The ':' character, hexadecimal value 0x3A, cannot be included in a name

Question

I have an xml file that contains its element like

<ab:test>Str</ab:test>  

When I am trying to access it using the code:

XElement tempElement = doc.Descendants(XName.Get("ab:test")).FirstOrDefault();

It's giving me this error:

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. ---> System.Xml.XmlException: The ':' character, hexadecimal value 0x3A, cannot be included in a name.

How should I access it?

Proptosis

You certainly have a way to handle namespaces so you don't have to (or in this case, you can't) put them in the name. You should look into this direction. – Stogner

Not only does the XML specification say that ":" is allowed for names (and to start names!), but the Get method of XName doesn't document that it throws XmlException! – Animate

See also #8325460 for correct namespace handling. – Seduce

Answer 1

If you want to use namespaces, LINQ to XML makes that really easy:

XNamespace ab = "http://whatever-the-url-is";
XElement tempElement = doc.Descendants(ab + "test").FirstOrDefault();

Look for an xmlns:ab=... section in your document to find out which namespace URI "ab" refers to.

Assignment

It works, but the problem is that value of xmlns:ab is generated dynamically based on time stamp. How can i get its value? – Proptosis

@coure06: The namespace URI is dynamic? That's pretty weird. But yes, you can get it by finding the attribute value for XNamespace.Xmlns + "ab" from whichever element declares it. – Assignment

I am getting this error: #42840128 – Cold

Interestingly this doesn't seem to work with the newer string templating syntax, so $"{ab}test" gives the same error – Altar

@Liam: I'd expect that - ab + "test" isn't performing string concatenation; it's using the +(XNamespace, string) operator to create an XName. – Assignment

Answer 2

Try putting your namespace in { ... } like so:

string xfaNamespace = "{http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.6/}";

Chukker

why should you use curly braces? What is the benefit? – Nonagenarian

Using the XNamespace method essentially just does this for you. .ToString on a XNamespace obviously just formats the string correctly for you. So this is the same tnhing done a different way, there is no benefit in either – Altar

Answer 3

I was having the same error. I found I was adding code...

var ab = "http://whatever-the-url-is";

... but ab was determined to be a string. This caused the error reported by OP. Instead of using the VAR keyword, I used the actual data type XNamespace...

XNamespace ab = "http://whatever-the-url-is";

... and the problem went away.

Nonagenarian

Answer 4

There is an overload of the Get method you might want to try that takes into account the namespace. Try this:

XElement tempElement = doc.Descendants(XName.Get("test", "ab")).FirstOrDefault();

Yvonneyvonner

ab isn't the actual namespace here though - it's just the alias for the namespace. (I don't know the right terminology unfortunately.) LINQ to XML makes this easy with XNamespace. It's rare that you need to explicitly call XName.Get in LINQ to XML. – Assignment

Answer 5

Try to get namespace from the document

var ns = doc.Root.Name.Namespace;

Lucarne

Answer 6

Deleting AndroidManifest.xml and AndroidManifest.xml.DISABLED worked for me.

Lackluster

Answer 7

The ':' character is problematic when it is contained in namespace. Example :

<?xml version="1.0"?>
  <SAMLConfiguration xmlns="urn:componentspace:SAML:2.0:configuration">
    <ServiceProvider Name="http://avanteam"
      Description="Avanteam Service Provider"
      AssertionConsumerServiceUrl="SAML/AssertionConsumerService"
      LocalCertificateFile="Certificates\sp.pfx"
      LocalCertificatePassword="password"/>
  </SAMLConfiguration>

A solution that works in all cases is to use the GetName method on an instance of XNamespace. Example with default namespace:

var ns = doc.Root.GetDefaultNamespace();
var serviceProviderNode = doc.Element(ns.GetName("SAMLConfiguration"))?.Element(ns.GetName("ServiceProvider"));

Tutt