Without resorting to an XSLT-based solution, if you want clean, elegant and smart, you'd need some support from the framework, in particular, the visitor pattern could make this a breeze. Unfortunately, it's not available here.
I've implemented it inspired by LINQ's ExpressionVisitor to have a similar structure to it. With this, you can apply the visitor pattern to (LINQ-to-) XML objects. (I've done limited testing on this but it works well as far as I can tell)
public abstract class XObjectVisitor
{
public virtual XObject Visit(XObject node)
{
if (node != null)
return node.Accept(this);
return node;
}
public ReadOnlyCollection<XObject> Visit(IEnumerable<XObject> nodes)
{
return nodes.Select(node => Visit(node))
.Where(node => node != null)
.ToList()
.AsReadOnly();
}
public T VisitAndConvert<T>(T node) where T : XObject
{
if (node != null)
return Visit(node) as T;
return node;
}
public ReadOnlyCollection<T> VisitAndConvert<T>(IEnumerable<T> nodes) where T : XObject
{
return nodes.Select(node => VisitAndConvert(node))
.Where(node => node != null)
.ToList()
.AsReadOnly();
}
protected virtual XObject VisitAttribute(XAttribute node)
{
return node.Update(node.Name, node.Value);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitComment(XComment node)
{
return node.Update(node.Value);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitDocument(XDocument node)
{
return node.Update(
node.Declaration,
VisitAndConvert(node.Nodes())
);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitElement(XElement node)
{
return node.Update(
node.Name,
VisitAndConvert(node.Attributes()),
VisitAndConvert(node.Nodes())
);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitDocumentType(XDocumentType node)
{
return node.Update(
node.Name,
node.PublicId,
node.SystemId,
node.InternalSubset
);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitProcessingInstruction(XProcessingInstruction node)
{
return node.Update(
node.Target,
node.Data
);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitText(XText node)
{
return node.Update(node.Value);
}
protected virtual XObject VisitCData(XCData node)
{
return node.Update(node.Value);
}
#region Implementation details
internal InternalAccessor Accessor
{
get { return new InternalAccessor(this); }
}
internal class InternalAccessor
{
private XObjectVisitor visitor;
internal InternalAccessor(XObjectVisitor visitor) { this.visitor = visitor; }
internal XObject VisitAttribute(XAttribute node) { return visitor.VisitAttribute(node); }
internal XObject VisitComment(XComment node) { return visitor.VisitComment(node); }
internal XObject VisitDocument(XDocument node) { return visitor.VisitDocument(node); }
internal XObject VisitElement(XElement node) { return visitor.VisitElement(node); }
internal XObject VisitDocumentType(XDocumentType node) { return visitor.VisitDocumentType(node); }
internal XObject VisitProcessingInstruction(XProcessingInstruction node) { return visitor.VisitProcessingInstruction(node); }
internal XObject VisitText(XText node) { return visitor.VisitText(node); }
internal XObject VisitCData(XCData node) { return visitor.VisitCData(node); }
}
#endregion
}
public static class XObjectVisitorExtensions
{
#region XObject.Accept "instance" method
public static XObject Accept(this XObject node, XObjectVisitor visitor)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(visitor, "visitor");
// yay, easy dynamic dispatch
Acceptor acceptor = new Acceptor(node as dynamic);
return acceptor.Accept(visitor);
}
private class Acceptor
{
public Acceptor(XAttribute node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitAttribute(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XComment node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitComment(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XDocument node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitDocument(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XElement node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitElement(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XDocumentType node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitDocumentType(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XProcessingInstruction node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitProcessingInstruction(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XText node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitText(node)) { }
public Acceptor(XCData node) : this(v => v.Accessor.VisitCData(node)) { }
private Func<XObjectVisitor, XObject> accept;
private Acceptor(Func<XObjectVisitor, XObject> accept) { this.accept = accept; }
public XObject Accept(XObjectVisitor visitor) { return accept(visitor); }
}
#endregion
#region XObject.Update "instance" method
public static XObject Update(this XAttribute node, XName name, string value)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(name, "name");
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(value, "value");
return new XAttribute(name, value);
}
public static XObject Update(this XComment node, string value = null)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
return new XComment(value);
}
public static XObject Update(this XDocument node, XDeclaration declaration = null, params object[] content)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
return new XDocument(declaration, content);
}
public static XObject Update(this XElement node, XName name, params object[] content)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(name, "name");
return new XElement(name, content);
}
public static XObject Update(this XDocumentType node, string name, string publicId = null, string systemId = null, string internalSubset = null)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(name, "name");
return new XDocumentType(name, publicId, systemId, internalSubset);
}
public static XObject Update(this XProcessingInstruction node, string target, string data)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(target, "target");
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(data, "data");
return new XProcessingInstruction(target, data);
}
public static XObject Update(this XText node, string value = null)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
return new XText(value);
}
public static XObject Update(this XCData node, string value = null)
{
Validation.CheckNullReference(node);
return new XCData(value);
}
#endregion
}
public static class Validation
{
public static void CheckNullReference<T>(T obj) where T : class
{
if (obj == null)
throw new NullReferenceException();
}
public static void CheckArgumentNull<T>(T obj, string paramName) where T : class
{
if (obj == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(paramName);
}
}
p.s., this particular implementation uses some .NET 4 features to make implementation a bit easier/cleaner (usage of dynamic and default arguments). It shouldn't be too dificult to make it .NET 3.5 compatible, perhaps even .NET 2.0 compatible.
