Unable to remove empty xmlns attribute from XElement using c#

Question

Before posting this question I have tried all other solution on stack, but with no success.

I am unable to remove empty xmlns attribute from XElement using C#, I have tried the following Codes.

XElement.Attributes().Where(a => a.IsNamespaceDeclaration).Remove();

Another one which postted here

foreach (var attr in objXMl.Descendants().Attributes())
{
    var elem = attr.Parent;
    attr.Remove();
    elem.Add(new XAttribute(attr.Name.LocalName, attr.Value));
}

Sandglass

Do not treat "xmlns" as attributes. They are namespace declarations. They just happen to look like attributes. Why do you want to remove these declarations? They actually mean something, you know. – Ysabel

@JohnSaunders yes I know it is namespace declaration, but it is appearing in child node. When I am using XElement.ReplaceWith(); – Sandglass

Again, why do you want to remove it? – Ysabel

I have to pass the xml to a service, which is not accepting it with that empty xmlns namespace... – Sandglass

Which namespace does the service require? BTW, this is a strong hint as to how you should fix the problem. – Ysabel

I got the solution by @Gehans Answer.. – Sandglass

Answer 1

Image This is you xml file

<Root xmlns="http://my.namespace">
    <Firstelement xmlns="">
        <RestOfTheDocument />
    </Firstelement>
</Root>

This is you expect

<Root xmlns="http://my.namespace">
    <Firstelement>
        <RestOfTheDocument />
    </Firstelement>
</Root>

I think the code below is what you want. You need to put each element into the right namespace, and remove any xmlns='' attributes for the affected elements. The latter part is required as otherwise LINQ to XML basically tries to leave you with an element of

<!-- This would be invalid -->
<Firstelement xmlns="" xmlns="http://my.namespace">

Here's the code:

using System;
using System.Xml.Linq;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("test.xml");
        foreach (var node in doc.Root.Descendants())
        {
            // If we have an empty namespace...
            if (node.Name.NamespaceName == "")
            {
                // Remove the xmlns='' attribute. Note the use of
                // Attributes rather than Attribute, in case the
                // attribute doesn't exist (which it might not if we'd
                // created the document "manually" instead of loading
                // it from a file.)
                node.Attributes("xmlns").Remove();
                // Inherit the parent namespace instead
                node.Name = node.Parent.Name.Namespace + node.Name.LocalName;
            }
        }
        Console.WriteLine(doc); // Or doc.Save(...)
    }
}

Tenebrous

in node.Name line, check node parent for null if (node.Parent != null) node.Name = node.Parent.Name.Namespace + node.Name.LocalName; – Housen

The node.Attributes("xmlns").Remove(); is redundant. all you need is to set the new Name of the XElement. – Pumpkin

Answer 2

If you add the namespace of the parent element to the element then the empty namespace tag disappears, as it isn't required because the element is in the same namespace.

Shelia

Answer 3

here's a simpler way to do this. I believe it happens when you create separate xml segments and then join them to your document.

xDoc.Root.SaveDocument(savePath);
private static void SaveDocument(this XElement doc, string filePath)
{
    foreach (var node in doc.Descendants())
    {
        if (node.Name.NamespaceName == "")
        {
            node.Name = ns + node.Name.LocalName;
        }
    }
    using (var xw = XmlWriter.Create(filePath, new XmlWriterSettings
    {
        //OmitXmlDeclaration = true,
        //Indent = true,
        NamespaceHandling = NamespaceHandling.OmitDuplicates
    }))
    {
        doc.Save(xw);
    }
}   

Aleida

Answer 4

Did you try to get Xelement.Attribute by value to see if the element is the "xmlns" before removing.

Xelement.Attribute("xmlns").Value 

Bittern