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How to Access XML Nodes and Retrieve Attribute Values After Loading XML into InStream Variable?

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Posted on by isabtogumon

Hi,

In the context of an AL extension for Dynamics 365 Business Central, I have a scenario where I need to select an XML file using the code provided below and then parse its nodes to extract attribute values. Here's the code snippet for loading the XML into an InStream variable:

if UploadIntoStream(DialogTitle, '', 'XML file(*.xml)|*.xml', TempFileName, InStrm) then    XmlDocument.ReadFrom(InStrm, xmlDoc)else    Error('It is not an XML file');

The uploaded XML file structure is as follows:

<cfdi:Comprobante xmlns:cfdi=/http://www.sat.gob.mx/cfd/4/ xmlns:xsi=/http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance/ Certificado=/FICTITIOUS_CERTIFICATE/ PaymentConditions=/30/ Export=/01/ Date=/2023-08-15T10:30:45/ Folio=/12345/ PaymentMethod=/01/ ExpeditionLocation=/75000/ PaymentType=/PUE/ Currency=/USD/ CertificateNumber=/SAT_CERTIFICATE/ Seal=/FICTITIOUS_DIGITAL_SEAL/ Series=/B/ Subtotal=/500.00/ ExchangeRate=/1.00/ DocumentType=/I/ Total=/575.00/ Version=/3.3/ xsi:schemaLocation=/http://www.sat.gob.mx/cfd/4 http://www.sat.gob.mx/sitio_internet/cfd/4/cfdv33.xsd/>  <cfdi:Issuer Name=/FICTITIOUS_ISSUER/ FiscalRegime=/601/ Rfc=/FICTITIOUS_ISSUER_RFC/ />  <cfdi:Receiver FiscalAddress=/76000/ Name=/FICTITIOUS_RECEIVER/ FiscalRegimeReceiver=/612/ Rfc=/FICTITIOUS_RECEIVER_RFC/ CfdiUsage=/G01/ />  <cfdi:Concepts>    <cfdi:Concept Quantity=/10/ ProdServKey=/01010101/ UnitKey=/H87/ Description=/Sample Product/ Amount=/500.00/ IdentificationNumber=/PROD-001/ Unit=/Piece/ UnitValue=/50.00/>      <cfdi:Taxes>        <cfdi:Transfers>          <cfdi:Transfer Base=/500.00/ Amount=/80.00/ Tax=/002/ RateOrQuota=/0.160000/ TaxType=/Rate/ />        </cfdi:Transfers>      </cfdi:Taxes>      <cfdi:CustomsInformation PedimentNumber=/15 12345 67890 1234567/ />    </cfdi:Concept>  </cfdi:Concepts>  <cfdi:Taxes TotalTransferredTaxes=/80.00/>    <cfdi:Transfers>      <cfdi:Transfer Base=/500.00/ Amount=/80.00/ Tax=/002/ RateOrQuota=/0.160000/ TaxType=/Rate/ />    </cfdi:Transfers>  </cfdi:Taxes>  <cfdi:Complement>    <tfd:DigitalTaxStamp xmlns:tfd=/http://www.sat.gob.mx/TimbreFiscalDigital/ TimbradoDate=/2023-08-15T10:35:22/ SATCertificateNumber=/SAT_CERTIFICATE/ CertifyingEntityRfc=/SAT_RFC/ CFDigitalSeal=/FICTITIOUS_DIGITAL_CFD_SEAL/ SATSeal=/FICTITIOUS_DIGITAL_SAT_SEAL/ UUID=/9b824153-a667-4a46-829d/ Version=/1.1/ xsi:schemaLocation=/http://www.sat.gob.mx/TimbreFiscalDigital http://www.sat.gob.mx/sitio_internet/cfd/TimbreFiscalDigital/TimbreFiscalDigitalv11.xsd/ />  </cfdi:Complement></cfdi:Comprobante>

I would like to know how to:

1. Access specific nodes within this XML structure.
2. Retrieve the values of their attributes using AL in Business Central.
3. Create a loop to handle cases where the XML contains multiple /Concept/ nodes, extracting attribute values from each of them.

