I am trying unsuccessfully to make use of the GetXmlNode function to get me a value of a certain column in a sharepoint list I have as an xmlVariable in my workflow.

this: CurrentContext.XmlVariables["Proc"].RawXml

gets me something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<List>
 <ListItem>
  <Proc_Y>
   <fieldname_x>text I want to get</fieldname_x>

...

 </ListItem>
</List>

So I Figured I could get the value like this:

XmlNode node = CurrentContext.XmlVariables["Proc"].GetXmlNode("/List/ListItem/Proc_Y/fieldname_x");

For some reason, this doesnt seem to get there...

I'd apreciate if if someone tells me what I'm doing wrong.

In the below piece of code, I suggest you to add another an additional / and then test the sceanario.

Your code:

XmlNode node = CurrentContext.XmlVariables["Proc"].GetXmlNode("/List/ListItem/Proc_Y/fieldname_x");

Recommended code: 

XmlNode node = CurrentContext.XmlVariables["Proc"].GetXmlNode("//List/ListItem/Proc_Y/fieldname_x");

Also, please find attached a word document(XMlVariableUsage.doc) which might help you on this.   Do get back to us for any further clarifications.

Thanks, Sri

Srinivasa Rao Pentapati

	Post Attachments
	XMlVariableUsage.doc (497 views, 54.00 KB)

Thanks for your answer. i'll only be able to test it tomorrow, however, I think I have tried the double slash at the root of the xpath.

I also tried doing a foreach loop from an XMLVariableCollection (taking the value of the RawXML from the "PROC" variable,

that resulted in only 1 iteration (of course, silly me) but what I WASNT expecting is that instead of something like "//List" or "List" it was "$$List".

I'm wondering if the Xpath is formatted diferently because it is accessing a Sharepoint list "directly".

(Thanks for the Document, it will come in handy)

Ok, I think I was able to narrow something down.

on the Sharepoint list, the column name I want to access is "PROC Y"

which in "sharepointish" is represented as: "Proc_x0020_Y"

And it appears exactly like that in the xml if I do a rawxml dump.

If I try to access "/List/ListItem", no problem. I get the node.

But if I go deeper and try to access "/List/ListItem/Proc_x0020_Y" it busts, with something like this:

System.Exception: Error while Getting Xml Node from Xml Variable-Proc-'/List/ListItem/Proc Y' has an invalid token.

Notice that the _x0020_ that was present in the rawXML seems to have been converted (or decoded).

But I cant seem to access it like:

"Proc Y", "Proc%20Y", "Proc_x0020_Y" or "Proc%95x0020%95Y".

Any idea how its getting encoded (im assuming) and how to access it?

XmlDocument oDoc = new XmlDocument();
    oDoc.InnerXml = CurrentContext.XmlVariables["Proc"].RawXml;

Using the XmlDocument from then on, was easy, and I got to the info I needed without any further problems.

There is something with the encoding in the Skelta version of the Xml Variables that was preventing me from accessing the info directly...

Thanks for letting me know that you got it working.  Please feel free to post your queries through Skelta forum or alternatively you can mail to support@skelta.com .

Thanks, Sri

Srinivasa Rao Pentapati