Then to implement the visitor, here's a generalized one that can change multiple namespaces (and the prefix used).
public class ChangeNamespaceVisitor : XObjectVisitor
{
private INamespaceMappingManager manager;
public ChangeNamespaceVisitor(INamespaceMappingManager manager)
{
Validation.CheckArgumentNull(manager, "manager");
this.manager = manager;
}
protected INamespaceMappingManager Manager { get { return manager; } }
private XName ChangeNamespace(XName name)
{
var mapping = Manager.GetMapping(name.Namespace);
return mapping.ChangeNamespace(name);
}
private XObject ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(XAttribute node)
{
var mapping = Manager.GetMapping(node.Value);
return mapping.ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(node);
}
protected override XObject VisitAttribute(XAttribute node)
{
if (node.IsNamespaceDeclaration)
return ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(node);
return node.Update(ChangeNamespace(node.Name), node.Value);
}
protected override XObject VisitElement(XElement node)
{
return node.Update(
ChangeNamespace(node.Name),
VisitAndConvert(node.Attributes()),
VisitAndConvert(node.Nodes())
);
}
}
// and all the gory implementation details
public class NamespaceMappingManager : INamespaceMappingManager
{
private Dictionary<XNamespace, INamespaceMapping> namespaces = new Dictionary<XNamespace, INamespaceMapping>();
public NamespaceMappingManager Add(XNamespace fromNs, XNamespace toNs, string toPrefix = null)
{
var item = new NamespaceMapping(fromNs, toNs, toPrefix);
namespaces.Add(item.FromNs, item);
return this;
}
public INamespaceMapping GetMapping(XNamespace fromNs)
{
INamespaceMapping mapping;
if (!namespaces.TryGetValue(fromNs, out mapping))
mapping = new NullMapping();
return mapping;
}
private class NullMapping : INamespaceMapping
{
public XName ChangeNamespace(XName name)
{
return name;
}
public XObject ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(XAttribute node)
{
return node.Update(node.Name, node.Value);
}
}
private class NamespaceMapping : INamespaceMapping
{
private XNamespace fromNs;
private XNamespace toNs;
private string toPrefix;
public NamespaceMapping(XNamespace fromNs, XNamespace toNs, string toPrefix = null)
{
this.fromNs = fromNs ?? "";
this.toNs = toNs ?? "";
this.toPrefix = toPrefix;
}
public XNamespace FromNs { get { return fromNs; } }
public XNamespace ToNs { get { return toNs; } }
public string ToPrefix { get { return toPrefix; } }
public XName ChangeNamespace(XName name)
{
return name.Namespace == fromNs
? toNs + name.LocalName
: name;
}
public XObject ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(XAttribute node)
{
if (node.Value == fromNs.NamespaceName)
{
if (toNs == XNamespace.None)
return null;
var xmlns = !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(toPrefix)
? (XNamespace.Xmlns + toPrefix)
: node.Name;
return node.Update(xmlns, toNs.NamespaceName);
}
return node.Update(node.Name, node.Value);
}
}
}
public interface INamespaceMappingManager
{
INamespaceMapping GetMapping(XNamespace fromNs);
}
public interface INamespaceMapping
{
XName ChangeNamespace(XName name);
XObject ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(XAttribute node);
}
And a little helper method to get the ball rolling:
T ChangeNamespace<T>(T node, XNamespace fromNs, XNamespace toNs, string toPrefix = null) where T : XObject
{
return node.Accept(
new ChangeNamespaceVisitor(
new NamespaceMappingManager()
.Add(fromNs, toNs, toPrefix)
)
) as T;
}
Then to remove a namespace, you could call it like so:
var doc = ChangeNamespace(XDocument.Load(pathToXml),
fromNs: "http://schema.peters.com/doc_353/1/Types",
toNs: null);
Using this visitor, you can write a INamespaceMappingManager to remove all namespaces.
T RemoveAllNamespaces<T>(T node) where T : XObject
{
return node.Accept(
new ChangeNamespaceVisitor(new RemoveNamespaceMappingManager())
) as T;
}
public class RemoveNamespaceMappingManager : INamespaceMappingManager
{
public INamespaceMapping GetMapping(XNamespace fromNs)
{
return new RemoveNamespaceMapping();
}
private class RemoveNamespaceMapping : INamespaceMapping
{
public XName ChangeNamespace(XName name)
{
return name.LocalName;
}
public XObject ChangeNamespaceDeclaration(XAttribute node)
{
return null;
}
}
}