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Inge M. Bruvik 1,071 Moderator on at

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How to Access XML Nodes and Retrieve Attribute Values After Loading XML into InStream Variable?

For selecting a single node you can use the select single node method:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/xmldocument/xmldocument-selectsinglenode-string-xmlnamespacemanager-xmlnode-method?source=docs&WT.mc_id=email&sharingId=DX-MVP-5005315

For selecting an attribute use the

Attributes you can read out of an xmlelement https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/xmlelement/xmlelement-attributes-method?WT.mc_id=email&sharingId=DX-MVP-5005315

For looping through node you can select nodes into a nodes list and loop through them in an for each loop

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/xmldocument/xmldocument-selectnodes-string-xmlnodelist-method?WT.mc_id=email&sharingId=DX-MVP-5005315

I hope this helps you further.

And you can circle back with more detailed questions it can be a bit tricky to format the xpath queries correctly if you are not familiar with them,

And easier approach can also be to use the xmlbuffer instead of handling it as an xml document. But handling it as an xmldocument is the most efficient way if you are working on large xml files that you only want specific information from.

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YUN ZHU 94,194 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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How to Access XML Nodes and Retrieve Attribute Values After Loading XML into InStream Variable?

Hi, hope the following information can also give you some hints

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U1KGL8UpeI

https://businesscentralgeek.com/how-to-import-xml-files-easily-business-central

Thanks

ZHU

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isabtogumon 99 on at

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How to Access XML Nodes and Retrieve Attribute Values After Loading XML into InStream Variable?

Hello Inge M. Bruvik, thanks for replying

I've reviewed the method you shared for retrieving element attributes, however, it's not entirely clear to me. Could you provide a practical example to see how it works?

It's worth mentioning that I've made adjustments to my code, with which I can now access the 'Concept' node, but I haven't been able to access the attributes.

Regards.

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isabtogumon 99 on at

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How to Access XML Nodes and Retrieve Attribute Values After Loading XML into InStream Variable?

Hello YUN ZHU, thanks for replaying

In the first example you mentioned seems to be deprecated in the latest version of BC, and unfortunately, the second example doesn't demonstrate how to retrieve attribute values, which is what I'm trying to accomplish.

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xMetAK 2 on at

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How to Access XML Nodes and Retrieve Attribute Values After Loading XML into InStream Variable?

Hi!

I dont understand why this question was not answered before...
It's not a mistery not difficult to understand... unless you are new in AL or you just response to answer randomly (wich i think is what mvp's do nowadays...)

Fast response:

XMLElement has attributes. XLNode no.

So u need to get the xmlElement of the xmlNode and then the attributes:

var

xmlDoc: XmlDocument;

XmlNodeList: XmlNodeList;

XmlNode: XmlNode;

xmlAttribute: XmlAttribute;

xmlAttributes: XmlAttributeCollection;

UUID: Text[50];

FileFilterTxt: Label 'XML Files(*.xml)|*.xml|All Files(*.*)|*.*', Locked = true;

FileInStream: InStream;

begin

UploadIntoStream(FileFilterTxt, FileInStream);

XmlDocument.ReadFrom(FileInStream, XmlDoc);

XmlDoc.SelectNodes('//cfdi:Complemento/tfd:TimbreFiscalDigital', xmlnodelist);

if xmlnodelist.Count <> 0 then begin

xmlnodelist.Get(0, XmlNode);

xmlAttributes := XmlNode.AsXmlElement().Attributes(); //HERE

foreach xmlAttribute in xmlAttributes do

IF xmlAttribute.Name = 'UUID' then

UUID := COPYSTR(xmlAttribute.Value, 1, 50);

end;

There is a reason why is like this wich lead us to teory, but to be fast in my answer xmlNode is just a type of object, and xmlElement is part of the DOM structure (so it has properties like attributes) while XMlNode could be an attribute itself or 20 other things

Best regards!

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