<GrandChild ANewAttribute='999'><%= CStr(el) %></GrandChild>)
        Next

        ' Replace Other with NewOther, add new child elements around original content.
        For Each el In root.<Other>
            el.AddAnnotation( _
                <NewOther>
                    <MyNewChild>1</MyNewChild>
                    <<%= at %>></>
                    <ChildThatComesAfter/>
                </NewOther>)
        Next

        ' Change name of element that has mixed content.
        root...<SomeMixedContent>(0).AddAnnotation( _
                <MixedContent><<%= at %>></></MixedContent>)

        ' Replace <b> with <Bold>.
        For Each el In root...<b>
            el.AddAnnotation(<Bold><<%= at %>></></Bold>)
        Next

        ' Replace <i> with <Italic>.
        For Each el In root...<i>
            el.AddAnnotation(<Italic><<%= at %>></></Italic>)
        Next

        Console.WriteLine("Before Transform")
        Console.WriteLine("----------------")
        Console.WriteLine(root)
        Console.WriteLine(vbNewLine)
        Dim newRoot As XElement = XForm(root)

        Console.WriteLine("After Transform")
        Console.WriteLine("----------------")
        Console.WriteLine(newRoot)
    End Sub
End Module

This example produces the following output:

Before Transform
----------------
<Root Att1="123">
  <!--A comment-->
  <Child>1</Child>
  <Child>2</Child>
  <Other>
    <GC>3</GC>
    <GC>4</GC>
  </Other>
  <SomeMixedContent>This is <i>an</i> element that <b>has</b> some mixed content</SomeMixedContent>
  <AnUnchangedElement>42</AnUnchangedElement>
</Root>


After Transform
----------------
<Root Att1="123">
  <!--A comment-->
  <NewChild>1</NewChild>
  <NewChild>2</NewChild>
  <NewOther>
    <MyNewChild>1</MyNewChild>
    <GrandChild ANewAttribute="999">3</GrandChild>
    <GC>4</GC>
    <ChildThatComesAfter />
  </NewOther>
  <MixedContent>This is <Italic>an</Italic> element that <Bold>has</Bold> some mixed content</MixedContent>
  <AnUnchangedElement>42</AnUnchangedElement>
</Root>

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How to: Use Annotations to Transform LINQ to XML Trees in an XSLT Style

Transforming a Tree

A More Complicated Transform

Effecting the Transform

Complete Example

See Also

Concepts

Additional resources